What I May Never Forgive Biden and Harris For

It’s a challenging position to be in, but this administration has struggled to rise to the moment

Getty Images / Michael Reynolds

“I do believe very strongly that America’s democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it,” explained Kamala Harris as she quietly held up a white flag of resignation and certified the presidential victory of the man who tried to overthrow the government following the results of the 2020 election.

Her short statement was posted precisely four years to the day after the riot that resulted in millions of dollars of damage, “Hang Mike Pence!” chants, and slain police officers. It was lamentably political. It was bright and hopeful and riddled with the cloaked and euphemistic sort of language that politicians tend to speak.

“And today, I did what I have done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath that I have taken many times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which included, today, performing my constitutional duties to ensure that the people of America, the voters of America will have their votes counted, that those votes matter, and that they will determine, then, the outcome of an election,” Harris declared.

The Vice President offered no acknowledgement of exactly who her administration was handing over power to. She didn’t speak to the dark proposition the American people had made with their vote, nor the very real possibility that we may well have democratically voted away our own democracy.

It’s an unenviable position to be in. I don’t believe that Harris should have ever been put there at all. There should have been a hundred roadblocks in place to prevent someone who incited an insurrection via Twitter from running for president to begin with. In this nation where petty drug criminals languish in prison, each of Trump’s 34 separate felonies should have served as disqualifiers.

For many government offices, Trump wouldn’t have been allowed to run at all. And yet, on election day, Americans were faced with the reality that there was nothing that could ultimately bar him from the race. From holding office once again.

Since Trump’s victory, Biden and Harris have been forced into a sheepish position. Despite an entire campaign colored by refrains about how Trump’s win would represent the end of democracy, they’ve done an about face and begun painting their willingness to hand power to him as a victory of its own.

If the presidency were handed over to any other presidential candidate at all, whether Green, Independent, or a raving RFK Jr., there would have been righteous pride in this administration’s ability to say that they respect the age-old traditions of our country. That they’re willing to uphold the peaceful transition of power.

If it were a Republican of the past that was poised to assume office on January 20th, Democrats could each take solace in the knowledge that, despite the inevitable passage of some policies they disagree with, our great, democratic experiment would continue unhindered. There would be another election in four years. But today, we lack that reassurance.

Often when Biden and Harris have addressed their loss in the election, it’s been with the sort of tone reserved for sporting woes. They’ve talked about how we’ll just try again in another four years. But to take Trump at his own words is to earnestly wonder whether free and fair elections will continue in this country.

To speak now with such pride about their ability to concede spits in the face of everything that both Biden and Harris ran on. Their statesman-like comments about the transition offer no acknowledgement of the weighty crossroads we’re now standing at. All of their dire warnings about the end of our institutions ceased the moment Trump was elected.

Maybe the refusal to speak honestly to the situation at hand has been a calculated decision from the Biden administration. Maybe they realize that they would send the American people into a frenzy if they simply spoke their minds. Maybe they know that, in this paranoid time, the population can’t stand to have our deepest anxieties further reinforced. Maybe they fear that candor would welcome retaliation from the Trump administration.

Biden and Harris effectively have their hands bound. To acknowledge the severity of this moment is to say, “We won’t allow this known tyrant to take office.” To remain consistent with their pre-November rhetoric, it would make more sense for them to fight to uphold democracy than to hand over power to a leader who so openly rejects it.

But to interfere with the certification of Trump’s win would have arguably run even greater risks still. It would look undemocratic to not accept the results of a democratic election — despite the fact that the person who won it was previously impeached after inciting a coup to overthrow the government. It was a unique dilemma that the Biden administration confronted. It’s possible there was no correct path forward at all that didn’t lead to further chaos. Maybe they knew the battle was already lost.

Yet, I can’t help but feel that the moment at hand called for a level of heroism that Biden and Harris failed to meet.

Stepping aside to let Harris run on the top of the ticket, it felt that Biden had secured his place in history. It seemed he’d forever be remembered as a pragmatic leader, who despite his limited tenure in office, accomplished great things.

Now, I’m not so sure that legacy will stand. I think it’s very possible that, rather than being lauded for his accomplishments, he’ll be disgraced for how he failed to fight for everything he’d achieved. He’ll be thought of, not as a great leader, but one who buckled when adversities grew too intense.

Maybe Biden and Harris’ legacy will endure, and ten years from now we’ll look at them as the two figures who oversaw the brief interim between periods of chaos. But I’ve begun to feel history might paint him as sharing more in common with Paul von Hindenburg — who stepped aside so Hitler could rise to power — than with the great diplomats of history. I fear they’ll view his administration, not as a reprieve, but as the final shoe that needed to fall before fascism could thrive in America. I fear he’ll be remembered, not as a decent leader in a fraught time, but as the man who could have fought harder to ensure democracy survived.