I am trying to understand the irony of Donald Trump’s assertion that a Joe Biden victory will come only if the election in November is “rigged.” The ironic richness is beyond belief.
The Russian government interfered in our 2016 presidential election. Its aim was to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Moreover, the Russians intended to sow confusion and suspicion in our sacred electoral system.
Think of it! The guy the Russians wanted to win four years ago is now doing the Russians’ work for them! The president of the United States is asserting that Joe Biden can win only if the election is rigged.
Trump doesn’t provide a scintilla of proof of what he suggests would occur. Yet he is now mounting a prejudicial campaign against an electoral system he took an oath to protect and defend. Yes, think also of that … if you dare.
The presidential oath contains a clause that compels the nation’s head of state to protect the very system that puts him in office. The U.S. Constitution undergirds the entire process. Yet the president is now threatening some unspecified action to challenge the results of a free and fair election if it doesn’t produce the result he prefers.
I keep circling back to what happened in 2016. You heard him encourage the Russians to search for Hillary Clinton’s missing e-mails, right? The Russian government led by Vladimir Putin commenced its attack on our system that very day. At Trump’s invitation! Was the 2016 election rigged? Did it produce an electoral result that was, shall we say, illegitimate?
So now we have arrived in the here and now. Donald Trump, having benefited in some fashion from foreign interference in the previous election, is threatening to undermine the results of the next presidential election. He bases his threat on allegations he cannot prove. He is sowing the same seeds of doubt that his Russian benefactors did four years ago.
I am going to suspend reality for a few moments and pretend I am working for a newspaper and that I am going to write an endorsement for president of the United States.
Here is what it would say:
***
Americans took a gamble in 2016 when a businessman/TV celebrity became president of the United States.
The gamble did not pay off. Indeed, the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has been an abject failure as the nation’s chief executive. Accordingly, Americans have a chance in just a few days to make a serious course correction.
They can do so by electing Joseph R. Biden Jr. as president of the United States.
Biden served two successful terms as vice president during the Barack Obama administration. Prior to that he served for 36 years in the U.S. Senate, being elected to the body at the age of 29; he would become old enough to serve by the time he took office.
Joe Biden’s love of country has been on full display for his entire time — nearly 48 years — on the national stage.
He vows to restore our nation’s soul. Biden wants to revive what the late Sen. John McCain — one of Biden’s best friends — used to call “regular order” in the governing process. Donald Trump knows nothing about regular order and the slipshod governance that has resulted has delivered all the proof we need of Trump’s ignorance about government and his inability to learn how it works.
Whereas Trump has spoken directly only to his base of supporters, Biden vows to be president for all Americans. He said at Gettysburg, Pa., just this week that he will be president even for those who vote against him. When has Donald Trump ever pledged such a thing?
Trump has botched the nation’s pandemic response. Biden plans to institute a national policy on Day One of his presidency. He vows to institute a mandatory mask policy on all federal property. Biden promises to fast-track testing nationally and to push Congress to invest in the equipment required to protect all Americans from getting infected.
Biden wants to re-engage our allies. He intends as well to challenge our adversaries, not coddle them the way Trump has done. Biden promises to return to the Paris Climate Accords and to return the United States to the World Health Organization.
Let’s also take note that Joe Biden has chosen a capable, dynamic running mate in U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who clearly is not the flaming lefty that the Democratic ticket’s foes have sought to portray her.
Biden has experience helping revive a fallen economy. He took on that task by managing the nation’s response to the Great Recession in 2009, the first year of the Obama administration. It succeeded famously. He vows to deploy that experience to revive an economy that has collapsed under the weight of the pandemic.
Joe Biden, lastly, will deliver a sense of empathy and compassion to a grieving nation. We have lost more than 200,000 of our citizens to a killer virus. Donald Trump has been MIA as comforter in chief. Joe Biden has suffered intense personal tragedy already, with the death of his first wife and his young daughter shortly before he took office in the Senate. He feels the pain of those who suffer during this pandemic.
The nation needs that compassion from the president.
Joe Biden isn’t the perfect candidate, but we shouldn’t demand presidential perfection. We should demand — in the context of this election — that we choose someone who knows how government works and who is capable of working across the aisle with those of the other party.
That candidate is Joseph R. Biden Jr. who, with Kamala Harris as his governing partner, can deliver the goods for a nation that has suffered from too much government incompetence.
On a day when Donald Trump decided to quit working with Democrats in Congress over a coronavirus relief package — sending the stock market straight into the dumper — Joe Biden delivered a high-minded speech about unity and our national soul on the site of a revered Civil War battlefield.
One of these fellows is campaigning like a winner; the other is acting like an expected loser.
Hmmm. Who is whom?
It looks to me as though Joe Biden’s decision today to speak to our nation’s better angels without once mentioning Donald Trump’s name is the winner here. Trump? Well, he’s looking more desperate with each passing day.
Does this mean Biden should coast during the campaign’s final 28 days? Hardly. It means only that he took time today to forgo a partisan attack and sought instead to speak to our higher ideals.
As for Trump, he wouldn’t know a higher ideal if it bit him on his ample backside. He has no view of what’s noble or good. He deals in invective and innuendo. He campaigned that way en route to victory in 2016 and has governed that way as president.
Trump decided today that he wouldn’t negotiate with congressional Democrats to find a solution to a coronavirus relief bill; he will talk after the election, he said. To what end is this man refusing to talk to the “other party”?
I cannot or will not predict this presages a Biden victory. Trump, after all, faced grim odds before heading down the stretch four years ago against Hillary Clinton … and then he won!
Oh, but I do hope we are thrashing our way out of the darkness.
I have a friend who lives in Nuremberg, Germany and who also is a print journalist who works for a newspaper called Nurnberger Nachrichten.
My friend asked me to put together an essay about the seeming conflict I have in opposing Donald J. Trump while living in the heart of what might be considered Trump Country. I wrote the essay. My friend — who speak impeccable English — is going to translate it into German and will publish the essay in his newspaper.
I want to share with readers of High Plains Blogger what I wrote for my German friend. So, with that …
***
Politicians of both major U.S. parties agree on precisely one thing regarding the upcoming election of our president.
It is that we are going to conduct “the most consequential election” in memory. Perhaps in the history of our republic.
I tend to believe that the election we are about to conduct falls into the latter category of consequence. This one means more than any previous election we ever have had in our country’s history.
What is at stake? Let me count as many as I can think of at this moment.
Donald Trump has emerged as the most dangerous man ever to be elected president. I did not vote for him in 2016 and I will not vote for his re-election this time. The danger he presents is manyfold.
Trump brought no public service experience to the presidency. He has no appreciation for public service or for those who perform it. He states a bizarre affection for authoritarian leaders, citing specifically North Korean killer/tyrant/despot Kim Jong Un and Turkey’s strongman Recipp Erdogan. Trump’s affection for Russia’s Vladimir Putin is well-known.
I believe Trump sees himself as an authoritarian figure and wants to bend our system of government to conform to his desire to be the man who controls everything. Our nation’s founding fathers built a government that is based on limited presidential power and the sharing of power with Congress and the federal courts. Trump does not understand that concept. Why? He is ignorant in the extreme.
I spent more than 30 years as a print journalist and in my years since retirement I have continued to comment on political matters through my blog, High Plains Blogger. I live in Texas, which many Americans consider to be the heart of Trump Country. Yes, he won Texas’s electoral votes in 2016 but I am happy to report at this moment that the contest for our state’s electoral votes is anyone’s guess. Polling shows former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden running practically even with Trump.
Still, my blog tends to paint me as a political outlier, given that I am surrounded by Trump supporters. Indeed, I have many friends – and even a few family members – who align with Trump. I love them all in spite of our differences.
We vote in Texas in an “open primary” system, which means that when we vote in the primary, we simply choose which party we want to vote in on Election Day. I tend to vote Democrat, but I have voted Republican at times, depending on the local races involved. This presidential election has been difficult for me in one regard: I am solidly behind Joe Biden’s candidacy, but almost all my friends either are leaning toward Trump or are dedicated to re-electing him. I do not discuss presidential politics with them. It has become commonplace in Texas, I believe, for friends and family members to avoid discussing politics when there are differences of opinion regarding the presidential candidates.
Trump’s presidency has changed the mood in the United States. His divisive rhetoric has driven a wedge between family members. I have heard too many stories from people I know about how their family relationships have been damaged or even destroyed by those differences. It is one of the many tragedies surrounding this man’s presidency.
None of this shames nor embarrasses me. It does make me angry. The level of disagreement has reached a level I do not recognize from previous political eras. There is a saying in Texas that “politics is a contact sport.” I fear that it has become more of a “collision sport,” with both sides intent on inflicting permanent damage on each other. I am retired these days from daily journalism, so I am decidedly less inclined to expose myself to the collisions that are occurring all around me in Texas as my friends, neighbors and family members continue to debate the issues surrounding this campaign.
Trump’s dangerous presidency needs to be replaced with a president who understands how government works. Trump campaigned for president in 2016 vowing to “put America first.” He has insulted our international allies in the process. Trump’s threats to withdraw our nation’s support of NATO – the pre-eminent international alliance on Earth – has been frightening in the extreme. Those threats play directly into the desire of Putin, whose aim is to undermine NATO, which as you know was formed to deter aggression from what was known then as the Soviet Union.
Let us extend the danger to Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. I believe we are the only major nation on Earth to stand apart from those accords. Dangerous? You had better believe it!
Trump has long boasted about how smart he is, how rich he is, how worldly he is. Trump’s intelligence is now an open question, as is his wealth. My own view has been that individuals who are truly smart and truly wealthy should have no need to keep telling others about their intelligence and wealth. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney once described Trump as a “phony” and a “fraud.” Trump’s continued boasting of his wealth and intelligence confirms Romney’s view.
Americans face a critical decision on Nov. 3. It is the most critical election certainly in my lifetime. It stands as the most critical election in our nation’s history.
America’s Electoral College allowed for the election of a guy who played to Americans’ fears. We are paying the price for acting on those fears. It is my sincere hope we can snap out of it in time to elect someone who has an actual understanding of how government works.
And who knows? Texas, which for a long time has been a Republican bastion, has become what we call a “battleground state,” meaning that both presidential candidates are focusing more attention – and spending more money – to win our votes. There might be a glimmer of hope that when the ballots are counted, I might no longer be an “outlier” in a state known for its rough-and-tumble politics.
I awoke this morning after a good night of sleep wondering the following: What the hell did I witness last night?
My wife and I sat in our living room for 97 minutes and watched Donald John Trump behave in a manner that was stunning in its lack of decorum, honor, decency and dignity. He was, to put it candidly, the worst example of political boorishness many of us have ever seen.
As my wife noted, “He might be ‘the president,’ but nothing he did was presidential.”
Then we had Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger who had to endure what we all endured. Oh, my. Biden didn’t sparkle, or shine. However, he did more or less seek to play by the rules agreed upon by both presidential campaigns. They involved letting both men speak for two minutes uninterrupted when answering questions from moderator Chris Wallace.
Donald Trump failed. He couldn’t keep his yapper shut for two minutes. Hell, he couldn’t keep quiet for 20 seconds before interrupting Joe Biden or talking over Wallace’s efforts to restore order.
What did we learn from that encounter?
Not much of a constructive nature. However, two moments stand out for me.
Wallace asked Trump if he would categorically condemn white supremacists and urge them to “stand down” and not foment further violence. Trump refused. He demonstrated a reprehensible tolerance for the hate groups that have lined up behind him and his re-election bid. He urged them to “stand back and stand by.” Stand by!? What the fu** is that all about?
We know what he meant. Disgraceful, indeed.
Then came the moment when Biden sought to remind Trump that Biden’s late son, Beau, served in Iraq for a year and earned the Bronze Star. He said Beau Biden was not a “sucker or a loser.” Did Trump acknowledge Beau Biden’s service to the nation? Oh, no. He then launched an attack against the former VP’s younger son, Hunter, and lied about Hunter Biden’s discharge from the military.
We have two more of these events coming up; I refuse to call them “debates,” but what we saw Tuesday night bore no resemblance to anything of the sort. If we’re going to get more of what we have just witnessed, I will not watch. As a friend of mine noted immediately after last night’s sh** show, Trump needs to be fitted with a shock collar that should be wired to blast him when he speaks over Joe Biden.
I am so looking forward to casting my vote for president.
We’re getting ready to head down the stretch in this run for the presidency and so help me, the issues — personal, political and public — are threatening to make my head explode.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are getting ready to meet in their first of three debates. I’ll have more on that later.
I am trying to take all this in as we settle down for an evening of give and take between the Democratic Party challenger and the Republican Party incumbent.
I want Joe Biden to win this election. You know that already. There is no possibility for Donald Trump to collect my support. I detest the very idea that this self-serving narcissist even got elected in the first place. He did so against my strong protests. Now we need to get his ample backside tossed out of the White House.
It is mind-boggling in the extreme to even ponder how Trump can be anywhere near Biden in the horse-race aspect of this campaign. Trump has, in no particular order:
Disparaged men and women who serve their country in the military; denigrated actual war heroes; paid next to zero federal income tax; lied to Americans about the threat posed initially by the COVID pandemic; told an estimated 28,000 lies all told during his time in office; insulted political foes mercilessly; insulted our international allies; pretended to be a man of faith when everyone knows he is nothing of the sort; spoken kindly of KKK’men and Nazis.
I am trying like the dickens to wrap my noggin around all of this. My goodness, in a perfect world Joe Biden would be prepared to roll up a historic landslide, something rivaling President Reagan’s 49-state pummeling of Walter Mondale in 1984.
That base of voters remains loyal to Trump despite his lies, the reports of his tax cheating, his myriad boorish statements, the insults he hurls at opponents. They like that about him because, I have to surmise, he speaks their language; Trump speaks on their behalf. How does one cope with that?
So the debate tonight opens up a possible new lane for Joe Biden to travel. My version of political nirvana will unfold if the former vice president thoroughly thrashes the president and puts this race out of reach. Trump has given so much ammo to unleash.
May the former VP use it wisely … but with maximum effect.
I don’t want to predict the moment that Earth will spin off is axis, but there’s a potentially explosive scandal out there that might erupt, forcing the worst constitutional crisis in American history.
Donald Trump is about to nominate someone to the Supreme Court. That someone could be confirmed in a U.S. Senate vote before the Nov. 3 election.
We’ll go to the polls and the result might not be to Trump’s liking. He might decide to challenge the results that could show Joe Biden winning narrowly … God forbid!
Then the case could go to the Supreme Court.
Just suppose Trump’s selection on the court finds herself in the position of casting the deciding vote that might return Trump to office for a second term. Suppose as well that the appointee doesn’t recuse herself from any deliberation and that her vote renders a Biden victory moot on some legal technicality that no one can predict at this moment.
Whoever Trump nominates and is confirmed in my view needs to declare herself out of the game. She must not participate in any decision that could deliver a second term to the individual who selected her for a lifetime appointment on the nation’s highest court.
Oh, man, I do not want any of this to play out. My version of political perfection would be for Joe Biden to win in a rout, to bury Trump under an electoral landslide that produces zero doubt over the outcome … not that a landslide loss would dissuade Trump from trying to pull of some mumbo jumbo to steal an election result.
We need to prepare ourselves for the possibility of a hideous, horrendous, hell-raising crisis in the event we get a shiny new Supreme Court justice sitting on the bench awaiting an electoral outcome.
I guess you could say that politics at times can travel full circle.
Consider this: The wife of the man against whom Joe Biden ran in 2008 has endorsed the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nominee’s bid for the presidency of the United States.
Cindy McCain, wife of the late senator and Vietnam War hero John McCain, says Biden is the “only man” who speaks for the nation’s values.
At one level this endorsement isn’t surprising. Biden and McCain were the best of friends. They came from different parties; they differed politically and philosophically. They also shared a love of country and a commitment to serving the public. Biden’s path took him to the Senate by the time he turned 30 while McCain’s journey took him to the Navy and then to the Vietnam War, where he was shot down and imprisoned (and tortured repeatedly) for more than five years; he came home in 1973 and became a successful politician.
Biden ran as vice president on a ticket led by Barack Obama in 2008. They defeated the GOP ticket led by U.S. Sen. McCain, who ran with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Biden and McCain never let their political differences interfere with the deep affection and respect they had for each other.
So it was today that Cindy McCain endorsed Joe Biden’s bid to become president. Sen. McCain would be quite pleased.
I have been voting for president in every election since 1972.
Not once have I felt such intense personal loathing for the man who sits in the president’s office … until right now.
Actually, my visceral animosity dates back to the evening when I heard Donald Trump had won enough Electoral College votes to become the nation’s 45th president.
Then it started. The intensely personal and persistent rage at the thought that Americans had sent this carnival barker into the Oval Office, given him access to the most dangerous weapon system ever created and handed him the keys to governing a nation that in a fit of anger forgot about the standards is used to set for the individual who they choose to lead us.
It’s not that I oppose Trump’s ideology. He doesn’t possess anything of the sort. He has no set of guiding principles. Trump does not adhere to a fundamental set of values. He views political relationships as transactional events; you do this for me and I’ll do that for you.
This individual had zero public service experience under his belt. He continues to exhibit zero interest in public service even now as he occupies the presidency.
The record of chock full of anecdotes and recollections of those with whom he has worked about how he talks about others, how he feels about Americans who idolize him. There is the prevailing sense that he detests the rank-and-file Trumpkins who flock to his rallies and cheer the lies that fly out of his mouth.
I have harbored these thoughts about Trump since before he became president. I didn’t want him to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2016. I damn sure didn’t want him to defeat Hillary Clinton who, despite her own flaws, was eminently more qualified to serve as our head of state and commander in chief than the individual who won the election.
So, here we are. Another election is on tap. Trump is in pandering mode to be sure. He will select someone to sit on the Supreme Court in the wake of the great Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. My hunch is that he doesn’t know the first thing about any of the finalists he is considering, other than how they might appeal to elements of his political base.
He has failed the test of leadership at every level possible.
