 |
| It all depends on how you capture the image |
It's one of those Mondays that I let slip away when I'm working at home. I'm more of a Tuesday person. So, I turn to the internet to see what story catches my eye. Everyone is commenting on Biden's nasty fall at the US Air Force commencement ceremony. No one is talking about how quickly he bounced back. Had Trump taken a fall like that he would probably be in traction.
If age really were an issue no one would be talking about Trump as an alternative. Instead, here we are at the midway point of 2023 and Trump remains the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party next year. He holds a staggering lead over all his challengers. The closest one to him is DeSantis and he trails by no less than 25 points in the latest polls. This is after all a guy who can't even recognize his second wife in a photograph.
Even funnier is that Republicans are readily admitting that senile ol' Joe outsmarted a much younger Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling negotiations. Kevin himself remarked on how professional and tough the president was. Not bad for an octogenarian that many Republicans are pressing to take a cognitive test like their standard bearer did during his term in office. I suppose when you have a guy who is so out of touch with reality that he compares himself with the Mona Lisa, you have to point to the missteps and memory lapses of the current president.
Age hits everyone differently. Some people can be quite young and appear crazy as a loon, while others can be quite old and still retain all the faculties of their youth. Sure, Joe has moments when he doesn't seem all there. One can imagine the stress and strain a job like his has on him when he is awakened at 3 am because it is believed Russia might just have encroached on a NATO nation when a missile landed in Poland. Or, travel ten hours by train through Ukraine to meet Zelensky in a surprise visit to Kyiv, and then travel ten hours back for a NATO meeting in Poland. Unlike his predecessor, Biden not only spends most of his days on the job but also goes out of his way to meet with key figures to show American solidarity.
Yet, many Republicans are fine with Trump. Undeterred by the sexual abuse charges leveled against him, the shady business deals or the fact that he can't seem to hold a train of thought for anymore than a few seconds before going off on one of his riffs, which he believes makes him as popular an attraction as the Mona Lisa. How did he say it?
"You have people that go to the Mona Lisa and they will see it hundreds and hundreds of times and it gets better every time. And Broadway plays and they will see it 20 times."
About the only thing true about this statement is that many people do find him entertaining, even if in the way you might find a slow motion train wreck entertaining. Look how proud he is of himself for having negotiated that West Point ramp.
If Republicans truly were concerned about Biden's age, they would be pointing the same criticisms at a 76-year-old Trump. Instead, they act like the Orange one is still in his prime, able to leap sand bags in a single bound, when his greatly deteriorated motor skills are on full display any time he gets out in public. No amount of make-up can disguise the fact that Trump is an old man long past whatever prime he once enjoyed. But, Republicans were successfully able to play the physical health card in 2016 when Hillary looked tired and worn out on the campaign trail, and figure they can do so again in 2024 with Biden's years creeping up on him.
However, things will change. It's going to be an arduous campaign for the Orange One as he now faces three much younger challengers in Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis. I don't think they will let him get away with claiming how sharp and agile he is. I assume they are not just jockeying for the number two position on the ticket next to Trump. His monumental lead in the opinion polls will eventually shrink just like Hillary's did back in 2016, and it will become anyone's race. At least I hope so for the sake of the Grand Ol' Party. To put Trump on the general election ballot a third time would be the ultimate cop out.
To some degree this is what the Democrats are hoping for. They have consigned themselves to the fact that Biden will actively seek the nomination. He has said so although he hasn't officially started campaigning yet. His challengers don't appear to be much of a threat, Nevertheless, I see Jack Dorsey has chosen to support the notorious anti-vaxxer. Kennedy's social media bans have been lifted ever since he announced his candidacy and I'm sure CNN will oblige him with a town hall as they did Diaper Don and Transphobic Nikki.
I suppose you have to take Trump seriously when he polls as well as he does this far out of the general election. People seem to have very short memories or simply don't care. There's kind of this mantra building of "Anyone but Biden," even among Democrats. But, that's the same way they felt about Biden in 2020.
From an electoral point of view, the pandemic couldn't have been better timed for Joe. No sooner was he able to score his first primary win in South Carolina, after dropping the first three, than all public campaigning came to a screeching halt. Not for Trump of course. He staged rallies anyway even if it led to the death of one of his main supporters, Herman Cain, who died of coronavirus shortly after attending a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. God knows how many others died attending Trump rallies.
We forget just how horrible a president Trump was, often out of step, sometimes completely out of his mind, like the time he suggested that persons shine a little light or inject a disinfectant into their bodies to combat COVID. This promptly led Lysol to issue a warning against using its product as a disinfectant. Persons had already died ingesting chloroquine phosphate, commonly used in fish tanks, at their president's advice. But, go ahead give this assclown the stage!
It doesn't seem like anyone takes the Office of the President seriously anymore. Even if Trump is as deranged as ever, the leading alternatives aren't much better. Currently, Ron DeSantis is his closest challenger but is best known for picking a fight with Mickey Mouse over his Don't Say Gay law. One that Disney World has openly defied. It not only has made Governor Ron the subject of many unflattering memes but has led to concern among the GOP's top donors, who would normally back his campaign over Trump. Add to that the rather questionable roll out of his campaign in Georgia that left just about everyone aghast.
Fortunately, we are still 17 months out of the general election and more than 6 months away from the first primary. Anything can and probably will happen with that much time on our hands. Biden's little spill will have long been forgotten, or replaced by another mishap. Trump faces multiple indictments. Ron DeSantis may find a way to right his campaign before it is too late. Who knows, maybe Nikki or Tim will gain some traction and present themselves as serious contenders before the first caucus in Iowa next January? Joe himself might cede to a younger candidate - say Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom?
Whatever the case, I think it would behoove the mainstream media to make less of Joe tripping over a sandbag and more about the inadequacy of the GOP to mount a meaningful response to his agenda or serious opposition to his presidency. Letting Trump off the hook is simply to repeat the mistakes CNN and other news outlets did in 2016.
Comments
Post a Comment