By Anonymous
*The YU Observer has verified that the anonymous writer is a current YU undergraduate student.
Joe Biden, unfortunately, is in an objective state of cognitive decline. On separate occasions in recent months, he has forgotten both the location in which he was speaking and the position for which he is running, to name just the tip of the iceberg of his “gaffes.” It is obvious to everyone, including himself, that it is not likely that he would run for reelection should he win in 2020. It is doubtful, really, that he would even finish a first term at all.
I myself will admit that I knew next to nothing about former Vice President Biden until he became a contender for president himself. Normally, I don’t think that many people pay much attention to the VP pick. This time around, though, we have no other choice. It seems more than likely that, should President Trump not win November’s election, we are facing a future with Kamala Harris as our president.
Now, many seem to think that choosing Harris is a pretty safe choice. Biden had been saying for months that he would choose a woman to run alongside (quite the tokenistic criterion, if you ask me), and one of color would be the predictable route to take. Kamala Harris, being the second black woman to serve on the U.S. Senate, seems to fit the bill quite nicely — until one takes a closer look.
Joe Biden’s primary campaign technique, running as a moderate Democrat, has been to bash President Trump. The Democratic Party has been feeding into the “anyone but Trump” ideal portrayed by the media, and according to polls (which, based on the 2016 election, we know to be less than trustworthy), it seems to be working. Now that he has chosen Kamala Harris, however, he incurs the risk of the Democrats who are against many of her radical beliefs. She was so unpopular that she didn’t even make it past the first primary. Biden has portrayed himself as a moderate candidate who will restore peace, much needed after the havoc and whatnot that he claims Trump has wreaked upon the country. To add a radical leftist like Ms. Harris to the ballot is counterproductive and it seems to be genuinely for emblem’s sake alone.
In a 2019 ranking by www.govtrack.us, Kamala Harris was listed as the most left-leaning Senator of them all. She largely supports the likes of Bernie Sanders and seems to be willing to do anything, call anyone any name, to get herself politically ahead. She supports socialized medicine as well as trillions of dollars in new taxes. She has openly called for violation of the Constitution regarding gun control, she supports abortion up to the ninth month, and she fought to silence the publicity of information regarding Planned Parenthood’s illegal sale of fetal body parts.
Kamala Harris, being the “pragmatic moderate” that the media is now attempting to spin her into, spent nearly 30 years enforcing laws that would send black individuals to prison. Kamala Harris, who now has a chance at becoming the United States’ first female president, blocked (until forced to relent) the showing of evidence that would have revealed the innocence of a man on death row. Kamala Harris, who ran on the platform of a “prosecutor,” arrested parents whose children skipped school, and laughed about it. Kamala Harris, the candidate who implicitly called Joe Biden a racist, is now his running mate.
President Trump commented on the choice positively, as he now has a much more viable initiative. To run against a cognitively deteriorating candidate is difficult per se, but running against a radical leftist will be significantly easier for his campaign. In Trump’s words, “she was my number one pick.” Joe Biden (or as Trump calls him, “Sleepy Joe”) has called himself a “transition candidate;” everyone, including Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, knows that Biden’s making it to January is a matter of thin ice. Because Kamala has a significantly larger chance of becoming president than previous vice presidential candidates, the current president can and should take advantage of her radical approach to leadership.
In addition to Harris’ precarious proposals, Joe Biden himself has the potential to turn voters away. The former vice president has a bizarre history of touching women and young girls, hugging them inappropriately, and sniffing their hair. There are countless instances of his strange, racist, and downright creepy comments and behaviors documented online. Some memorable quotes include, “we choose truth over facts,” “I love kids jumping on my lap,” “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” if you vote for Trump “you ain’t black,” “we hold these truths to be self evident to – you know the thing,” “I’ve got hairy legs that turn blonde in the sun,” “the kids used to come and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and watch the hair come back up again,” and “you’re a lying-dog-faced-pony-soldier.” His story about his run-in with the gang leader “CornPop” is, if nothing else, hilarious.
Joe Biden, in his unfortunate mental state, has made a strange choice indeed. Not only has he chosen one of the least-successful primary candidates of the Democratic Party, but he has chosen a woman who has called him out on being segregationist as well as for touching women inappropriately. When Biden was asked at a press conference if he was ever tested for cognitive decline, he claimed to be “constantly tested.” It is unclear to me whether or not he fully knew what he was doing in choosing Kamala Harris, and this could have scary ramifications for our country. No matter our varying opinions of President Trump, we must ask ourselves: Is Joe Biden the man we want to see become our president? And, because it seems more likely than ever before, is his running mate someone we want to see take over as our leader?