Trump still has more gravity than Biden
Nobody likes Joe Biden’s performance as president. Fewer people like Donald Trump running for office again. Neither of them has announced they are heading for the exit.
Joe Biden has been in office for 548 days, and is still as invisible as he was on the campaign trail. We haven’t heard from Donald Trump in person on national television, or via Twitter, for longer than that, yet Trump still draws more political gravity than the current president. Do you think there’s something wrong with that? I do.
A friend of mine said she laughed out loud seeing Biden’s latest gaffe, claiming he has cancer (he doesn’t). And now the president has tested positive for COVID-19, which I don’t wish on anyone. But as a vaccinated person, even at his great age, he should survive it just fine.
[via AP] “The president does what every other person in America does every day, which is he takes reasonable precautions against COVID but does his job,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told MSNBC late in the afternoon on Thursday.
This is the most convenient case of COVID-19 I’ve ever seen, because it occurred just as the media was honing in on questions about Biden’s lack of a formal schedule. He’s been doing—what?—presidenting, or “executive time” for days since he returned from his fist-bump adventure in Saudi Arabia. Honestly, we just don’t know, the the White House staff, when they are not flinging resumes out for their next job, isn’t telling.
Meanwhile, the January 6th commission is in full swing with its political show trial, which isn’t a trial at all, since if they had the evidence they keep foreshadowing, Merrick Garland would be speaking on camera about subpoenas, indictments, and actual trials. But they’ve got a really good circumstantial case than Trump is exactly who everyone who knew Trump said he was for decades: A pouty-faced plotter with the comprehension of a pre-schooler when his ill-conceived plans fail to bloom.
Did Trump really think then-Vice President Mike Pence was going to get in that car with Secret Service agents he didn’t know intimately? Or perhaps he did know them and that made the situation even more suspect. Did Trump really think that he could personally lead an auto-golpe, charging in to the Capitol (where he was not invited, and technically, not in charge, since Congress is a co-equal, self-governing branch) to force himself into a win? Yes, detached and a lunatic is probably how anyone would describe him (paraphrasing Bill Barr).
The case against Trump has plenty of political gravity, capturing the people who want Trump locked up, but like in classical physics, there’s an equal and opposite force. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and every Republican who agrees with them is facing political homelessness (at best) or exile. The GOP will have a brain-drain that will make AOC’s Squad look like an Alpha Omicron Pi group photo.
It’s more likely that Fani Willis, Fulton County, Georgia’s DA, will have a better case to convict Trump. She recently bagged Rudy Giuliani, when a New York judge ruled to enforce the Georgia special grand jury’s subpoena, forcing him to testify. It’s likely she’ll get Rep. Jody Hice, who gave up his seat in Congress to unsuccessfully run for Secretary of State, a job where Brad Raffensperger is likely to continue serving. Everyone the Jan 6th Select Committee is talking to is fair game for Wills and her inquisitors. So the thing Congress is doing is nothing but political. The real trial will happen when indictments are handed down, which is completely divorced from the Capitol clown show.
All of this feeds into my other annoyance. Joe Biden is as dovish on Ukraine as Trump was, and for the same reason. Hunter Biden’s proclivity to do stupid things makes Ukraine a no-go. The latest analysis of the small numbers of very effective weapons systems that NATO countries have sent calls it a “petting zoo.” Ouch.
Normally, people like Sen. Lindsey Graham would speak up and want to beat the Russians. But because Trump isn’t keen on having anyone beat Vladimir Putin, even the GOP’s hawks are muffled. There’s nobody stepping up to help, which means at some point, the U.S. will be drawn into a shooting war, or we will pour $100 billion down a hole and set it on fire, leaving Europe to solve the Ukraine problem. A “petting zoo” of clipped-wing HIMARS, French CAESAR and other systems the Ukrainians don’t know how to operate will not win the long-term war with Russia. Joe Biden is mute on the issue.
Joe Biden is mute on everything, when he’s not spewing gaffes. Nobody likes Joe Biden’s performance as president. Fewer people like Donald Trump running for office again. Neither of them has announced they are heading for the exit. Until one of them does, America is stuck in a terrible orbit where the gravity of Trump keeps us from doing anything at all.
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Y’all say what you want but the results are facts.
1) The Committee has no prosecutorial power. It’s proceedings are not criminal. They are convincing some who were borderline but not really breaking Trump’s hold on the GOP unless/until someone rises up to take it from him.
2) The GOP’s paralysis over Trump endorsements and condemnation has caused brain drain and stymied it from taking care of actual govt business.
3) Biden’s approval rating speaks for itself. He needs to step back and declare himself a lame duck.
4) The best path for dealing with Trump is still the Fulton DA case which is not being broadcast live as Grand Jury proceedings are secret.
5) As a nation we have to move on. Though the hearings make a good historical record for people to study later, I am not sure of their practical purpose right now, since Trump is no longer president and any punishment for his misdeeds needs to happen through the legal system not Congress.
"Meanwhile, the January 6th commission is in full swing with its political show trial, which isn’t a trial at all, since if they had the evidence they keep foreshadowing, Merrick Garland would be speaking on camera about subpoenas, indictments, and actual trials. But they’ve got a really good circumstantial case than Trump is exactly who everyone who knew Trump said he was for decades: A pouty-faced plotter with the comprehension of a pre-schooler when his ill-conceived plans fail to bloom."
I'm a bit confused why you're so down on the Jan. 6th Commission given that you trace our problems to being stuck in an orbit around Trump. The Jan. 6th Commission is doing more to deflate the bubble around The Former Guy and His Hanger-Ons than anything since the Insurrection itself. Given that we're almost at the halfway point of the Biden tenure (I don't foresee him being a viable candidate in 2024) AND Trump controls more of the Republican Party than he did when he won in 2016, the 1/6 folks breaking through to the public's attention is a Good Thing.
Both you and I have to recognize that we're not the audience for the Jan. 6th Commission. We've been following along all along, so you and I are not hearing a lot new out of them. HOWEVER, for the folks for whom politics is not an obsession, last night's presentation was a clear and unambiguous message that Trump has never been fit for office, and nothing will improve that deficit before we're casting ballots for our next President.
To the extent that Trump can be deflated into irrelevance quickly enough that other GOP candidates have nothing to fear from running as well, this lessens the pressure on Biden to go for a second term solely on the strength of him beating Trump before, and being called to beat Trump again.