Presidential campaign chaos: Workers still have no real choice

Workers World has learned that President Joe Biden has dropped out of the race between him and former President Donald Trump. As of this writing it appears that Vice President Kamala Harris will run in Biden’s place. This is being presented as an unprecedented development, because no presidential candidate has ever withdrawn after winning their party’s nomination through the primary election process. 

Whatever Biden’s withdrawal leads to, it promises no meaningful change in the political positions of the Democratic Party. Even without “Genocide Joe” as the candidate, its support for the genocide in Palestine will continue — with Democratic and Republican support for continued military aid to the Zionist apartheid state. This will not change with the election of either Trump or Harris.

Workers World will oppose racism and misogyny whenever they raise their ugly heads, and that will happen if there is a possibility that Kamala Harris could be the first Black and South Asian woman president and the second president of color of the U.S. 

But we have no illusions that the mere election of someone who is not Biden will lead to any change in policy in regards to ethnic cleansing in Palestine and the U.S-NATO proxy war against Russia. We don’t expect any drop in the number of murders by racist police, who have by and large operated with impunity no matter who sits in the Oval Office. 

We don’t expect companies like Starbucks, Amazon and Tesla to reverse their anti-union agenda. We also do not expect there to be a reversal to the 2022 reactionary U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade — a historic ruling won through mass struggle that legalized abortion in 1973.

Stopping these injustices will take a massive struggle, and we will do all we can to help this happen.

Both capitalist exploitation at home and imperialist war abroad will continue to make life hell for the working class, especially the most oppressed — as has happened under Biden.

Workers World understands the threat of fascism posed by Trump, J.D. Vance, Project 2025 and Agenda 47. Many workers are legitimately afraid. 

But the only way to win, especially in this era of late-stage capitalism where class antagonisms are razor-sharp, is to build a united global movement of all working class and oppressed people. That movement must act in total solidarity with the valiant resistance fight for the liberation of Palestine and battle every step by the U.S. imperialist regime to drag the people into war.

Workers World supports wholeheartedly the mass protests for Palestine that will take place Aug. 19 and during the DNC. The march is demanding “End U.S. aid to Israel,” which convention delegates should be pressed to call for. Delegates representing “uncommitted” primary voters in a number of states are going into the convention to demand “Not one more bomb.”

Unfortunately members of the “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, shamefully gave Biden their endorsement shortly before his withdrawal. 

We state this firmly: Capitulation and compromise on the issue of genocide is unacceptable.