Thinker and writer Ijeoma Oluo recently posted a video on Instagram elucidating the differences between harm reduction and revolution in American electoral politics. To be clear, revolution will never be had at the ballot box. Oluo dispensed with that notion before the seed could be planted in followers’ minds. As she unpacked the critical difference between harm reduction and revolution, she emphasized the power of voting to mitigate the threat of self immolation imbued in a second Trump term. The (previously) obvious remedy, which should be apparent to even the most casual followers of politics, would be to stick with the incumbent Biden. However, a deeper examination of current political winds reveals two competing narratives.

With an approval rating sitting pretty at 37%, Biden remains deeply unpopular. Voters are being stretched thin by the pull of inflation. Groceries, gas and housing costs tick ever upward while wages lag behind. 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The survival math for everyday people continues to spiral into ever more brutal calculations to solve for how to survive another month. A TikTok account called “Dollar Tree Dinners” is emblematic of this economic moment. The account boasts 1 million followers and robust engagement.

Anxiety about these economic headwinds have dovetailed with Americans’s concern about Biden’s age. The administration refuses to acknowledge the reality, but we still have use of our eyes and ears. At 81 years old, Biden often presents as pallid and doddering. His slack jaw and hushed tones when meeting with international leaders such as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky only enhance the perception of him as a husk of the man he once was. In a culture that is sick with celebrity worship, image is everything. Biden’s image is that of a long in the tooth elder statesman ready to be installed at his ancestral home with a part-time nurse. Certainly not the figurehead of Western power politics.

On the B side are the activists, writers and historians screaming into the void about the existential threat of a second Trump presidency. The Atlantic devoted an entire issue to the apocalyptic specter of President Trump unbound. This is in addition to the gallons of newspaper ink spilled and hours of airtime devoted to illuminating the stakes of this election. For those tempted to dismiss warnings about President Trump redux as “woke mob” hysteria, they only need spend a half hour researching Project 2025. The Heritage Foundation, a right wing think tank, has produced a 900 page plan to radically remake the country in the far right’s image should Trump prevail in November. On Steve Bannon’s “The War Room” podcast, Kevin Roberts, the head of Heritage, threatened a “second American Revolution” should the left dare resist. This is not an academic exercise. There will be blood. And so, we pivot to harm reduction.

At the debate Biden’s mandate was to convince Americans to allow him to continue to stand in the breach and protect us from a man who ominously promised to be a dictator on Day 1. CNN hosted the event in accordance with Team Biden’s terms. There would be no energy exchange with a live audience. To preempt outbursts from Trump, the mics would be muted when his opponent was speaking. Perhaps most inexplicable was CNN’s decision to eschew live fact-checking in favor of allowing the candidates to answer questions without guardrails.

The debate opened with Biden shuffling onto the stage looking waxen and vaguely fatigued. Over the course of 90 minutes, Biden frequently mumbled, lost the thread of his argument mid-sentence and stared into space with his mouth agape. This all while his felonious challenger spewed ever more fantastical lies. Arguably the most devastating moment came for Biden when he struggled to respond to a softball query about the national debt under his administration. He issued forth a garbled series of half statements and visibly attempted to gather himself with eyes closed and lips moving in silent recitation. In an incoherent and ultimately jaw dropping response, Biden asserted that we “beat Medicare”:

… Either one of those numbers made raised $500 million billion dollars, I should say in a ten year period we’d be able to wipe out his debt. We’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the with the Covid, excuse me, with, um, dealing with everything we have to do with, uh, look, if. We finally beat Medicare.

I could feel the collective horror (and my X feed confirmed) of democrats and anti-Trump republicans everywhere. We were scattered like stars in living rooms and dive bar watch parties across the country watching the President of the United States appear to sundown on national television. Biden aides attempted to salvage his reputation by seeding the allegation that Biden had a cold. The debate continued in much the same terrible fashion. Trump smirking and tossing out bold falsehoods such as Nancy Pelosi taking responsibility for the coup attempt on January 6^th , as Biden looked around aimlessly and repeatedly failed to offer a fact check. When the debate devolved into smug insults about golf handicaps it seemed as if viewers had been suddenly dropped into The Upside Down. And so it went until the clock ran out and Jill Biden appeared to orient the President to his surroundings and carefully guide him offstage.

Following the travesty of his performance, no serious person can argue that Biden offers the most potent form of harm reduction. He very obviously lacks the mental acuity to counter a GOP juggernaut that has the congressional, judicial and civil society infrastructure to anoint Trump. Violently if that’s what’s required. Conversely, democratic donors are poised to scatter like so many roaches fleeing the glare of a kitchen light. Left leaning independents and grassroots democrats have had their worst fears validated in prime time. Proceeding with Biden as the nominee against Trump would delegitimize the Democratic Party’s claim as the guardian of the democratic experiment. Unlike Trump supporters, there is no collective mass movement willing to take to the streets to defend Biden’s position. Instead, Biden relies on a coterie of loyal advisors and tight knit family to inflame his delusions, instead of pouring cold water on his pride and pushing him to step aside.

Now is the moment for a younger, bolder progressive to intercede and present a credible alternative to Biden. The bar is in hell, but the Democratic bench is stacked. If Democrats are truly eager to avoid the ignominy of nominating a feeble octogenarian that can only deliver lines with a teleprompter, then the party needs to summon the courage to clear the field. Power players such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senators Corey Booker and Raphael Warnock, and Colorado Governor Jared Polis all represent plausible alternatives to Biden. Each person named has broad-enough appeal to mount a national campaign in a condensed timeframe.

During this election season, the uniquely American ritual of years-long presidential campaigns must be dispensed with. A coordinated push by major donors and the party apparatus can result in a compelling argument for fresh leadership by the Democrats’ August convention. In the likely event the party doesn’t coalesce around one alternative, then a dog fight for delegates on the convention floor should be encouraged to unfold. As Oluo so eloquently pointed out, there can be no revolution within the moribund confines of party politics. In casting our ballots, the best we can hope for is harm reduction. If Democrats retain any vestige of their claim to serve as a sword in the darkness for the average citizen, then they must immediately replace Biden at the top of the ticket.