Post-1976, every single presidential election has either had a Bush, a Clinton, or a Biden (or a combination thereof) somewhere on the ticket. And that’s a 45+-year timeframe of 12 different presidential elections! So, yeah – in American politics, institutional momentum and a politician’s long-term brand identification means a helluva lot.
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Eventually, however, all brand identities will mutate. Brand IDs aren’t fixed, static things; they’re constantly evolving – or devolving – and over time, they transform into something dimensionally different from what they once were. For thousands of years, the swastika was a Hindu symbol of good fortune that was wholly disconnected from abhorrent theories of racism, white power, or Nazism. Not so much anymore. And less than 40 years ago, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, a.k.a. the Confederate Flag, was innocuous enough to adorn the roof of an orange Dodge Charger on a kids’ Friday night TV show. Today, there’s not a single TV executive who’d greenlight a kids’ show with protagonists associating themselves with Confederate symbology. Not even in the Deep South (Although they’d approve of it for the villains, of course).
Symbols don’t stand still; they’re in a perpetual state of flux. So, if you care about a symbol, you must protect it from those who would co-opt its meaning and pervert its identity.
However, symbols also have a secondary value: They can serve as a Rorschach test, revealing hidden truths of its subjects. Since a symbol isn’t a finite, tangible thing, your response reveals the associations, predispositions, and prejudices that color your thinking. It’s a cheat code that instantly exposes your worldview.
But it’s not the only cheat code.
When you meet someone’s spouse for the first time, you’ll instantly learn what they truly value – and what they despise. Sure, they might swear up and down that they truly care about A, B, and C, but when their spouse lacks those qualities and instead embodies D, E, and F, then you’ve uncovered the truth about their actual value system. In fact, just ten minutes after meeting a friend’s spouse, you’ll learn more about their actual values, morals, and fears than you would have over a 20-year friendship. This is because when we make really important decisions, we force ourselves to strip away the hype, B.S., and pretenses and focus instead on what truly matters. Your choice of spouse is one example, but this theory also applies to other big, monumental decisions.
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And this brings us to President Joe Biden.
Right now, the beleaguered, oft-baffled president is working feverishly to convince his base not to leave him shipwrecked on the Island of Misfit Toys. Yet the Left’s reaction to Biden’s pleas is absolutely astounding:
Joe Biden is a brand. So is Kamala Harris. All well-known politicians have certain adjectives attached to their names; when you see them, they are what you think about first. And, for better or worse, the Democrats have been “married” to Biden for a very, very long time. He’s been their long-term dance partner for more than a generation.
And they’re ready to toss Biden into the trash heap.
Here’s the irony: For today’s Democrats, the Biden brand hasn’t undergone a sudden, seismic shift; even before the debate, they already knew he was an elderly, gaffe-prone octogenarian. The Biden brand shift, such as it was, has been granular: He went from “older” to “old”; from “battle-hardened” to “battle-weary”; from “occasionally forgetful” to “please get Grandpappy in bed by 8 p.m.”
But these differences are just a matter of degrees. There hasn’t been a wholesale change in Biden’s brand ID. He’s basically the same guy he was one month ago – or one year ago – or even two years ago. And the Democrats know this! So do the American people.
Yet the Democrats’ reaction to Biden is beyond mere pearl-clutching. At this point, it’s pathologically hysterical.
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The polls have Biden just a few points down. It’s still a close race. But the Democrats are freaking out like the end is nigh, the apocalypse is here, and all hope is lost: Enter the Abode of the Damned at your own peril!
They’re terrified, fearful, unhinged, and demanding to change the rules. They were snarky and gloating when they led in the polls; now that they’re trailing for the first time, they’ve lost all confidence in the American people, so they must “save democracy” by limiting the voters’ democratic options. When faced with adversity, their response hasn’t been to fight the good fight and let the chips fall where they may; it’s been to hurl the entire game in the garbage and rage-quit.
It’s shocking and eye-opening to Americans who aren’t political junkies. These are the voters who mostly stay abreast of D.C. jockeying from a distance, and the Democrats’ hysteria directly contradicts the media’s talking points: It’s the Republicans who are emotionally unhinged and undermining democracy; the Democrats are the grown-ups with a steady hand and the maturity to steer the ship. Ever since Trump rode down the escalator and announced his candidacy in 2015, this is what the media was preaching.
But what they preached is not mirroring reality.
Since Biden’s debate debacle, there’s been ample media attention on how Biden’s brand has shifted. All the focus was on Biden, the individual. But the real story – the shift in how the American people perceive the Democrats’ brand – still hasn’t been told.
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At least, not until now.
Even though they don’t even realize it, it’s the Democrats who are telling the story. And it’s the American people who are listening.