Pamela Fender
3 min readJun 29, 2024

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Here's something you all ought to read from JoFromJerz.:

Look, I agree that Joe Biden had a pretty rough night, anyone saying otherwise, isn’t being honest, and dishonesty is what they do, not us.

For the record, Trump was abysmal, unless of course, you’re scoring on the volume of lies told and the number of policy questions ignored.

I can recognize the reality of last night while also understanding that one debate does not a candidacy nor a presidency make, so here is what I’m going to focus on today, and every single fucking day from now until Election Day:

Donald Trump is a CONVICTED FELON, business fraud and adjudicated rapist who incited a deadly attack on our Capitol in an effort to subvert democracy and toss out the votes of more than 80 million Americans because he couldn’t handle the fact that we rejected him. He’s a sociopathic megalomaniac who has bragged about grabbing women by the pussy, mocked a disabled reporter, says immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of our country, and refers to his political adversaries as “vermin.”

He intentionally and perpetually divides human beings into factions based upon their differences and then pits them against each other because it is in that hate-filled space where he can grab on to the kind of unchecked power he knows deep down he could never actually earn on the basis of his personal merit, of which he has none.

He’s a sexist, racist, homophobic xenophobe who doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone but himself.

He has no regard for humanity, no use for decency and he sure as shit has no allegiance to our democracy.

He has said he will be a “dictator on day one”, and he means it.

He’s not besties with murderous autocrats because they wear the same dress size.

He likes them because he wants to BE them. And if handed another four he WILL be them.

The rights he’s already stripped from us will look like child’s play compared to what he would take from us if given the chance.

And maybe Joe Biden wasn’t at the top of his game last night, maybe we had all hoped for a better performance, maybe he wasn’t perfect, but here’s the thing — he didn’t have to be.

One night is not reflective of his last four years and it is not indicative of his next four either.

Joe Biden has stewarded this country competently and safely. He’s gotten MASSIVELY good things done for us, and he wants to do more. He wants US to have more. More rights, more freedom, more personal power in shaping our collective reality.

And he is not interested in taking this democracy over the side of a cliff.

We’ve had 4 years of him keeping us on solid ground. And we’d get 4 more years of him making sure the foundation is sound, the cracks repaired. The immediate threat to democracy, vanquished, if only for now.

So that he can pass the torch that’s still lit to the next generation. And in that race, we can duke it out over who we think is best. The people decided on Joe, and they will choose someone new in ‘28.

But we gotta get to 2028 intact, or what we’re gonna get is “day one dictator” and an autocratic future of “Supreme Commander” Trumps in line of succession for generations.

So, I’m not going to focus on one night. Instead, I’m going to focus on recalling the constant chaos that was the four years under Trump. I’m going to focus on the competency of the last four under Biden, and I’m going to do everything in my fucking power to make sure that the madman who golfed while refrigerator trucks piled up with the bodies of our fellow citizens, called our fallen heroes of war “suckers” and “losers”, and sent a rabid mob to hang our lawmakers never gets anywhere near the White House ever again.

And I’m going to hit harder than I’ve ever hit in my life, because I made a promise to my kids in 2016 that I would fight to right to the wrong that was Donald Trump with every fiber of my being.

So that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Today, tomorrow and every single day that passes while I live and breathe, I’m going to fight to keep him from holding power ever again.

That’s what I’m going to focus on.

Not on a single debate I’d really like to forget.

(Even though I watched it from Biden campaign headquarters which was really fucking cool).

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Pamela Fender
Pamela Fender

Written by Pamela Fender

Author of Beside Myself: Recovery From My Family Betrayal and Estrangement-A Memoir. Poet, memoirist, yogi, swimmer, animal lover, and political activist.

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