Don't Be Mad at Joe Biden for his Cozy Meeting With Trump

It's too late for Biden to provide whatever resistance you were hoping for

There’s been a lot of criticism in the media and among Democrats about Joe Biden’s recent meeting with Donald Trump at the White House. America’s pinata-in-chief was apparently too friendly and comfortable-looking for many people’s likings.

On the surface, it’s somewhat understandable. How can you smile like a dope when a person that campaigned as a fascist is sitting right next to you? Doesn’t Joe understand the stakes? Doesn’t he understand what is happening to America?

I’m sure he does. But it’s not his fault Trump is the successor he had to invite.

He was doing exactly what he was elected to do: be normal.

Perhaps simply being normal wasn’t politically viable in 2024, but in 2020 it was just what America needed and wanted. The country elected him that year to be the anti-Trump. He has been that and more for almost four years now.

Why would we expect something different now?

What did people expect him to do? Have Secret Service seize Trump once he entered the Oval Office?

No, Joe is Joe, and he was going to be affable and friendly. He was going to try and lower the temperature in the country by showing acceptance of the country’s choice to elect a madman to manage America’s affairs.

It’s perhaps a bit unsettling to offer this acceptance given the stakes and potential damage Trump could do in his four years in power. But a public denouncement and show of defiance isn’t what is needed from him right now.

After all, America has made its preferences known. Hell, the Democratic Party made its preferences known.

They didn’t want Joe.

Joe is acting like a mature adult. He’s taking it like most people not named Trump would take it.

Don’t be mad at him, when the message he got was “we don’t want you to provide leadership anymore”.

Be mad at the people and institutions that sent the message: the media, other elected politicians, voters….perhaps even yourself. These are the people that acquiesced and are still functioning and making decisions. They have spoken and are continuing to speak.

Biden tried to warn us, and he was criticized as being too dark and not in touch with voters.

He tried to get stuff done. And he actually did. He was criticized as being too quiet, sleepy, and not enough of a cheerleader for these accomplishments.

And now he’s supposed to lead the resistance against Trump? Give me a fucking break.

The only thing left for him to do is try to make it seem like the country’s not falling apart. Kind of like the main character in Life is Beautiful, who must continue the facade of playing a game with his son, so his son is ignorant of the horrors taking place around him.

“But don’t normalize Trump!!”

Too late. He’s been relentlessly normalized for nine years. And he will continue to be normalized by a society that is not currently capable of coming to grips with the realities of a descent into fascism.

It makes absolutely no sense for Biden to try an un-normalize the fascist that America not only normalized but put on a pedestal and elected as President.

The normalization ship has sailed.

It is now up to others to bring it back into harbor; or at least try.

The only thing that makes sense for Biden to do is to smile, hold his head up, and leave with class.

And hope that the America he leaves behind reverses what it’s done before it’s too late.