Often, the problem of bothsiderism — providing an unearned equal status to opposing views held by different political parties even if one is obviously wrong — is not as obvious as it is in the cartoon above. Case in point is Mark Penn’s op-ed in the Times today. The entire op-ed is replete with hidden bothsiderism. Take, for example, all the times he mentions Trump:
Immigration was used effectively by President Donald Trump as a wedge issue to win working class voters. According to the April Harris poll, under Mr. Biden, 59 percent of voters believe that we have “effectively” open borders and, looking back, many even support some of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies.
The Biden administration is also losing in swing areas on immigration, as evidenced by the nine Senate Democrats and the House’s bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that have expressed reservations about its plan to lift Title 42, the Trump administration’s Covid-era policy of intercepting and returningmigrants without due process.
Mr. Biden now says he is running for re-election in 2024. But he is facing limited enthusiasm in his own party for a second run and loses even to Mr. Trump in hypothetical matchups, according to the Harris Poll.
Do you see the problem? Actually, there’s a lot wrong but especially this:
Penn has framed our political crisis as a mere contest between two opponents of equal status who just happen to differ on policy. There is not a single acknowledgment of Trump’s criminality, his cruelty, his bigotry, or his blithering ignorance. To Penn, the current situation is merely one of policy differences between worthy opponents — and which policies poll better. Trump, as unqualified to be president of the United States as Cassie Bowden of The Flight Attendant, is accorded the same deference and status as a serious politician like Biden.
If adopted by Democrats,, Penn’s disguised-bothsiderist framing is guaranteed to lose the Senate and the House this fall. Unfortunately, there is every indication that Democrats do indeed believe that they can win by ignoring not only Trump’s criminality but also the sheer madness and degeneracy of the Republican party.
There is only one way for Democrats to have a chance of holding the Congress in 2022, one that will require immense effort. That is for all major candidates to simultaneously expose the criminality and corruption of Trump and the GOP while, as per Elizabeth Warren, quickly implementing (and just as importantly, promoting) actual policies that benefit Americans.
To pretend that this is simply a political contest between two equally worthy opponents is sheer insanity. Likewise, to pretend that Democrats can win without delivering anything except “well, at least we’re not Trump” is equally crazy. Democrats must attend to it all, with equal energy.