Urging a vote against fascism in November, while damning President Biden with faint or no praise or singularly leaning into his mistakes and shortcomings, or simply leaving him out of the conversation altogether, may seem strategically astute, politically clever, and morally on time, but it is none of these. Such an approach, if taken seriously by too many voters would doom the efforts of the rest of us to prevent Trump’s return to the White House.

Such an approach, of course, might resonate with a section of the left and newly radicalized young people, understandably angry about Biden’s failure to demand an end to the genocidal war of the IDF against the people of Gaza. But anger and moral righteousness alone is seldom a good guide to what makes sense politically at this moment, given the whole concatenation of political actors and forces at play, the overarching challenge of activating voters, and the unprecedented stakes of this election.

As my old friend Lenin would say back in the day (I’m paraphrasing): At moments like this, a strictly sober, strictly objective accounting of the whole lay of land in all of its complexity is necessary!