Democrat Reveals He's 'OK With' Donald Trump Winning Election

Democratic Representative Jared Golden said that he is "OK with" former President Donald Trump defeating President Joe Biden in an election rematch.

In an opinion article titled "Donald Trump is going to win the election and democracy will be just fine," which was published by The Bangor Daily News on Tuesday, the moderate congressman from Maine accused other Democrats of "pearl-clutching" over a Trump win, while arguing that the future of democracy was not at stake in November.

Golden wrote that while other Democrats are "panicking" and contemplating replacing Biden following his poor debate performance last week, he is unconcerned about the election and would "refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system."

"Biden's poor performance in the debate was not a surprise," Golden wrote. "It also didn't rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don't plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I'm OK with that."

"Pearl-clutching about a Trump victory ignores the strength of our democracy," he continued. "Hundreds of millions of freedom-loving Americans who won't let anyone take away our constitutional rights as citizens of the greatest democracy in history."

Golden went on to tout his record of opposing Biden's "Build Back Better" bill, while praising moderate Senator Joe Manchin as "responsible" for doing the same. He then suggested that Americans should celebrate Independence Day while ignoring "the chattering class's scare tactics and political pipedreams."

"This Independence Day, we should reflect on the history and strength of our great democracy, safe in the knowledge that no one man is strong enough to take it away from us," wrote Golden.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Biden and Trump campaigns via email on Tuesday night.

Golden is not the only Democratic member of Congress to suggest that Biden is headed for defeat in the wake of his debate performance, although other Democratic critics of the president have refrained from suggesting that they are at peace with the prospect of a second Trump term.

Earlier on Tuesday, Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democratic member of Congress to publicly call on Biden to withdraw his candidacy in the aftermath of his debate performance.

"President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump," Doggett said in a statement. "I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not."

"Unlike Trump, President Biden's first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw," he added. "I respectfully call on him to do so."

Doggett also said that he was urging Biden to step aside because "too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory," warning that the Supreme Court's pro-Trump ruling on presidential immunity could help "usher America into a long, dark authoritarian era."