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As reporter Aaron Blake quipped, it seems some Democrats have expedited their Kübler-Ross grieving process. Many of them remain in denial, while others are moving through anger, bargaining, or depression.
House Democrat Jared Golden (D-ME) has hit acceptance. In an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News, Golden declares that Trump will win the election, and . that’s just fine. Democracy isn’t on the ballot, Golden argues, but the economy is.
First, though, Golden would like everyone to take a gigantic breath and relax:
After the first presidential debate, lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee. Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise. It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.
There are winners and losers in every election. Democrats’ post-debate hand-wringing is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political loss, but a unique threat to our democracy. I reject the premise. Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.
Good for Golden, but he’s also making an appeal based on his own interests. Golden has won three terms in Maine’s 2nd congressional district, but it has a Cook index of R+6. Donald Trump won the district in both 2016 and 2020 by double digits, and after Joe Biden’s collapse in the debate Thursday, Trump will likely expand his voter turnout in ME-02.
