Testing the Limits of Democracy

Aug 23

June 27-July 23, 2024: A Timeline Survey

The firehose of news has been flowing intensely in the United States of America since June 27, 2024. Let’s recap, and discuss why this matters.

June 27, 2024

On June 27, incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate of the season on CNN, which was held uncharacteristically early. Normally the debates kick off in September or October of the election year.

It is truly an amazing thing when an event with Donald Trump does not result in all eyes on him. At the debate, Biden’s cognitive status commanded full attention. Regarding Roe v. Wade, he commented:

“I supported Roe v Wade, which had three trimesters. First time is between a woman and a doctor. Second time is between a doctor and an extreme situation. A third time is between the doctor, I mean, between the woman and the state.”

After the debate, Jill Biden lauded her husband for answering all the questions, and helped him down the stairs. The media did their best to recover, but a chasm emerged between those viewing the debate as an unfortunate one-off, or a point of no return.

Barack Obama tweeted that “Bad nights happen,” and the Democratic Party posted a photo of Joe looking cool in sunglasses under the caption, “Winner of tonight’s debate.” The New York Times focused on Trump, describing Biden as “shaky at times,” then fully omitted the debate from the front page the following morning.

The Wall Street Journal had published a piece on June 4, 2024 that took a critical look at Biden’s mental capacities and behavior in the White House over the past three years. The first journalism of its kind, it was criticized as partisan.

On June 30th, however, I was shocked to receive an email from the New York Times headlining: “From the editorial board: Biden should leave the race.” As the NYT is generally very pro-Biden, this felt like a glitch in the Matrix.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was nearly murdered on live television.

July 13, 2024

On July 13, 2024, Trump held a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Shots rang out at 6:11pm. His hand moved quickly to his ear and returned with blood. He hit the ground as Secret Service agents sprung on top of him. Had he not turned his head at the last moment, he would be dead.

Interestingly, most of his rallies are not televised live. This one was. Photographer Evan Vucci captured the iconic shot of Trump’s fist held high, American flag streaming in the background, as he got up and shouted, “FIGHT!”

Immediately following the event, the media released the following headlines:

ABC News, “Trump rushed offstage after disruption at rally.”
USA Today, “Trump removed from stage by Secret Service after loud noises startles former president, crowd.”
CNN Politics, “Secret Service rushed Trump off stage after he falls at rally.”

Why present a deadly event as a casual disturbance? A man was killed at the rally, and several others critically injured. The shooter was also “neutralized” immediately—after he shot.

The details that emerged from July 13th are increasingly strange. The Secret Service came under fire for not covering the spot the 20 year old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, inhabited on the roof of a building 150 yards away that had clear sight to the speaker’s podium. Director Cheatle mentioned concern for the mild slope of the roof being potentially dangerous for the detail, despite other snipers being stationed on a more sloped roof. Due to this, they stationed inside the building, while the shooter openly crawled on top of the roof. People noticed and alerted officials. However, Trump was not detained in the green room and took the stage on time.

Additional information emerged that the Secret Service did not attend the morning briefing before the rally, Crooks had flown a drone around the site, carried a range finder, and local law enforcement circled the building the minute prior to the shooting…..Interestingly, there are theories that multiple shooters shot that day. The Secret Service did not communicate with the SWAT team, nor do they have a record of their radio communication from the day. This seems very odd in an era where everything is recorded and saved. The list goes on. Ultimately Director Cheatle resigned and the FBI testified before Congress, but one is hard pressed to find more investigative follow up when scrolling through the news. This seems like incompetence at best, and something very sinister at worst.

A mere days later, the attempted assassination faded from prominent media outlets. Google disabled the event from populating in its search bar, and Facebook suppressed the iconic Trump photo. Why would they do this? Both companies admitted some fault when confronted: Google blamed their algorithm, and Mark Zuckerberg apologized to Trump personally for the mistake. Why would they attempt to erase a historical event from memory that we collectively observed with our own eyes?

It is worth considering what the headlines might look like if any other important figure was nearly assassinated. If Donald Trump was president, and former president Barack Obama was running against him, and Obama was nearly assassinated at a presidential rally, do you think that event would fade from the news, largely uninvestigated, after a few days? Compare, for instance, the coverage of January 6th. Do you think that companies like Google and Facebook would be able to suppress that information, and quietly fix it when confronted? And, is killing a political opponent acceptable when one does not like him and considers him a threat?

The facts are: a former president of the United States (the most powerful nation in the world), and current opponent in the November election, was meant to be blasted in the head dead on live television. The protective government agencies gave few, and very poor, reasons why this was allowed to happen. The media immediately, and blatantly, dampened the situation. While Trump has been continually branded as an existential threat to democracy, a bullet potentially aimed directly at the democratic process seems have gone largely unchecked.

Consider that whomever/ whatever was behind this was prepared to allow the consequences of Donald Trump’s public murder to unfold in America.

July 17-21, 2024

While Trump rode the high of his brush with death at the Republican National Convention, Biden also hit the road, but with less success. His poll numbers dropped to above 60% disapproval, as folks universally acknowledged that he would not be able to defeat Donald Trump at this juncture. A sense of foreboding grew stronger…would the Democrats pull an unprecedented move to unload their candidate?

Biden interviewed unsuccessfully that week, and Wednesday, July 17th, he contracted Covid and was whisked home to Delaware. With Joe sick in bed, the Democrats pulled a 180. The same people who, up until June 27, 2024, defended Biden’s fitness and accused any skeptics to be “far right” “conspiracists” and“extreme,” now pushed that he step out of the race, due to his fitness.

The volume increased calling him to withdraw from the race from increasingly prominent politicians. The big donors withdrew their funds. Nancy Pelosi effectively sealed the deal by allegedly telling him, “There is an easy way to do this, and there is a hard way,” but Biden stated he planned to continue. The public did not see or hear from President Biden for 5 days: from his Covid diagnosis Wednesday afternoon through Sunday, July 21st. When we did hear, it was via letter. Where was Joe Biden? Was this man even alive?

The resignation letter dropped on X (FKA Twitter) Sunday evening, July 21st. Why X, and not a major news network, or in a brief video from the Oval Office? Half an hour later, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic Presidential candidate, also via Tweet.

Within 24 hours, the Democratic Party and media plowed full steam ahead with a new unifying message: Kamala Harris for President! Biden’s withdrawal was lauded as historic and noble. Despite the fact that Harris was a weak presidential candidate for 2020 and withdrew early on, it became clear she would become the 2024 nominee. Due to her proximity to Biden as Vice President, she was able to inherit his campaign—and the money. While the Vice President is positioned to take over the duties of the President, those qualifications do not roll over into candidacy for the next term—the Vice President is not like a prince succeeding onto the king’s throne. On Monday, July 22nd, the internet erupted with advertisements for Kamala Harris for President. I noticed advertising on my Instagram and YouTube pages immediately, which struck me as odd considering Biden withdrew from the race a mere day prior. She allegedly rose $81 million dollars in one day.

The same people that accused skeptics regarding President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities as conspiracy theorists turned around and, due to those same cognitive abilities, created a situation in which he had no choice but to step down. Biden did not have a sudden catastrophic event that changed his capacity—his condition has developed over time for all to see. He strongly voiced that he would continue the race, even after the June 27th debate. So, it seams feasible to surmise that the media concealed his true condition and suppressed contrarian voices, at the expense of the American public. His disappearance over multiple days is concerning, and we do not have full proof that he wrote his resignation letter. His health was not mentioned in the letter. This is interesting, because to step down for health reasons at age 81 to go relax with one’s family is extremely reasonable. Therefore, was the reason the increasingly clear realization that he would not win the 2024 presidential election? And, with the belief that anything must be done to defeat Donald Trump, did his own party bypass the democratic process for a more competitive candidate?

A few outliers from the left protested: Black Lives Matter stated that this was not a democratic event. “A 24-hour process of talking to party bosses is not democratic, nor is it a process Democrats should be proud of. We do not live in a dictatorship. Delegates are not oligarchs.” Even AOC posted a video in which she said that Biden stepping down was not a cohesive decision. She did later endorse Harris. The Democrats could have held an open convention to allow other candidates compete, even if Harris still was the obvious choice. 15 million American votes for Biden in the primary become null and void. They are running a candidate that the public did not elect to be the President of the United States, leader of the free world. Does this bother you? Is it okay that in an unprecedented situation, more powerful people decided that this time, your vote did not matter, and they would decide for you, in order to preserve democracy?

Is Kamala Harris actually popular, or is she made to look popular by the same media that suppressed Biden’s condition and Trump’s attempted murder?

So What’s Going On?

Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. (dictionary.com)

American society is battling over democracy dying, who is responsible, and how to preserve it. The left runs on the premise of defending democracy as a singular response to Donald Trump. Regardless of one’s position on Trump, it is important to look at the events that transpired with a critical eye.

What happened to Joe Biden? Let’s explore some possible scenarios:

a) Biden’s health decreased, so after some convincing, he stepped down for the greater good of the party. Kamala Harris is the best choice because she and her policies are popular.

b) Biden has been increasingly unfit for years, but only when it was too obvious to hide did the party pivot and provide the best step forward via encouraging him to step down. Things got chaotic. Kamala Harris is ultimately endorsed because she is already in the White House. Voters don’t mind that they didn’t nominate her. It’s a unique circumstance and she gives Obama vibes.

c) After Biden’s disastrous debate performance and plummeting numbers in the polls, the Democrats force him to step down (et tu, Brute) and install Kamala Harris as the next presidential candidate, completely undercutting the democratic election process in order to keep the campaign money and have the best chance to win.

d) There is an oligarchy pulling the strings of politics and the media. Biden was expected to remain healthy enough for reelection. Donald Trump was supposed to die. When both did not happen, they pivot to install Kamala Harris and rally the media around her. Everyone is being gaslit.

What happened to Donald Trump?

a) Trump is accidentally nearly assassinated by an unhinged 20 year old at a rally. It is a coincidence the rally is televised live. A narrow miss, but Trump enables violent rhetoric, so he had it coming.

b) Due to communication errors between law enforcement agencies, a random shooter is able to gain access to a rooftop with a clear shot at the former president. Incompetence of the Secret Service is blamed. Trump gets lucky.

c) The Secret Service enabled an inside job to assassinate Donald Trump. Thomas Matthew Crooks is a decoy and one of multiple shooters. Law enforcement was informed of the shooter by citizens and instructed to not act. The job is foiled by God Himself.

d) Donald Trump set it up himself and sacrificed one life and nearly two others, trusting a sniper to clip his ear and not kill him at the exact precise moment he turned his head.

Stay Frosty

When major current events unfold very quickly, it is challenging to approach them with the wisdom that only hindsight grants. Yet, just because a situation is unprecedented does not mean that we should accept what we hear or what is done without skepticism. This disrupts our comfort and status quo, but it must be done. Things may have felt more peaceful on the surface in the last four years without Trump at the helm, but sinister works were at play that showed themselves during this timeline. Democracy took two major hits: a violent hit aimed at the opposing presidential candidate, and a hit within the Democratic party to push out its candidate and install a new one without the votes of the people. Who is the threat to democracy?

In America, many of us have lived our lives not thinking twice about our freedoms. We have trusted that since our constitution enables a free press that we always receive the truth. However, as evidenced by the above events, there is a chasm between the media and reality. Who chooses what to report, and how is it reported? Is it free and fair? We trust journalists to educate us about our reality. Without that trust, unrest builds.

Things are not always what they seem. Not everyone has your best interest in mind, even if they say they do. Stay frosty, look for answers, and be skeptical. Know what you are voting for.

How far is our society willing to go to “defend democracy”? By the looks of the last month—any means necessary.