In the 2020 general election, voter turnout in Philadelphia — 66 percent — was the highest it had been in 25 years. The strong support for Joe Biden in the city helped flip the state back to Democratic after the disaster that was 2016. Donald Trump left the White House. President Biden was sworn in. Our democracy was supposed to be back on track.
But as we enter another presidential election year, our democracy is once again approaching a cliff’s edge, and we’ve got very little time to put on the breaks. Since Trump left the White House, he has continued to promote false claims on elections, tear down the justice system, and pledged downright frightening authoritarian actions should he win back the Presidency next November.
In 2024, we have to work even harder than we did in 2020 to ensure Joe Biden gets reelected. Your single vote is not enough. It’s going to take a unified effort, locally, statewide and nationally, to stop the nuclear bomb that is Donald Trump. Figuring out where you can best fit into that effort will be key to keeping our country safe.
First, you could help drive voter turnout right here in Philly. While Philadelphia’s 2020 turnout was the largest since 1984, it still lagged behind Pennsylvania as a whole. Other areas of the state had better voter turnout, including areas that voted majority for Trump. That cannot happen in 2024. As we’ve learned from every single Democrat’s success in our state, we need Philadelphia to come out strong. Whether that’s driving people to the polls on election day, helping to spread awareness of mail-in voting, or registering new voters, increasing voter turnout is something that everybody can help build, especially in neighborhoods that have shown lower turnout in recent elections.
In addition to registering new voters and ensuring that people cast their votes, we must ensure that people understand the gravity of what is at stake should Donald Trump get elected again. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, recently called Trump a “wannabe dictator.” And the one and only reason Trump isn’t an actual dictator is that he’s not in power. Should he win the presidency in 2024, he would seek to shift the balance of power in American squarely to his office, including the ability to fire career government officials. To that end, his allies are currently making lists of lawyers who will essentially greenlight anything Trump wants to do, lawyers who are even more conservative and even more deferential to him than the Federalist Society members appointed in his first term. It would truly be a system of one-man rule in America.
Perhaps a more tangible argument, rather than the damage done to the federal government, would be the state of abortion care and LGBTQ+ rights should Trump win a second term. At the highest level, it’s likely Trump will get to appoint another Supreme Court justice, since either or both Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would want to retire under a Republican president. That would ensure a conservative majority for 20 or even 30 more years. Then you have the numerous federal judges that Trump would appoint (he has already appointed over 200). Combined, those two levels of the judiciary would lead to more rulings like 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which allows individuals to deny services to people because of their religious beliefs, and Dobbs v. Jackson, which denies the right to an abortion.
It’s never too early to start having those uncomfortable conversations — with friends, family and acquaintances — about why a second Trump presidency would be catastrophic for America. It’s also never too early to join grassroots organizations that register voters, spread civic awareness, and protect democracy. We need to start doing both of those things now, and en masse, in order to ensure 2024 doesn’t end up like 2016.