(Todd A. Smith/Photo Credit: Kevin Bussey for Bussey One Photography)
As a supporter of President Joe Biden, I did not want him to step down as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
I thought that staying in the race showed more strength and that giving in would play into the hands of former President Donald Trump.
Regardless of his decision, I would have supported whoever the Democrats nominated to take on the former president.
But while my vote during the primary went to President Biden, I am even more excited to support Vice President Kamala Harris as she attempts to achieve many firsts in American history.
Vice President Harris could become the first woman president.
Harris could become the first person of South Asian descent to become president.
The Howard University graduate could become the first alum of an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) to sit in the Oval Office.
And as the proud brother of a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, I know that Harris’ possible ascendancy to the White House could not be a more exciting time for my fellow Divine Nine family as I am a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
But even though I did not get a chance to vote for or against Harris during the primary, make no mistake about it, I do not feel that my vote was taken from me or Biden stepping down threatens democracy.
Polls show that most Democrats are excited about Harris taking on Trump in November, more so than they were when they thought Biden would battle Trump again.
While I hear many non-Democrats complaining about the process that led to Harris securing enough delegates to become the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee, I hear no Democrats complaining about the switch.
Therefore, how can Biden’s decision to step aside for Harris take away people’s voting rights?
It does not take our rights away because many Democrats wanted someone other than Biden in the first place.
In fact, Harris at the top of the tickets makes Democrats more likely to show up in November in the first place.
However, what Trump tried to do leading up to Jan. 6 was an attempt to disenfranchise voters and strip Americans of their democratic rights.
Trump wanted to steal an election from someone who beat him head up.
What the former guy attempted to do was nullify the votes of everyone that voted against him.
However, what Biden did was gracefully step aside in the name of patriotism and freedom.
Trump encouraged a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol to take away people’s right to vote.
Trump tried to send fake electors to take away people’s right to vote.
Trump’s acolytes threatened poll workers in Georgia to take away people’s right to vote.
Trump tried to weaponize the Department of Justice to take away people’s right to vote.
And Trump tried to get his Supreme Court nominees to take his side in his bogus election fraud cases to take away people’s right to vote.
The entire time Trump tried to disenfranchise voters, many Republicans co-signed his unpatriotic, selfish and un-American behavior.
However, when Democrats now have a candidate that will better match up with Trump in November, Republicans now suddenly care about disenfranchising Democrats.
GTHOH (get the heck out of here).
The GOP does not care about voting rights, and that is why they constantly pass legislation that makes it more difficult to vote.
They know with more voter participation they cannot win.
Therefore, instead of changing their platform to better reach a broader demographic, they choose to suppress the rights of those who do not vote for them.
The Republican Party is more concerned with facing Harris in November than they are with voting rights.
They know that Harris has a better chance of defeating Trump than Biden.
That is why they are pretending to care so much about Biden’s primary voters.
The GOP knows that Harris will spank Trump in a debate.
In fact, Trump could not even handle an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on July 31.
That is why Trump is running scared and trying to get out of the scheduled September debate.
The only reason why Biden struggled in his matchup with Trump is because he is a few years older than the former guy.
Therefore, Trump made his entire campaign about Biden’s age making him unfit for the Oval Office.
Now, with a much younger opponent he cannot use age as a reason to vote for him.
Now, that he is running against someone of African descent, he cannot get as much African-American support as he had anticipated.
That is why he questioned Harris’ ethnicity at the NABJ convention and claimed he has done more for the Black population than any other president since former President Abraham Lincoln.
When Biden won in 2020, my father said he hoped that he would step aside and let Harris run long before it actually happened.
Therefore, the Republican Party saying that Democrats are being disenfranchised is complete hogwash.
Biden stepping aside for Harris is, in fact, what many Democrats wanted when they voted for Biden in November 2020.
Stepping aside is what many Democrats expected when Biden said he would be a transitional president who would pave the way for the next generation of Democratic leaders.
So, how can Biden’s decision disenfranchise Democratic voters when having Harris at the top of the presidential ticket is what many have wanted for years?
It cannot.
And Trump cannot defeat Harris in November.
Therefore, Trump and the rest of the GOP are running scared because they have a candidate who does not know how to exit, stage left.
