Joe Biden is an unacceptable candidate for president. As I have previously enumerated, Biden epitomizes everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party and our political system. He has a nearly fifty-year track record of making disastrous decisions, writing terrible legislation, advocating for racist and misogynistic policies, promulgating conservative arguments, sexually harassing women, unauthentically flip-flopping based on political convenience, and doing the bidding of the wealthy, large corporations, Wall Street, and fellow members of the establishment.

Indeed, in his current form, I could not, in good conscience, vote for Biden, a man who demeans constituents, does not care about the plight of young people, and is showing clear signs of cognitive decline. Electing Biden would fail to fix the multitude of systemic societal problems that lingered prior to the election of Donald Trump, and even helped him get elected, and a milquetoast Democrat that fails to fundamentally address the needs of working people will only result in another disastrous Republican victory in 2024 or 2028 by someone potentially even worse than Trump. No amount of vote shaming regarding the Supreme Court and the need to get Trump out of the Oval Office changes these basic fundamental facts about a Biden presidency.

While many progressives, including myself, have decided against voting for Biden this November, instead opting to vote for the Green Party candidate, writing-in Bernie Sanders’ name, or leaving the top of their ballot blank, Biden does have the opportunity to win over alienated and disillusioned progressives, such as myself, by making fundamental changes to his platform, promising to elevate progressives to positions of power in government, apologizing for his past actions, and authentically promising to implement a progressive vision similar to the one sought by Bernie Sanders. Anything less will be insufficient in the quest to attract progressives to his campaign, and if he, instead, focuses most of his energy on trying to attract “moderate” conservatives, individuals who are, by and large, going to vote for the Republican candidate anyway, he will fail to unite the left in defeating Trump.

Below are the six ways Biden can earn the progressive vote:

1. Select a progressive vice presidential nominee.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is one example of a progressive who Biden should consider for his vice presidential nominee (source).

As someone who is 77 years old, there is a good chance that Biden will die in office if he beats Trump in November. By the time he’d ascend to the Oval Office, he would be 78, he would be 82 by the end of his first term, and if he managed to win re-election in 2024, he would be 86 as he steps aside for the next president to take over.

Unlike many liberals who didn’t support either Biden or Sanders during the primaries due to ageism, I don’t believe that we should subject the presidency to an age cap, however, as I’ll cover in the fourth section, Biden is showing clear signs of cognitive decline. Given the fact that Biden may pass away in office, or resign due to declining physical or cognitive health, therefore, it is imperative that he select a vice president who is ready to take over at a moment’s notice and willing to push our country in a progressive direction.

Many of the names floating around are insufficient. Biden has already promised to select a woman running mate, so assuming he doesn’t flip-flop, we can exclude any hopes that he would select Bernie Sanders as the nominee. There have been talks of selecting former presidential candidates Kamala Harris or Amy Klobuchar, but they are far too corporatist and not nearly progressive enough to win us over. Elizabeth Warren is another potential option, but her betrayal of the progressive movement still leaves a bad taste in the mouths of progressives, so this choice could seriously backfire. Stacy Abrams’ name has been floated since her Georgia gubernatorial loss in 2018, but while she is more progressive than many Democrats currently in power, a cursory overview of her campaign website shows that she doesn’t go far enough on the issues, especially when it comes to healthcare and higher education. As a vice presidential candidate, though, she could move farther to the left than the platform she maintained as a Georgia candidate for governor.

Presidential nominees have the power to select anyone who meets the basic vice presidential qualifications as outlined in the United States Constitution. These requirements, which are the same as the presidential qualifications, include being at least 35 years old, being a natural-born United States citizen, and residing in the United States for at least 14 years. Unfortunately, this disqualifies two of the members of the progressive “squad”, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (who is too young) and Ilhan Omar (who was not born in the United States). That only leaves Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, two outstanding progressive women of color, as potential running mates who’d excite progressives.

Of course, I could continue listing potential recommendations, but there are thousands upon thousands of individuals who could fit the bill. If Biden selects a conservative running mate, or even a Republican (as he considered during the primaries), though, it would further alienate progressive voters, so he would be best served selecting someone who is authentically progressive.

2. Promise to appoint progressive judges and cabinet members.

The United States Supreme Court building (source).

One of the most common arguments we hear from the “vote blue no matter who” crowd is that we should pinch our noses and vote for Biden, despite his aforementioned record and behaviors, because we cannot allow Trump to continue filling the Supreme Court, and other judicial vacancies, with hard-line conservative ideologues.

I don’t buy this argument for three reasons. First, Biden has no legitimacy when it comes to the Supreme Court, specifically when looking back on how he treated Anita Hill, the woman who credibly accused Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in the 1990s. Second, given Biden’s worldview, he inspires absolutely zero confidence when it comes to selecting progressive judicial appointments. Third, the only name that Biden has floated for a potential Supreme Court nominee is Merrick Garland, the one who President Barack Obama nominated in 2016 but was obstructed by Congressional Republicans. Garland was intended to be a “compromise” nominee between neo-liberal Democrats and extremist Republicans, and it shows, given his conservative judicial record.

Progressives agree that judicial nominations and appointments are an important element to consider when deciding who to support for president, but this argument alone will not compel millions of alienated progressives to forget about Biden’s multitude of faults that would allow Republicans to easily re-seize power in the long-term. Plus, even if we only valued the courts, Biden does not inspire confidence when it comes to appointments that he would hypothetically make as president.

Biden could change this. He has until November to release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, and others who he would consider when filling other judicial appointments, and if he actually selects those who operate under progressive judicial and legal frameworks, then the “what about the courts!?” argument touted by Biden supporters and non-progressive, anti-Trump liberals would actually hold water.

Of course, we also need to consider a Joe Biden cabinet. Remember when Obama, who ran as a progressive, filled his cabinet with members of Wall Street? Biden cannot repeat the same mistake. Unfortunately, though, Biden confidants are considering toxic members of the corporate and political establishments to serve on his cabinet, including Jamie Dimon and Michael Bloomberg.

If Biden wants to elicit enthusiasm from progressives, he needs to fire his corporate consultants and provide the American people with a list of actual progressives who he would appoint to his cabinet. These nominees, moreover, must not be selected as a symbolic party unification gesture, as his confidants reasoned when considering Elizabeth Warren’s appointment to the Treasury position. No, all of his picks need to be solid progressives who would be given the power to make our federal government more progressive and enact real reforms, within the authority of the executive branch, or even in partnership with a progressive Congress, that improve the lives of the working class.

By following establishment advisers and promising to appoint corporatist regressives to his cabinet, progressives would simply see his presidency as the continuation of the swamp that Trump is further expanding and polluting by the day.

3. Campaign on a progressive platform.

Joe Biden should adopt a Bernie Sanders-like platform (source).

One of the many reasons why progressives strongly supported Bernie Sanders for president, beyond his unwavering authenticity and his commitment to fighting for the best interests of the working class, was because he maintained a robust progressive policy platform that would positively impact the American people. These included, but were certainly not limited to, implementing a Green New Deal that simultaneously addresses climate change while stimulating the economy through green jobs and infrastructure, forgiving student loan debt and making public colleges and universities tuition-free, and declaring healthcare a human right by implementing a universal healthcare program that covers all healthcare costs without the need for private insurance.

Unfortunately, Biden fails miserably in all three of these areas.

On the environment, Biden advocated for the development and expansion of natural gas and coal, lied that his energy advisor, Heather Zichal, received over $1 million as a board member for a natural gas company, defended oil fracking (even telling a climate activist who challenged him on the issue to vote for someone else), and then later lied about his opposition to fracking, ignorantly argued that scientists don’t believe that Sanders’ Green New Deal would work, and falsely took credit for putting together the milquetoast Paris Climate Accord.

On healthcare, Biden advocates for making small tweaks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare”, and implementing a public option, a proposition that still requires patients to directly pay for care (as opposed to a universal healthcare system). Biden has also viciously attacked Medicare for All for being too expensive, despite the fact that our current system is more expensive, and produces far worse healthcare outcomes, than the rest of the industrialized world, and taking away insurance from union members (without telling us that they would get universal healthcare instead, which is better than, quite literally, any insurance plan). Recently, Biden even implied that he would veto a universal healthcare bill if it were to land on his presidential desk, citing costs.

On higher education and student loan debt, Biden was a champion of the 2000s-era bankruptcy bill that, among other terrible things, made it virtually impossible to discharge student loan debt, and he has since repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue of higher education, stating in 2015 that he believed in free four-year college and then arguing for purely free community college during the 2020 primaries.

As a tiny, weak, shriveled-up olive branch to progressives, Biden proposed means-tested student loan forgiveness and a slight expansion of Medicare to include those who are 60 years old (which is to the right of fellow neo-liberal corporatists Bill Clinton in 1998 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, who both proposed reducing the age requirement to 55). Obviously, these milquetoast attempts to sway progressives will not work, and if he seriously wants our support, he is going to have to seriously campaign on progressive programs that would actually benefit the bulk of the American people.

Biden will need to distance himself from the ACA and call for a universal healthcare program, boldly advocate for universal student loan forgiveness, and actively promote a true Green New Deal that can actually help reverse climate change and revitalize our economy if he wants progressives to take him seriously. Of course, there are many other progressive issues that he needs to highlight in his campaign to gain our support, but these three would certainly be a good start, and offering us breadcrumbs before veering even farther to the right as we enter the general election would only further antagonize the progressive voters that he desperately needs to trounce Trump in November.

Finally, he needs to authentically advocate for progressive reforms; if he runs as a progressive, and subsequently wins, but then governs like a neo-liberal corporatist, we will turn on him in 2024. Therefore, not only does he need to build a genuine progressive platform during his campaign that he actually believes in, he also needs to act on it as president.

4. Seek treatment for his cognitive health.

Biden during an embarrassing interview on MSNBC (source).

As previously noted, Joe Biden is suffering from a clear cognitive decline. There are, unfortunately, many examples that prove this to be the case, including the following:

Even a progressive champion such as Sanders would see a decline in support if he appeared to show a level of cognitive decline equivalent to what we’re seeing with Biden.

This is a serious problem. Progressives are, generally, not ageist or abelist individuals, and we believe that candidates should be able to run for office regardless of age. As we saw with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a progressive who led our country out of the Great Depression and created Social Security while suffering from polio during his historic four terms as president, physical fitness is not necessarily a qualification for the job, however, cognitive health is necessary for swift decision-making in the midst of complex socio-economic, foreign policy, education, and healthcare issues that must be addressed by an actual competent leader, as opposed to Trump.

Unfortunately, Biden has repeatedly demonstrated both a clear cognitive decline as well as a lack of temperament, needlessly picking fights with prospective voters, telling constituents to vote for someone else when even moderately challenged, and openly insulting people’s weight and intelligence. He even told a union worker that he was “full of shit”. While Biden has demonstrated these bully-ish impulses since at least the late 1980s, his cognitive decline may be exacerbating these childish behaviors.

Now that Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee, he needs to reassure voters concerned about his cognitive health that he is fit to perform the job. To that end, he should devote time away from his campaign to seek cognitive health treatment, consulting experts in the field to help fight the decline that he is experiencing. A simple doctor’s note wouldn’t be sufficient; he needs to clearly lay out his cognitive health treatment plan to give us confidence that he is ready to tackle the responsibilities associated with the presidency.

5. Address the credible sexual assault allegation made against him.

Tara Reade, the woman who has credibly accused Biden of sexual assault (source).

We have already known about Biden’s numerous sexual harassment allegations levied against him, including his inappropriate touching of women and children. Biden has, unfortunately, earned his reputation for being “Creepy Uncle Joe”.

Recently, though, one of his former Senate staffers, Tara Reade, accused him of sexual assault. Specifically, she recounted the time when he pressed her against a wall, put his hand up her skirt, and sexually penetrated her, followed by verbally demeaning her, saying that she “was nothing” to him. Reade’s story is corroborated by others who she told around the time of the incident. When she reported sexual harassment, not even reporting the assault itself, she was blacklisted from future opportunities in Washington, D.C., and when she discussed the harassment element of the story last year, she was relentlessly cyberbullied, whereby dissuading her from telling the full story until recently. Now, most of the corporate media is ignoring these credible sexual assault allegations, while others are attempting to discredit her story by, among other things, dissecting her views on Russia (as if one’s geo-political opinions are related to their sexual assault).

The Biden campaign released a statement shortly after the accusations were made denying the story, but he needs to actually provide a serious, substantial explanation for these accusations. Whereas the Democratic political establishment has proven that they only care about the #MeToo movement and victims of sexual assault when it is politically convenient to do so, such as pressuring low-ranking junior Senator Al Franken out of office to make it appear as if they care about survivors and relentlessly attacking conservative Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of the credible accusations made against him by Christine Blasey Ford because he was appointed by Trump, Biden has the unique opportunity to set a strong, progressive, feminist example by seriously discussing the accusation at hand, even as he enjoys the benefits of establishment protection against these accusations.

Specifically, Biden needs to provide an actual address, not a written statement, discussing the accusations. Indeed, the onus is often on the accuser to prove that they were not assaulted, but the rapists and sexual assault perpetrators are often never forced to explain themselves, either due to the statute of limitations or our worship of “innocent until proven guilty”, a high legal standard that should only be used in a court of law, not when determining whether or not we should believe sexual assault survivors.

Of course, given Biden’s aforementioned cognitive decline, it is very possible that he does not remember actually committing the act, or even Reade herself, as she was only employed in his office for a short time, but if Biden wants to simultaneously take sexual assault seriously and demonstrate his cognitive fitness for office, he needs to verbally discuss the accusations in detail.

Finally, he should admit that the allegations are true, assuming that he actually remembers his sexual assault. Issuing an authentic apology and telling voters that he has changed since his tenure as a United States Senator would not only be the ethical thing to do, but it would also contrast quite well with Trump, who has numerous credible allegations against him, which he has denied while misogynistically attacking the victims.

While these steps wouldn’t undue his sexual assault, and while progressives would still face the challenge of “voting for the lesser of two rapists”, an authentic apology and a message that he has changed, that a terrible mistake perpetrated 30 years ago doesn’t define him now, would, perhaps, lead progressives to forgive and vote for him in November. There are, obviously, no guarantees, and we simply cannot expect progressives to vote for someone who has committed such a terrible act, even if that person were to express their regret after the fact, but issuing an honest apology would send the powerful message that he is willing to take responsibility, a positive leadership trait.

6. Apologize for all of the damage he has caused to the American people during his career.

Biden advocating for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veteran’s benefits (source).

Biden has been in office since the early 1970s, and while climbing the ranks of the Democratic Party, he has been responsible for helping to push our nation over a corporatist, neo-liberal cliff, making our economy and government much more regressive, and cheerleading for policies that have negatively impacted the lives of millions of Americans.

Unfortunately, the list is too long to enumerate here, but a few examples include the following:

Voting for pro-life legislation.

Fighting vigorously against efforts to combat racial segregation in schools.

Voting for the Wall Street bailout in 2008.

Championing the bankruptcy bill which made it harder to declare bankruptcy.

Voting for the Defense of Marriage Act which recognized marriage as between men and women.

Voting for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which forced non-heterosexual military members to conceal their sexuality.

Voting to repeal Glass-Steagall, paving the way for the 2008 recession.

Voting for the Iraq War.

Voting for the Patriot Act, which exacerbated mass surveillance.

Orchestrating the Crime Bill, which disproportionately targeted black men.

Voting for anti-worker trade deals, such as NAFTA.

Voting for welfare reform in the 1990s, which increased family poverty.

Voting for expanding immigrant detention and deportations.

Additionally, Biden has had a long history of advocating for regressive policies and ideas, such as the following:

Blaming black parents for the racial education achievement gap.

Promoting fracking.

Opposing universal healthcare.

Cutting Social Security.

Telling the wealthy that “nothing will fundamentally change”.

Praising segregationist senators.

Promoting the War on Drugs, which disproportionately targeted minorities.

Finally, Biden has spent his entire political career lying to the American people, demonstrating a clear lack of temperament, derailing the progressive movement, and proving himself to lack any semblance of leadership. Examples include:

Lying about his support for the bankruptcy bill.

Receiving support from billionaires after promising that he’d forgo big money.

Calling a voter a “damn liar” and “fat”.

Lying repeatedly about his involvement in the civil rights movement.

Hiding from the American people in the wake of the coronavirus.

Lying about sponsoring the Endangered Species Act.

Lying about having a corporatist energy advisor.

Campaigning for Republicans.

Lying about his career-long efforts to cut Social Security.

Lying about his rationale for authorizing the Iraq War.

Lying about getting arrested in South Africa.

Lying about his son dying in war.

Lying throughout his 1988 presidential campaign, which led to his downfall back when the corporate media cared about candidates lying to the American people.

Lying about never suggesting that marijuana is a gateway drug.

Telling millennials that he does not have any sympathy for them.

Telling a union worker that he is “full of shit”.

Harassing women.

These are not exhaustive lists, but they are enough to demonstrate the fact that Biden has a terrible record of pushing regressive policies, lying to the American people, and voting for legislation that has negatively harmed millions of Americans. If Biden can recognize all of the pain, misery, and harm that he has caused during his political career, as well as the multitude of unethical behaviors that he has engaged in, and if he sincerely apologizes for his disastrous record and promises to enact a progressive platform, he may begin to mend the relationship between progressives and the Democratic Party, an entity that is supposed to represent progressive values.