ENABLING TRUMP’S RETURN TO POWER
Other countries, notably Brazil, which could once have genuinely been called a banana republic, are able to enforce their laws. Its Trumpian former president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been banned from running for high office until 2030 for attempting to overturn his 2022 election defeat. The best Biden could do was give life to that adage that if you come at the king, you had best not miss. He missed Trump by a mile.
But it is worse than that. Biden clung on to his dreams of a second term long enough to mess things up for his party. Kamala Harris is taking the lion’s share of the blame for having lost to Trump last month. But the bigger responsibility lies with Biden. By refusing to step down until late July, he robbed the Democratic party of the chance to hold a primary.
Harris had barely 100 days to mount a coherent alternative to America’s most protean figure in decades. That she came within a point or two of Trump’s tally is a feat. That she should probably not have been nominee in the first place is Biden’s doing. Not only did he stubbornly remain in place until far too late, his endorsement ensured Harris would have no competition.
Source: CNA
