Readers Write: Replacing Biden, political violence, other presidential candidates

Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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If President Joe Biden withdraws from the election and Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the nominee, she has a chance to create a ticket that would be unprecedented, and incredibly exciting, by choosing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as her running mate. Imagine two women at the head of the ticket, one of them a Black professional prosecutor and the other comfortable drinking a beer with the gang in a dive bar.

Politically, it’s risky. The traditional playbook says Harris should choose a moderate white male from a major swing state like Pennsylvania, but the Democratic Party is desperately in need of some excitement and momentum. A Harris/Whitmer ticket would generate excitement and news coverage, coverage so extensive that it would take the oxygen out of the room for Donald Trump. It would also put Trump in an awkward role. His misogyny is well known, and if it comes out too strongly he will lose a lot of women voters.

Both women are strong. They could stand up to Trump’s bombast, and they balance the ticket in an entirely new way: Instead of geographical balance, they provide cross-cultural balance that would appeal to women, Black voters, progressives, blue-collar workers, hairdressers and union members from baristas to steel workers.

A Harris/Whitmer ticket could fail dramatically, but a Harris/safe white male ticket would likely fail anyway. The Democratic Party can’t afford to play it safe. It has to take a chance, because failure is the same, whether dramatically or closely.

Doug Shidell, Minneapolis

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This presidential election is not between two people or even two parties; it is between authoritarianism and democracy. The Republicans have shown their utter disdain for the Constitution by nominating for president a man who encouraged an insurrection and another for vice president who has actually stated that had he been in then-Vice President Mike Pence’s shoes, he would have stopped the counting of electoral votes and prevented Biden from being declared the elected president. These are just two actions among many by the Republican nominees who have repeatedly shown both their unfitness for office and their anti-democratic plans for the country.

The Democrats have one month to nominate candidates who will unite the country with unquestioned devotion to our Constitution and our institutions and truly make ours a government “by the people, for the people,” as democratic government ought to be.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions. Biden has earned the admiration and respect of the public for his lifetime service to the country and in particular his rejuvenation of our nation after Trump’s presidency. But it is time for a new generation committed to a rebirth of freedom here and throughout the world, a ticket that is a national unity ticket across the parties.

Liz Cheney has been ostracized by the Republicans for holding Trump to account in the House Jan. 6 investigations and hearings. She holds her pledge to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution as a sacred honor. She is a true profile in courage and continues to speak out and warn the public that Trump must not be allowed another term. She is also a true Republican and respected by Republicans who do not want to vote for Trump.

Rep. Jamie Raskin is a constitutional scholar and outspoken adherent to the Constitution. He was also on the House Committee on the Jan. 6 attack. His credentials as a true Democrat are unquestionable.

Both Cheney and Raskin are fully qualified to serve in the White House.

A Democratic ticket with Cheney for president and Raskin for VP would be just that kind of ticket that we can all get behind and thereby save our cherished Constitution and democratic system.

The world will thank us.

James Schoettler, St. Paul

The attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life was a completely unacceptable act, as is an attempt to take any human life. This act is more troubling, even if no less abhorrent, because it throws unchecked violence into the political arena of a presidential election.

Let anyone who becomes riled up in the belief that this act (with every indication it was the act of a lone individual) was some sort of conspiracy against Trump’s campaign remember that this is the same Trump who encouraged a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, with its calls to “hang Mike Pence,” ultimately resulting in five deaths.

Whether the act of a lone shooter or a mob incited by irresponsible political rhetoric, all such acts are heinous. Over my lifetime, I have seen scores of nations have changes in leadership determined not by a ballot box but by a hail of bullets. I always believed that we were better than that, but it is hard to reconcile that belief with events of recent years. So far, we have been able to withstand descent into the mayhem of regime change by violent means, but can we retain that privilege? We cannot go on spouting the belief that the United States is better than those other nations, while acting no better than them.

Arthur Dorman, West St. Paul

During the 2020 presidential campaign Joe Biden said, “Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.”

Four years later and “the bridge” has transformed into a wall preventing a younger generation of Democratic Party leaders such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries from taking the helm. Biden’s ego is clouding his judgment and distorting his sense of self with respect to his ability to perform the most difficult job in the world. He is more worried about the perception that he’s being pushed aside, similar to his 2016 experience during the Democratic presidential nomination process.

The Republican Party is faring no better. Former President Donald Trump’s well-documented ego won’t let him step aside and allow younger GOP leaders like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Byron Donalds to steer the GOP ship. He’s more concerned about hosting a 2024 retribution tour and paying back anyone he feels wronged him. His legal challenges also present a major distraction to serving the office of the president.

So instead of having substantive debates with new thought leaders on immigration reform, climate change, the economy, global insecurity, gun violence and individual freedoms, we are caught between the massive egos of two rapidly aging politicians who are putting their own self-interest in front of the best interests of the nation. My sincere advice to both Biden and Trump: If you love this country, step aside and be a bridge, not a wall.

John Cobb, Lakeville

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Have we ever had a presidential election in which both candidates are so out of touch with the public on a vital issue? Only about 30% of Americans believe Biden has the cognitive and physical capacity to be president, and yet he continues to insist that we are wrong. Similarly, only about 30% of Americans believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen, despite mounds of evidence proving that the election was fair. And yet not only does Trump continue to cling to the narrative that he won the election, he has also doubled down on his stance by selecting a running mate who holds the same belief.

Issues that result in 70% agreement are rare in today’s divided electorate, and it’s alarming to me that our two candidates don’t reflect the views of a solid majority. The president is the leader of the free world, and we and our allies count on him to make sound decisions. Can we trust the judgment of either of these men, when their positions on these key matters are so delusional?

Philip M. Ahern, Shorewood