It looks like we are going to be facing a rather unenviable choice in the next Presidential election. Donald Trump seems to be impervious to anything that happens to him or consequences for what he says when it comes to securing the support of a larger number of Republicans. He is clearly the leading candidate for 2024 and it’s hard to imagine any scenario which may unfold that would alter the outcome.

The Democrats, on the other hand, had a great opportunity to change the trajectory of this race. However, it required the emergence of one or more serious candidates to challenge Joe Biden in the primary or make it known earlier that they plan to run for President regardless of Biden’s plans.

A friend recently asked my thoughts on what the basis of a challenge to Biden might look like. I pointed out that, while I believe that Biden has done a relatively good job as President, his inability to excite people, coupled with his age and demeanor, seem to me to be a problem that cannot be overcome. What is most distressing is that, if Trump is the opponent and Biden goes unchallenged as now looks likely, we find ourselves exactly where we were in 2020.

Biden deserves great credit for the job he has done and what he has accomplished.  However, his capacity from ages 82 to 86 to lead a country that is getting progressively younger appears to be unlikely. It is not so much that he is that much older than Trump, but he clearly appears to have less energy than Trump. More importantly, we cannot afford for Donald Trump to regain the White House.

I think it is clear that Trump is the only person that Biden could beat; and, it is also possible, based upon all available data, that Biden could actually lose to Trump. Because of the ramifications of something like that happening, it has been my hope that someone would challenge Biden as I do believe that virtually every Democrat could defeat Donald Trump and have an easier time with doing so than Joe Biden.

To understand the ramifications of a Trump win we should look at the fact that the Trump coalition, at his invitation, consists of white nationalists, antisemites, homophobes, and a large number of conspiracy theorists. It is not just that they are there, but their “great replacement theory” (a carryover from the Nazis) has been actively encouraged by the former President.

Should Trump win the election, his base will expect something from him to carry out their perverse sense of what they want America to be. Sadly, for those of us who do not fit into one of these groups, we are getting an open invitation to leave America. As the son of a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to the United States, I find it to be extremely distressing to contemplate such an option. It is for that reason that I am so concerned.