Where has 2016-2024 gone: Airbrushed from history

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- The Soviet Union and its comrades in China believed the winners write, or re-write, history. One-time members of the politburo were routinely "disappeared" from the record and their photos airbrushed out of existence. But those practices generally were avoided in American politics.

That does not mean American politicians never distorted or ignored truth and facts when convenient. Called "flip-flopping," U.S. politicians often altered positions so quickly as to induce whiplash. Yet, 2016-2024 reflects eight years of total amnesia or cynicism unprecedented in American political history. Democrats and Republicans should plead equally guilty. However, who will hold both accountable?

In 2024, the new Kamala Harris emerged as a modern day Athena, fully grown not from Zeus' brow but from the Democratic spin machine. Given her current views on most important political issues, it is obvious she was on some form of leave from government for the past four years. Of course, the conditions that shaped Harris' thinking in 2019 were profoundly different from 2024.

As a presidential hopeful then, Harris favored what were considered left wing positions on the environment and the "green new deal," on Medicare for all and on social security, opposing "fracking," and in closing the huge wealth gap in America. What happened? One can argue reality intervened.

Harris realized these views and positions would not and did not attract a measurable amount of public support. However, she, after becoming vice president and part of the Biden-Harris team, could not dissociate herself from Joe Biden 's policies without challenging the credibility of the administration. During those four years, tectonic transformations restructured domestic and international politics. The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2022, the war in Gaza , and the effects of inflation could not be ignored or dismissed.

As a result, Harris is now running for president as a "moderate" Democrat moving toward the political center. Further, the Democratic spin machine has turned Harris into one of the most qualified people ever to seek the presidency. People can still challenge or question her qualifications.

While Harris was never formally made "border czar," the Biden-Harris administration is rightly criticized for presiding over an immigration crisis. The causes go deep and are more a function of the inability of the U.S. government to address and correct the many problems inherent to immigration. However, the administration is in charge and responsible.

Any fair observer would agree the "new" Harris is far, far different from the Harris of 2019. Extraordinary praise from Democrats for her performance and record suddenly materialized once Biden chose not to seek a second term as president. Suppose Biden did not stand down. How would Democrats regard Harris under those circumstances? One guess is the result would be a bit different from the current adulation and coronation as the party's candidate.

For Republicans, 2016-2020 obviously never occurred and has "disappeared." Donald Trump has been portrayed as the greatest president in American history. The question of whether you are better off today than four years ago is not relevant without a serious and objective assessment of history. Regarding the economy, Trump managed to add more than $8 trillion to the national debt, or about a 1/3 increase.

COVID-19 is not mentioned. Operation Warp Speed was brilliant in creating a vaccine in months. But the Trump administration's flaws and errors dealing with COVID are missing in action. Abrogating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that, if followed by all parties, would have prevented Iran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons. Are we better off today? No.

Further, Trump's Doha agreement with the Taliban created all the conditions that would explode with the tragic and badly bungled withdrawal from Kabul in 2021. Trump diplomacy produced the Abraham Accords and an Israeli-Saudi rapprochement. But had that agreement not been in place, would the horrors of the Oct. 7th slaughter of 1,200 Israelis have occurred, as Iran could not tolerate a breakthrough in Israeli-Saudi relations? Are we better off today?

American politics have descended to the point where history, facts and reality are flexible and can be tortured into reaching whatever are the preferable or desired conclusions. When the history of the 2024 presidential election is finally written, one wonders how 2016-2024 will be treated. The winner of this election may largely determine that.

Americans should be very concerned that both parties have become so willing or venial to place the means to win over the need to win. Ironically, both parties accuse the other of being "clear and present dangers" to democracy. In this regard, both are correct. Why? Once history, truth and fact no longer count, what does that mean for democracy?

Harlan Ullman is UPI's Arnaud de Borchgrave Distinguished Columnist, a senior advisor at Washington's Atlantic Council, the prime author of "shock and awe" and author of "The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large." Follow him @harlankullman. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.