Is the 'Biden Derangement Syndrome' a Legit Thing?
As a member of the Classical Left who fights to promote the traditional values and goals of pro-working class socialism and civil liberties, this has put me in the position of opposing the Democrats. At least since the 1990s they have fully embraced the capitalist class and become their servants as readily as the Republican Party.
In fact, in one sense the Democrats serve the plutocracy better than their sister wing in the duopoly, because they get many on the Left to support neocon & neoliberal economic policies. This includes spending countless billions on fighting a constant slew of destructive wars abroad rather than on economic policies to help the working class on the homefront.* In the process they make many on the Left out right thirsty for war, thus destroying the important anti-war component of the traditional Left.
They also make them tolerant of corporate rule and inure them into demanding nothing from politicians in exchange for their support, and to consider them ‘pro-working class’ for no reason other than that they claim to be. Further, they condition their followers to oppose not plutocratic rule in general but simply the Republicans, and to consider the latter to be worse than the Democrats for no demonstrable reason other than the fact that they are Republicans. So, they continue voting for one wing of the corporate duopoly rather than opposing the duopoly altogether.
Finally, they make them support various authoritarian measures in the name of democracy while blinding themselves to the fact that civil liberties are supposed to apply to everyone, including people you dislike or consider to be enemies.
*To wit: Would the Left have supported blatantly conservative economic policies like the Welfare “Reform” Act of 1996 that impoverished numerous families; or “free trade” agreements like NAFTA that shifted so much American jobs offshore; or the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that regulated the banking industry (which resulted in the 2008 crash and still-ongoing Great Recession); or the 1996 Telecommunications Act that consolidated most media outlets under six big owners et al.?
Not to mention the massive escalation of wars between the 2000s to the present…
… if any of these things were initiated by Republican administrations instead of the Dem administrations of Clinton, Obama, and Biden?
And why are notorious Republican neocons like Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz now supporting Kamala Harris, the un-elected successor to Biden? Take a guess.
However, many individuals who purport to oppose plutocratic rule still remain loyal and tethered to the Democrats to varying degrees. They suffer a disproportionate degree of loathing towards the conservatives in general and Trump in particular, and as such they expect everyone who purports to be on the highly fragmented ‘Left’ to oppose the possibility of his being elected first and foremost — and putting aside any economic agenda for the working class, and ignoring opposition to the policy of perpetual war, in the process.
This means that however they may feel about Biden — and now, Harris, but let’s stick to Biden for now, as he is completing the final months of his disastrous four-year run as Prez at this writing — they insist that we of the Classical Left unite with the Mainstream Left — and thus, the Democrats — to keep Trump out of office, even if only long enough to do just that. Then we can worry about the working class economic agenda and our rapid road towards World War III.
Never mind the fact that the Mainstream Left supporting the Dems are clearly against the working class agenda and are firmly on the side of the capitalists in the Class War. And never mind the fact that Trump will eventually be replaced by a new Republican Boogeyman to rationalize the same type of behavior. Why do these dissonants insist that we ignore years and years of the identical pattern and keep supporting Democrats simply to keep Republicans out of office?
This has caused conflict and fights between friends who may otherwise agree in a general sense that plutocratic rule must end. Not all of these people particularly like Biden or the Democrats. However, they still insist that Classical Left socialists should lay off heavy criticism of Biden (and now, presumably, Harris) because that may help Trump win.
In other words, the Trump Derangement Syndrome runs so deeply into their psyche that it has transcended the political to become personal. It has resulted in a level of loathing that treats Trump as the worst type of asshole imaginable, as well as a modern day Hitler-like figure and official mascot of the Ku Klux Klan.
This as opposed to what he actually is: a boisterous, crass, egotistical capitalist who is outside of mainstream political circles and is first and foremost a businessman who makes deals — honest and underhanded alike — rather than waging wars for the profit of the Military Industrial Complex and the Petroleum Industry. Which, btw, is why the neoliberals of both duopoly parties hate him so much — at least outside of the country club golf games, their mutual kids’ weddings, gala celebrations for the rich, etc.
That all leads to a form of cognitive dissonance where those who dislike capitalism in a general sense nevertheless insist that Trump, or any Republican or conservative (but particularly him), are worse than Biden, or any Democrat, or any card-carrying liberal/SJW. And their dissonance seems to perceive this as a political cause rather than a personal affectation.
Hence, they get angry with friends or potential allies in the Class War who criticize Biden and the Democrats too strongly. Keeping Trump out of office, and hating him and what they think he represents — white supremacy/racism against PoC; authoritarianism/anti-democratic leanings — becomes more important than opposing the duopoly and the capitalist class as a whole.
So, they take sides on the basis of “lesser evilism.” They insist that as bad as the Democrats might be, they are still better on social issues, civil liberties, and pro-working class economics than the Republicans, even if only marginally so. And despite how bad they may be, Trump is so much worse that we have to side with them against him.
Therein lies the source of the conflict, and therein lies accusations of those of us on the Classical Left being afflicted with “Biden Derangement Syndrome.”
To be clear, this does not necessarily translate into an insistence on their part that we like Biden. Rather, it’s an accusation that we dislike him way out of proportion to what is actually warranted by both his personal history and track record over 40 years in politics, at least compared to those of Trump.
That, along with the suggestion that it’s more personal than political on our part as well.
But how true is that when you actually look at Biden’s lengthy conduct record? And when you compare it objectively to Trump’s?
And is there indeed a personal element to our heavy dislike of Biden? And if so, is it unjustified?
Biden’s Long and Well-Documented Record of Conduct
Let us start by taking a look at Biden’s heavily documented record during his nearly 50 years in politics to see if the evidence indicates that he is a better man overall than Trump.
Exhibit A: Biden the Chronic & Shameless Liar
The Dem supporters or dissonants will claim that no one is a worse liar than Trump. Yet Biden is such a heavily documented chronic liar that exposure of such by the media derailed his first bid for the presidency way back in 1987–88. And that link comes from the YouTube channel of no less a pro-Dem rag like the New York Times.
Now take a look at five of his most notorious and egregious lies that left him grasping at straws to rationalize the falsehoods. And how he continued to repeat those lies decade after decade.
Does Trump lie a lot? Absolutely. But is he worse than Biden in that regard? Look at the documented evidence of his long history of demonstrable stated falsehoods that have been revealed because he says them and then later contradicts them in televised interviews and spiels.
As an indicator of his honesty and integrity, not to mention common sense, note how he was caught plagiarizing others during his 1988 presidential campaign speech. And this from the YouTube channel of another pro-Dem, capitalist owned paper, the Washington Post.
Finally, Krystal Ball took him apart for his litany of lies spread during his 2020 primary debate with Bernie Sanders here. And he made more of them during his infamous 2024 debate with the Orange Guy that turned out to be the death knell for his fellow liars in the Dem Party in terms of trying to cover up his cognitive decline.
And I’m supposed to side with these people over Trump instead of voting for someone outside the duopoly?
Exhibit B: Biden the Racist and BFF of Strom Thurmond
I’m sure you know that the many uber-haters of Trump claim that he is a horrid racist, to the point where he has become a symbol of white supremacy in the eyes of liberals and anyone else who hates him.
Are any of these people aware of — or care about — his long record on racist policies that have earned him the nickname ‘Jim Crow Joe’?
This includes his friendship with and work on various policies alongside his good friend, the late notorious white supremacist & Ku Klux Klan member Strom Thurmond. Notable sordid examples include his opposition to bussing that was designed to racially de-segregate schools. Others include the heavy escalation of the Drug Wars and being a major architect of the 1994 Crime Bill, both of which disproportionately targeted young black men to a massive extent.
Note here from Democracy Now! how Biden fueled this mass incarceration alongside the bail-outs for the banks after they did exactly what you would expect them to do after Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagal Act for them.
Is this the sign of a man I should dislike less than Trump? Or someone who is in any way demonstrably worse?
And isn’t it hilarious how Biden attempts to whitewash these unpleasant facts by putting opposition to white supremacy as a major part of his re-election platform alongside the non-existent economic policies? Or treating a working class black family to a fried chicken dinner (I’m not making this up!)?
That reminds me of the type of humorously transparent damage control Denny’s did back in the ’90s when Denny’s tried to offset multiple accusations of racist treatment of customers (see here and here) by soon hiring a black actor to represent “Denny” himself as a mascot in commercials.
Exhibit C: Biden the Incessant Warmonger
How about Biden’s horrific warmongering that goes back decades? He may have helped start more wars than he told lies, which is really saying something. The guys at Due Dissidence cover this pattern, where he supports and justifies every war in recent decades, along with more of his lies, here. One would think one of his big sponsors—alongside Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin—was Ares. No doubt Biden is quite sacred to the Greek god of war.
Please understand this: As a member of the Classical Left, I oppose war strongly. I am no pacifist, but I am against provoking and prolonging wars for reasons of profit and imperialist conquest. And I will not support a warmonger simply because they belong to a certain political party. That includes my denunciation of RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard for supporting Israeli war crimes despite their firm opposition to other wars.
Trump was pushed into his share of war-based atrocities during his administration, and he deserves all the criticism he received for it. But he didn’t start any new wars, an extreme rarity for a president in recent decades (in contrast to how Obama escalated the two wars started by the Bush/Cheney administration to seven). Yet in just four years, Biden funded & provoked wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and South Africa. And he has worked hard to provoke wars against China and Iran, not to mention the $109 billion his administration gave to Kenya to smack down Haiti at the behest of the U.S. war machine and his destructive immigration policy connected to it.
During his truly unhinged 2024 speech at the Dem National Convention (back when the Dem pundits and media mouthpieces they control were still lying about his mental decline) he expressed no economic agenda for the working class but a big agenda for continuing the immensely destructive proxy war against Russia by using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder.
And I’m supposed to dislike this guy less than Trump? It’s a sign of a Derangement Syndrome that I dislike him just the same?
Exhibit D: A Heavily Indebted Nation Thanks Largely to… Well, Guess Who
Millions of Americans are dealing with crushing debt (student; medical; credit card), after that infamous Bankruptcy Bill passed during the 2000s made it nigh-impossible to relieve college debt under bankruptcy law and considerably more difficult to get relief from creditors in general.
As noted here, Biden’s sometimes-ally, sometimes-rival Elizabeth Warren discusses how Biden signed that bill, along with the overwhelming majority of Democrats. And this video also quoted Forbes magazine on 3/16/2020 as noting that Biden did this because he has 66 billionaire donors and a super Pac.
This bill was deliberately designed to exploit the situation of people who were in financial trouble, and was one of the biggest screwovers pulled against the working class in recent history. And Biden was happy to accede to the lobbyists for the credit card companies and legal loan sharks like Sallie Mae, the latter of whom exploited the dreams and ambitions of young working class people who hoped to better themselves via higher education.
I was one of those many millions of poor Americans who ended up in extreme student debt because of that, and this happened at the same time other machinations from the duopoly resulted in the Great Recession.
Need I mention that blacks and Latinos were disproportionately thrown into back-breaking college loan debt thanks to Biden and his cohorts for capitalism?
And I’m not supposed to dislike Biden every bit as much as Trump? I’m not supposed to hold the Democrats every bit as accountable as the Republicans, or even arguably more so since unlike the latter the former claim to represent my economic class?
Exhibit E: Biden and Dems on Civil Rights in the Post-Bush Era
It’s pretty common for Dem supporters on the Left and dissonants — including those who purport to loathe capitalism — to make the outrageous claim that Biden is better than the Trump on respect for civil liberties. And that Dems are better than Republicans on that.
As of the past 40 years, that really depends on which has more social and media power at any given time. During the 2000s, I was often on the side of the Dems when the conservatives were threatening civil liberties in the worst way during the Bush/Cheney years, especially post-911.*
*Now I have to deal with Cheney again, only this time as a supporter of the unelected Democrat nominee. That sure gives me good reason to vote for Harris just to keep Trump out of office, huh?
But then Obama got elected and the liberals tasted power. Then Obama and the rest of the Dems failed to undo the Patriot Act or end the War on Terror panic that enveloped the nation following 9/11. Why? Because the Dems had since become a firmly capitalist-controlled party and was beholden to the same donors as the Republicans.
And the liberals showed they were no better than the conservatives by essentially taking their place as fanatics for de-platforming; shadow banning; taking authoritarian control over social media & the halls of academia; and taking the Republicans’ place as the duopoly party that works in collusion with the CIA and FBI, along with many big corporations, towards this end.
As for Biden specifically… well, his horrendous record on civil liberties is likewise well-documented. Some of his disturbing history on this was already mentioned above. The rest of it can be seen in the aforementioned link.
And I’m supposed to see this guy — or his pre-selected successor — as some type of champion of democracy that is going to “save” us from Trump’s allegedly worse authoritarian agenda? And to the point that I should vote for someone like that and unite with his followers simply to keep Trump out of the White House after things for the working class got worse after Biden took over from Trump? Rather than supporting a third party alternative whose platform actually supports what the Left has traditionally fought for?
Exhibit F: The Economic Issues and Broken Fucking Promises
Let me make something clear: I take opposition to plutocratic rule very seriously. I very strongly support the traditional policy platform attributed to the Left regarding pro-working class policies.
That means I want nothing less than the end of plutocracy and the establishment of a true Economic Democracy.
In the shorter run, it means I want — no, demand — that the government gives the working class things such as…
universal health care;
a meaningful job guarantee with a living wage;
shelter & utilities as a human right;
a good measure of food as a human right;
the repeal of that Bankruptcy Bill;
the full & immediate end to all student and medical debt;
the establishment of a UBI;
the reduction of the work week and work year with no reduction in compensation courtesy of advancing automation & AI;
full public funding of all elections;
full nationalization of large social media forums that millions of people use to acquire information & to make their voices heard.
But Biden and the Dems have made it clear they’re not going to do any of that. They repeatedly promise these things, and repeatedly break those promises with the same excuses over and over again. That is, blame the Republicans while ensuring that enough Dems always vote in a way to get pro-corporate legislation passed and to see to it that pro-working class policies are not, as described quite well here.
And I’m supposed to believe that the Dems want to give us these things more than the Republicans? And that they would do so if not for the Repubs?
And that Biden is a better person overall than Trump when he belongs to the same economic class? And likewise works so strongly against the working class while? And in his case, by bamboozling so many on the Left and on the fringes of it to keep supporting the capitalist class by taking the side of one of its wings?
Why Do Some People Who Oppose Plutocracy Continue to Support the Democrats Against Trump?
This is what I think based on having my share of friends and colleagues of this sort.
Many of them live in “red” states or at least in “purple” states that lean more conservative. They see the worst examples of these sorts of people at work, family get-togethers, etc instead of the worst examples of liberals as they would had they lived in a “blue” state like I do.
They hear snide racist asides from these people, but rarely if ever the very overt anti-white comments made at DEI-infused workplaces, universities, and local social media community forums that you do in my neck of the woods.
They hear the conservatives blaming the liberals for all working class problems in the country while never blaming the system itself… as opposed to hearing liberals blaming conservatives for all working class problems in the country while never blaming the system itself. Or, for that matter, liberals criticizing the system while voting for and supporting capitalist politicians who uphold that very system. So, they end up disliking the conservatives considerably more than the liberals.
And these conservatives tend to support Trump. Hence, these people end up loathing Trump far more than the capitalist politician who supports the same system from the other wing of the duopoly.
Please note that this isn’t the same thing as actually liking liberals or the Dem corporate shill (currently, Biden and Harris). It means they simply dislike one contributor and beneficiary of the problem more than the other contributor and beneficiary. This causes them to build up far greater resentments towards the bully they have to deal with personally rather than the other, equally bad bully that they do not. So, they prefer to team up with the bully from another school against the one they have to deal with at their own school.
Trump therefore comes to symbolize the worst of the worst to them. While Biden is seen as simply milquetoast bad in comparison. And the liberals appear tolerable by comparison to the conservatives in their eyes.
So, they are emotionally manipulated into believing that keeping Trump out of office must be paramount to anything else on the Left’s agenda. Hence, they get angry at friends and colleagues on the faction of the Left that sticks to traditional principles to the extent that they will not work with the Mainstream, Dem-supporting faction to keep Trump out of office.
To them, sticking to the traditional Left opposition against plutocracy is helping Trump to win. And they feel the same way about Classical Leftists taking Biden or other Dems fully to task for circumventing these principles, since they likewise believe that this helps Trump to win.
They connect Trump to the worst that capitalism has to offer rather than being a mere symptom of it. Hence, they want everyone on the Left to consider keeping Trump out of office as their main priority.
Does the Strong Loathing of Biden by the Classical Left Have a Personal Component to it Also?
Absolutely. And why? Because unlike the Republicans, the Dems have hi-jacked the Left and turned it into an arm of the plutocracy rather than opposition to it. They have bamboozled many working class people into supporting the system by pretending to represent them.
Accordingly, they prolong the misery of the working class under this system while pretending to be our friends. Their lies, broken promises, warmongering, and corporate policies allowed Trump to come to power in the first place, and their extremely undemocratic policies have caused long-time Dem party loyalists like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to join forces with Trump and the Republicans since they now believe that the latter are actually more democratic than the former.
And living in a “blue” state, unlike those friends of mine who I mentioned above that live elsewhere, I have to deal with the direct consequences of destructive Dem policies hiding behind a virtue shield on a daily basis. This includes the “restorative justice” policy that causes the streets of my city, and many others, to be filled with drug addicts, mentally ill homeless people, and various criminals that these shitlibs refuse to help or get off the streets with either the social democratic policies mentioned above or via reasonable policing to protect the innocent.
Instead, they replace the over-policing all-too common in “red” states with the opposite extreme, i.e., virtually no policing and refuse to arrest people who steal from porches, shoplift, and harass innocent people in the streets in various ways.
These Dem states, like those governed by a Repub, refuses to provide these street people with guaranteed shelter, medical care, food, etc that would go a long way towards helping them in compassionate ways. Instead, the libs simply keep them on the streets and insist that law-abiding citizens stay out of their way and overlook their constant stealing and accosting. And they also cry foul when we are forced to defend ourselves, our families, our homes, and our neighbors.
Further, the liberal supporters of these Dem governors and mayors mock, bully, and threaten citizens who speak out about this, or demand reasonable levels of policing along with social democratic policies.
They respond by throwing blatantly anti-white slurs at people who complain— even though many of these complainants are PoC, and many of the offenders are white — and insist that these social democratic policies are “too far Left” for them. And when we push back on them, they report us to the administration of these social media forums, who promptly delete our posts or suspend us since they claim that our complaints violate their “anti-racist” and inclusion policies.
People who live in “red” states or more conservative-leaning “purple” states do not ordinarily have to see or deal with liberals who do this. So, to them, conservatives appear to be a worse part of the problem rather than the flip side of the same one.
Yet I am supposed to vote for Democrats? I’m supposed to see one side of the same coin as worse than the other?
No, I see the system itself as the problem, and I take no sides between those who perpetuate it and profit from it. And I do not think that all of the evidence provided above suggests that it’s unjustified to dislike Biden every bit as much as Trump, or that it won’t matter to the working class which of these corporate cretins end up winning.
But that same evidence clearly shows that disliking Trump more is indeed a bona fide Derangement Syndrome, since he is not qualitatively worse in any empirical manner. If you want to defeat the plutocracy, then you should oppose every aspect of it equally.
How Should You Deal With Friends or Colleagues Like That?
Very simple. If you value them in your life, and vice versa, then forge a mutual agreement not to have these arguments with them.
Agree not to bring up and deride Biden (or whomever becomes his successor) around them if they do not bring up Trump. Make an agreement, spoken or otherwise, not to say things that you know is only going to piss the other off, because even if they let it go for a while the anger and annoyance will gradually build up until they lose their patience and really let you have it. Or the other way around.
Since their disproportionate loathing of Trump is emotional, you are not likely to convince them that Biden or the Dems or the liberals are as bad as the Orange Man and members of his wing of the duopoly. Presenting heaps of evidence as I did in this post will do you no good. They will simply deny the evidence, the argument will become circular, and all you will do is annoy each other. And keep in mind that friendships can be lost if this gets too personal or too out of hand.
You will just have to mutually accept that both of you can only agree with the other in a very general sense on this topic. So, keep your discussions or mutual venting sessions against the plutocracy very general, without mentioning specific politicians.
Also, limit your arguments to public forums. Let them debate you there if they want, because in that case the exchange will at least be productive since many people will be seeing it, not just your friend or colleague. But if doing so angers them too much, they should avoid engaging with you about it altogether.
Sometimes we truly need to separate the personal from the political, and this is one of those cases.