Michael Moore: Biden Going Out With a Bang
By Michael Moore / Substack
Dear Joe,
What have you been doing? I saw you went to the rain forest. That looked cool. I loved how at the end you just turned away and walked into the jungle as if never to be seen from again. All Presidencies should end this way.
A little over a month ago, I sent you a nice letter with some suggestions for how you could use the rest of your time as President of the United States of America. Things like canceling student debt once and for all, closing Guantanamo, freeing Cuba, freeing Leonard Peltier and pardoning Snowden and doing other good deeds. Instead of doing any of these, you have done none of them.
In fact, if I’m reading the news right, you’re going in the opposite direction. My suggestions were all about cementing your status as a “Great President” — about shaping your legacy, making you an unforgettable figure in the pantheon of all 44 white men who’ve presided over this country before you (and also your former boss). You on the other hand seem to be trying to cement your legacy as a war monger — doubling down on some of your worst mistakes and worst impulses.
So I’ll ask again, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Donald Trump just won the election. In two months, you’ll hand him the keys to the White House and the pin number for the alarm system. And you will be out of time.
Instead of using your precious little time left to do something to HELP THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, your first action after Trump won was to fast track the delivery of over $6 Billion in weapons to Ukraine. Then, you called up Zelensky and gave him the green light to start firing long range ballistic missiles into a country with a massive amount of nuclear weapons, Russia. Then, as if that weren’t enough carnage for one week, you authorized the use of antipersonnel land mines in Russia.
LAND MINES, Joe? Seriously? THIS is your legacy? This is how you want to go out? In a blaze of horror? Like, if Joe’s gotta go, we all gotta go with him… right into World War III?
Joe — America has spent well over a BILLION DOLLARS removing landmines from places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (you know, the places we invade and then leave our landmines behind). Vietnam was 50 years ago, Joe. And kids today in southeast Asia are still getting their arms blown off by our landmines. That’s your legacy, Joe. This is what you’re doing.
This week, 19 brave Democrats rose in the Senate and voted in favor of halting a shipment of weapons to Israel. And what did the Biden White House do? You lobbied against these Democratic Senators. You were scared that others would join them, pleading with Schumer and the others to vote them down, to shut them up, to keep arming this slaughter in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon. So you decided to slander this group of Senators from your own party. You said that by halting these armaments to Israel, these Democrats were on the side of Hamas.
Also this week, at the United Nations, 14 of the 15 members of the Security Council voted in favor of an IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE in Gaza. Fourteen of Fifteen, Joe. And your administration cast that 15th lone vote to veto a chance for peace. America once again single handedly blocked the ceasefire. The only country speaking out in favor of more death and destruction was the one you and I are citizens of. This is your legacy, Joe?
The week ended with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the most important criminal court prosecuting war crimes in the world, issuing an actual arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu. Democracies throughout the world — including Canada — announced that they would abide by the ICC warrant and take Netanyahu into custody should he ever set foot on their soil. And your White House’s response was to reject the warrants and condemn the court for issuing them? For pursuing justice? Is this your legacy, Joe?
What about us, Joe? What about America? You have two months left in office. What are you going to do with this time? Maybe you should stop arming foreign wars and leave that for the next guy. Maybe instead, you should focus on things that matter to Americans.
So once again, Joe, I am calling on you to use your power of the pen — and your COMPLETE IMMUNITY! — to make some real and powerful change.
How about starting with a no brainer? The EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT for women.
You have the power to order the E.R.A. be officially published in the United States Constitution. You’ve had nearly 4 years to do this. It was ratified by the required number of states and it should be published as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. Women, who make up 51% of the American population — THE MAJORITY — should finally be recognized as equal citizens and equal human beings, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, just as they are in almost every single other Western Democracy.
A massive coalition of groups, all across America have come together this weekend asking millions of Americans to EMAIL AND CALL THE WHITE HOUSE EVERY DAY for the next two months, calling on you, Joe Biden, to finally make the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land.
You have the power to do this, Joe. You have the power to make this your legacy.
So, Joe, I’m really telling you for the last time: JUST DO IT.