By Carol Lucas
To say the past couple of weeks have made history and broken records would surely qualify as an understatement. The latter focus on the seemingly endless days of heat so intense that surely those who refuse to believe in climate change must be rethinking their stance, albeit privately.
As for the making of history, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump as well as the stepping down of President Biden from his candidacy for a second term will surely make 2024 a popular topic in any recorded annals of the 21st century.
My initial response to the President’s announcement was one of disappointment. Perhaps my age, which is a year older than that of the President, factors into my feelings. For whatever reason, I felt that with the increasing calls for his removal, the message was, subliminally, “you are no longer useful to us.”
I doggedly held on to the notion that “experience has to count for something.” It isn’t that I wouldn’t accept the arguments that many were making; that said, my sense of permitting age to trump wisdom seemed questionable.
Now if I wanted to interject a bit of humor into this piece, I might note that placing the words “trump” and “wisdom” side by side is pure delusion. However, there is nothing humorous about any of this, so you may disregard my comment as dark humor.
When calls for Biden’s removal from the ticket came after his dismal debate performance, I was angered for many reasons. First, my contention was simply this: one debate performance does not negate what this man has accomplished in four years. To list these accomplishments is an article in and of itself. Furthermore, he was coming off of two transcontinental flights, with a stop to see his son before leaving the country.
Seeing the President holding his grown son after the latter had recently been convicted of tax fraud was sad. It further reminded anyone with an ounce of sensitivity in his or her body, that the man had lost a wife and young daughter in a tragic car accident and later a son to cancer. This is a person for whom grief has been a frequent visitor.
Secondly, I was dismayed that so many in the Democratic party were so quick to devour their own. Did you see anyone on the other side call for the convicted rapist, the insurrectionist, the man who clearly stole highly sensitive information and stashed it in a bathroom (refusing to return it) to step aside? Of course not; in fact, if anything, they surrounded, and still surround, him with glorification that approximates that of a regent.
As I write, it is Sunday, and the news is fresh and still coming forth. One reporter spoke to Donald Trump about Biden’s stepping down. Trump’s response: “He never should have been in the race in the first place. He should have stayed in the basement.” Donald Trump’s “brush with death,” apparently did not engender any sense of humility.
Character counts, my dear readers. It counts when you are interacting with family; it counts when you are interacting with those in Congress; it especially counts when you interact with those on the world stage. I need only hearken back to Donald Trump’s charging ahead of Queen Elizabeth I when they were about to be photographed together.
Values also count. Donald Trump has bought into Project 2025, and even more important, the creators of this projected overhaul have bought into him as the standard bearer. Project 2025’s 1,000 pages plus require much more space than I have here. If you are interested, and you certainly should be, this can be researched. My impression is that it calls for our descent into an autocracy in which there is no discernible difference between government and religion. Freedoms we have come to take for granted will simply disappear.
And so, President Biden has removed his hat from the ring, and vice-President Kamala Harris is the heir apparent for the Democratic ticket. At this point we don’t know if this will stand, and only time will tell whether or not the move is a positive one. One thing is certain, Joe Biden is owed a debt for his willingness to do what is perceived as good for the country. He leaves us with a legacy of values of which the opposing candidate is bereft.
I can only pray that we haven’t traded experience and wisdom for expediency.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
