Democrats’ Euphoria and Joy Has Turned Into Panic

Andy Ostroy
3 min readOct 14, 2024

Three months ago I took it on the chin because I staunchly supported President Joe Biden, felt he was being unjustly pressured out of the race, wanted him to stay in, and believed that he had as good as chance as anyone, if not better, of beating Donald Trump in November. And I was not alone. Millions of Democrats, and Never-Trump Republicans, agreed with me.

It was quite disheartening, and quite frankly annoying as fuck, to be on the receiving end of such unrelenting vitriol from fellow Democrats, who felt that they were much smarter than me and knew better than me, and that I should put aside my own instincts and desires and simply capitulate to their way of thinking because, well, they were so much smarter than me and knew better than me.

I and others feared a Biden withdrawal would throw the Democratic nomination process into chaos. Would create a self-destructive free-for-all where everyone from Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom to Pete Buttigieg and Josh Shapiro would be cannibalizing each other for the top spot on the ticket at the DNC convention in August.

But the chaos never came. And the transition from Biden to Harris was absolutely seamless and flawless. There was instant euphoria and joy. Lots and lots of joy. And it was highly intoxicating. I happily admitted I was wrong and jumped on the bandwagon. I was all in.

But…

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Andy Ostroy

Director, producer, podcaster, writer, resistor, non-profit-supporter of women filmmakers