Vote Biden this November. Despite his shortcomings, to abstain or vote elsewhere would be a vote aiding Trump.

*cover photo by Ben Henschel.

Joe Biden is a political pin cushion. There are too many vulnerable spots on him to count, with verbal gaffes tainting his speeches and a number of past bill-voting slip-ups on issues like the Iraq War and the Hyde Amendment drawing easy political fire. Not to mention sexual assault allegations recently brought back to light, despite investigators finding no pattern of sexual misconduct in Biden’s past. 

For a while, it seemed that the Democratic party would pour trust in a candidate without these weaknesses — less old-time Washington, less politically bruised, less condemnable. But that slowly fell apart. Candidates began to drop like flies early this year, leaving Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Biden to face off — but as Biden captured delegate after delegate in state primaries, Sanders opted out. And despite the wide discrepancies in policy between candidates like Sanders and Biden, Democrats need to realize the importance of supporting the Biden ticket this November. 

For a few years now, the party has oscillated between progressives like Sanders for the future’s sake and moderates like Biden for the sake of an election. And after Biden was cast as the Democratic nominee, the fissures within the Dem party were highlighted more than ever before. Some supporters of Sanders were quick to start #NeverBiden tweet strings, with plans to abstain from voting or write-in voting for Sanders. But that’s an overstep with huge ramifications — one that could cement the 2020 election in the same unfortunate vein as 2016’s.  

I’ll be honest, it’s with a heavy heart that I endorse Biden, considering he scraped the bottom of my list a few months ago. He’s not as consistent as Sanders. He’s not as sharp and precise as Pete Buttigieg. He’s not as passionate and driven as Sen. Kamala Harris and not as likeable as Andrew Yang. But given that there is no chance of a nomination for any of those candidates, Biden is the obvious — and only responsible — choice for Democrats and moderates to support. 

He’s a respected figure in international relations and a far, far cry from the likes of Donald J. Trump — and the Dem party, along with surrounding moderates, need to realize the importance of supporting Biden before their reluctance brings Trump another term. In this political moment and over the next four years, a blue White House couldn’t be more pivotal. 

One of the most critical reasons why Dems must support Biden in this election lies in the Supreme Court.  

It’s in all likelihood that left-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will call for replacement in the next four years. Biden would nominate another left-leaning judge to replace her, holding the court at its current 5-4 conservative-liberal placement. If the Dems’ negligence allows Trump another term, he’d nominate a right-leaning judge, moving that ratio to 6-3 and swiftly killing a progressive SCOTUS agenda for at least a decade. 

Given that important cases involving abortion and voting rights will be evaluated — along with emerging issues to a similar magnitude as Trump’s travel ban — maintaining level judgement without heavy partisan skew is paramount. 

Aside from SCOTUS, it’s important to note that much of what makes a president are the people that surround them — cabinet members, economic advisors, the White House staff. At first glance, it’d be easy to assume that a Biden administration would be littered with the same lack of aptitude that he displays in public remarks and on-the-spot thinking. Sure, it’s tough to forgive botching the preamble of the Constitution in front of thousands.  

But Biden’s cabinet and advisor team is already in a selection process as his campaign forms its post-election transition committee in case of a win in November. He’s described that there are several hundred seasoned officials going through a vetting process to determine which are most apt to serve. His appointees would look beyond the many-times toxic “America only” mantra and corrosive, niche mindset that Trump and his cabinet touts. 

Biden’s not-yet-announced cabinet and advisor team — the brains behind his presidential decisions — would automatically be an upgrade from the likes of economic advisor Peter Navarro and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. To remind you, DeVos was the one who defended the idea of armed school security guards by citing a school in Wyoming that probably already had guns in it to “protect from potential grizzlies.” 

Biden has promised to defer many of his decisions on looming issues to the experts who’ve actually spent their lives dealing with them. This, too, is a vastly better picture than Trump’s, who seems to distrust anyone who doesn’t flow with his laughable train of thought. 

Most prominently, Biden’s trust of experts and scientific discovery would help calcify the wounds that Trump brought to the climate change effort. Rejoining the Paris Climate Accord — an agreement between major world countries to reach lower carbon emission standards — or creating a more advantageous version of it for Americans is something Biden has committed to. 

Even though he isn’t a supporter of Medicare For All, or “Medicare For All Who Want It,” Biden’s plans to keep and bolster the Affordable Care Act are at least a vehicle to reach progressive standards. 

Even Sanders — who wrote the Medicare For All bill and is its most fervent supporter — helped write the ACA as a more mild improvement to the U.S. healthcare system. Supporting any candidate besides Biden would mean another four years of Trump’s efforts to move healthcare to increasingly private arenas. 

As for the issues that Biden hasn’t yet promised to address, his administration would at the very least entertain progressive options and bills to pass — moving forward with the times instead of cementing itself in the first industrial age, as Trump has. 

Yes, it’s a tough move for a substantial number of Dems to join Biden’s camp completely, myself included. But the severe — and in some cases, irreparable — damage that any other option would bring should be enough to convince all of us. 

So to progressives, moderates and on-the-fence Republicans, no matter who your first choice in this race would’ve been, a vote for Biden is a vote for a better direction. A vote elsewhere or a decision to abstain is an acceptance of Trump’s continued presidency. 

Vote Biden, or opt to continue down a path that evaporates the middle class, kills essential progress in the fight against climate change and casts the U.S. as an international embarrassment.