Reality Check: President Joe Biden is Not Donald Trump At All. Or In Any Way.

And it is not even a close one-with all due respect to my good friend Mr. Cornel West...

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With two frontrunners for the party nominations who are advanced and up there in age, and generally low confidence in our government today, it is no surprise there are candidates seeking an unlikely upset or just a few seconds of fame. Many of them people that the Biden campaign do have to be prepared for. We see this in the Republican primary, with the possibility that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp join the fray with Ron DeSantis dropping like a rock. We see this with RFK Jr. and Marianne Williamson in the Democratic primary. We see this in the No Labels effort, which is gathering controversy over its financial ties and motives in running a presidential ticket, and will likely persist for some time through the 2024 cycle. And then, there’s Cornel West.

Since Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been my political idol, and since I do have a similarly great amount of respect and admiration for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, I am familiar with Cornel West in a way that some-or perhaps most-people might not be. He might talk in a different way from most people in the political arena. He might look different from the typical politician-almost like a Robert “Bob” Healey, but on a national scale. But he does have a way of making his points. Of pressing for the causes he cared and cares so much about. Of arguing why big changes are needed in the government that we know and have known of for years and decades. Of elevating the issues of racial and social injustice that still exist despite the good work over this past half century and a little more. And of pushing our society to address the vast economic inequalities that still exist between the rich and the poor.

Mr. West certainly might differ from most people on approach and perhaps on some policy fronts. But I have to say I do admire his work ethic and devotion to the causes he has fought for, as I have seen at certain points from monitoring the growth of the progressive movement since 2016 and seeing the 2020 campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. It also can be said that he is quite knowledgeable on a wealth of issues around the economy, the environment, our healthcare system, and racial & social divisions that unfortunately persist up to this point. All of which is to say I am a little dismayed by West’s decision to pursue a third party campaign at a significant cost to this country-in the Green Party.

It may have been less bothersome to me if he did run in the Democratic primary, because he would elevate debates and issues worth discussing. The good and the bad on the differences he views with himself and President Biden. And the contrasts between the two-and I know there are plenty. That could be a very healthy thing for our party and democracy as a whole. But a third party candidacy would be very consequential-especially with Cornel West’s appeal over the years in working class communities and communities of color. It could amount to another Nader conundrum-whereas the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader had no chance of winning the White House in 2000 against Al Gore or George W. Bush, but siphoned enough votes to hand Bush the presidency as was the case in New Hampshire and Florida. Except now, the GOP nominee would be far more insane and disastrous between the two frontrunners as of now-Trump & DeSantis. Let our lessons from the past be learned now.

But there’s one other thing that I have to refute more directly: that Joe Biden is a “hypocrite” and differs very little from Donald Trump if at all. This was the argument made between Gore and Bush by Ralph Nader in 2000.

With all due respect to my friend and partner-in-crime Mr. Cornel West, I strongly disagree. And I don’t think the contrasts could be any more clearer between Biden and Trump-or any other MAGA Republican.

Whether it is Trump or DeSantis, they either lost their roots and values or never had them to begin with. Trump inherited money from his father when he was a baby. He made some more money and then screwed it up as a businessman over the years in New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas, or even Atlantic City. He never worked in his life and never did anything for anyone except himself. He runs rampant in conspiracy-peddling and racial & social demagoguery. He is a bigot who looks down at everyone else regardless of skin color, but especially scorns those so-called “undesirables.” And he never did anything outside of his business for the community. His only real hobby in life was a TV show where he fired people. And not to go over it much again, but his presidency was an abysmal disaster.

As for Ron DeSantis, I appreciate whatever service he provided in the military. But it does not offer excuses for his behavior since. DeSantis spent his time on Capitol Hill blocking Obama policy efforts, throwing public theatrics for fame as most Tea Party Republicans did in those days, and grinding government to a halt even on the most basic procedures. As the Governor of Florida, he stoked endless culture wars that have now and will continue to hurt the state and his people economically, while needlessly inflaming tensions between the various communities he pits against one another. Even when he knew how to protect Floridians during the pandemic, he decided to ignore the medical experts and his own previous policies. He did so willingly allowing thousands of Floridians to needlessly succumb to the coronavirus and families to be gashed with holes at the kitchen tables every day. And as the CNN K-Files and the DeSantis 2024 campaign has shown over time, the Florida Governor is nothing but a con artist, a fraudster, and a liar.

That cannot be said about President Joe Biden at all-who is our Uncle Joe for a reason. He is a true symbol of the American Dream, and the hope it still endures, growing up as a Scranton kid and becoming a Wilmington resident. He knows from his time in Claymont, Delaware what it is like to live day-by-day in a somewhat densely populated area and a community that was plagued with environmental hazards and obstacles. He knows from his time in Scranton, Pennsylvania what it’s like to have a successful economy where workers were respected and where businesses were thriving. His family lived it. He knows the struggles of the African American community from his service to the city youth in Wilmington, Delaware, his time in local politics, and the services he brought to the community as their US Senator. He knows the challenge of improving livelihoods and lives because he was doing so himself in overcoming a notable childhood stutter and the bullying from it by school classmates. And not least of all, he knows tragedy & suffering all across the country because he’s seen in his own eyes. He lost his first wife & children to very untimely circumstances.

And these are things not said to evoke sympathy from anyone since people are still struggling Biden had (if not more), but to show how this has shaped President Biden over the decades, and all that he has fought for now with Vice President Harris, the Biden Administration at large, and Congressional Democrats in the progress made through our Build Back Better Agenda-in quite contrast to Trump’s personal vendetta campaign and DeSantis’s culture wars.

He knows the issue of the environment from his time in Delaware with black and brown people (and all folks for that matter). That was why he was a major climate leader in the United States Senate and why he championed the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to take on the climate crisis while using his executive authority to focus on environmental injustices, air & water pollution, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and working on a global sphere. Biden knows the issue of healthcare from his past brain aneurysm history needing that quality care. That’s why he championed efforts to expand Medicaid, lower prescription drug prices, cap insulin costs, and end surprise billing. He knows the issue of education from his wife Dr. Jill Biden, which is why he has stood tooth-and-nail to expand pre-kindergarten and community college, give people student loan debt relief, get profiteering out of our higher education sector, increase funding for public education, holding private, for-profit charter schools accountable, and support our teachers & students. He knows the issue of jobs from his own family’s experiences, which is why he has supported workers’ rights and unions throughout his political career, backed the Dodd-Frank reforms with other consumer protections, supported small businesses sought fairer trade policies, lowered costs, and invested in Rural America in ways few Presidents thought of doing before.

Those experiences have shaped President Biden in other ways too. He used the legacy of his late son Beau Biden to assist veterans exposed to toxic burn pits with the PACT Act. He looked into the spirit of his working class roots and his work in the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act to lay out broadband all across this country, and revitalize domestic manufacturing across the American Heartland, while cracking down on healthcare industry junk fees and corporate polluters. His experience in cities like Wilmington has shaped his approach to taking on gun violence as he did with the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and the Violence Against Women Act, and in addressing the maternal mortality crisis that also plagues the Southern Black Belt and the Rio Grande Valley; building on VP Harris’s previous legislative efforts in the Senate. And whether it’s the drug/opioid epidemic (which for full disclosure impacts Biden’s own son Hunter), the losses from the coronavirus pandemic, or the racial and social divisions post-2020, Biden has led our country with empathy, sincerity, & integrity.

There’s always more we can do and need to do-even when it looks tough as it did with the debt ceiling negotiations, the fall of Big Tech bills, the ongoing dental/hearing aid coverage battle, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, or the Alaska oil permitting process. Progressives must continue those fights as well over the months and years to come. We have more to do-with reproductive justice, gun safety, criminal justice reform, voting rights, behavioral healthcare, and substance abuse intervention. I know Joe isn’t perfect-who the hell is frankly? But is Cornel West’s Green Party bid really the way to address the systemic issues and combat the discontent that still lingers in our country today? The truth is there are only TWO viable choices for President in 2024: Biden & Trump/MAGA GOP nominee(s). And a GOP President would be a massive downgrade for the country.

Again and again, Joe Biden is a man of true decency, honesty, and character. With the legislative progress that has been hard fought and won, along with the 2024 vision forward, it is clear Biden is not Trump. The differences are vast between Biden and Trump-even on the most basic ideals and values we have as a nation. And it is not even a close one by any stretch.

Go Uncle Joe!