Friends, for months a litany of high-profile Democrats have been advising Joe Biden not to debate Donald Trump. Their stated reason was usually that Trump is a lying sack of [expletive deleted], so no self-respecting person should ever talk to him. Lurking underneath this flawless logic, however, was a burgeoning leftist contempt for all forms of dissent, as well as strong doubts about Biden's ability to go toe-to-toe with the fast-talking Trump. Well, the people who tell Joe Biden what to say and do obviously crunched the numbers, and they decided that he simply couldn't dodge the obligation to debate his major party opponent -- not without looking like he was lily-livered (and senile), that is. What Biden could do, however, and has done, is frame the debates so as to give himself maximum advantage, particularly since Trump had already declared that he would debate Biden "anytime" and "anywhere". Biden thus took up the challenge and accepted specific invitations to debate Trump in June on CNN and in September on ABC. The timing is favorable to Biden, since few people will be engaged that early in the process, and, if he stumbles, he will have plenty of time to recover before the voting starts. The venues are even more obviously favorable to Biden, since there is no such thing as a Trumper who works at CNN or ABC. Be all that as it may, the mere fact that Biden has begrudgingly agreed to debate Trump is highly significant. There can be little doubt that the audiences for both debates will be massive, and the stakes will be, or at least will seem, high. Then again, we should bear in mind that neither Trump nor Biden is broadly popular, and very few people do not have extremely fixed opinions about both men. In that sense, no debate is likely to move the political dial all that much. Indeed, one could argue that no development, period, is very likely to change the election landscape, given the fact that, over the last six months,based on RealClearPolitics polling averages, in a five-way race, Trump has been consistently ahead of Biden nationally, by a minimum of one and a maximum of six points. Trump has consistently held similar, if modest, leads in most of the swing states. Only a very remarkable debate indeed could shift this race out of the narrow channel through which it's been flowing for so long...but never say never!
P.S. One other notable development here is the effective elimination of RFK, Jr. from the debates, which appears to please both the Trump and Biden camps. Will Kennedy find some other inventive way to propel himself into the public eye? Maybe.
In other news, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, who some compare to DJT, has been shot by a man who, it appears, hated him because of his populist/nationalist policies. It's a sobering reminder that all too often in history assassins are able to exercise an absolute veto over the deliberations of the electorate. Let us hope that our own presidential election will not be affected by any such sinister violence.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteWith regard to this year's carnival debates and convention circuses, I have a feeling that more than a few people will not vote at all, because they can't stand Biden or Trump. Just speculation and so on.
The main question is, and should be, in my opinion, is what is the Left going to do to ensure that The BidenISTAS win again? Sorry, my thinking is approaching conspiracy level thinking. Perish the thought.
Just an historical note of interest: Did you know that pissant little country Slovakia was an ally of Germany in WW 2? The head guy there during that time was a member of the Roman Catholic clergy. Hilarious! I recall they had some organization known as The Hlinka (spelling?) Guard. Those Slovakians are a real "kick in the head" don't you think?
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteIf there is any violence connected with the upcoming presidential elections, my guess is that it will probably be centered around the results of the election.
If The BidenISTAS win again I don't think the American people have to worry much about any future elections. Just my opinion of course. I think people can reach a point where they just don't give a shit anymore. They just say F*k it, and survive as best they can.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Both sides are facing the abyss.For the Dems, DJT's disdain for them is unendurable and the thought that he could actually win despite their throwing the kitchen sink at him and exhausting their politically correct, antidemocratic imaginations manifests in their tortured psyches a torrent of apocalyptic dread.They are no doubt preparing for their fully predictable anarchic tantrum should they miscarry. Should America lose it can fully expect an immediate and vindictive tsunami of terribly relieved and reinvigorated totalitarian imposition meant to absolutely prevent any recurrence of Trumpian insolence and heresy against their unimpeachable justice.The southern border will be opened wide and welcoming and state opposition will face unfettered Federal force. Four more years of their misrule may well seal the deal for them and make inevitable the death of our civilization and its replacement with Marxist hell. The stakes are so high that any variable - a word, a gesture, some astonishing mischance - may be decisive.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteWith regard to our Southern Border, check out a writer by the name of Jerome Corsi, and draw your own conclusions on his theories regarding the long range purposes of an already (before Biden) open border.
Ray, I think it is entirely germane to ask to what lengths the "progressives" might go to defend their hold on the presidency, and to stymie the demon Trump. I regard this as a very dangerous moment for our country.
ReplyDeleteKudos for giving Slovakia its due as a valued member of the Axis. Shocking, though, that Slovakian legions didn't turn the tide on the Eastern Front, eh?
Ray, you may be right that losing in 2024, given the soaring expectations building up right now, might be a body blow to the right from which it would never recover. The Left has long felt that, sooner or later, demographics would be the undoing of the GOP. I fear they may be right. Even since 2020, millions of desiccated Republicans have died, and millions of starry-eyed neo-Marxist youngsters have "come online". Winning elections ain't getting any easier for Republicans!
I agree with both of you that great violence could follow a Trump victory in November -- a paroxysm of rage. On the other hand, a pre-election outpouring of unrest could be used to cancel or subvert the election itself. Just a thought.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Your continuing concern about leftist prevention or forceful or manipulated cancellation of the results is very plausible and very concerning. Prior to 2016, the antiamerican left expected to continue their incipient and inexorable reduction of America to serfdom apace.Solemnly vindictive Hillary's expected coronation would have been a very big step "forward". Who could have anticipated the rise of DJT and Maga? It has thrown the far left for a loop and may have worn out their "patience". " Why, these Americans, they just won't go away!!" It is quite possible that they have resolved to invoke full blown decisive "any means necessary" before its time, this very year, lest they be permanently derailed by a thoroughly aroused America. Fasten your seatbelts; this may out do '68.
ReplyDeleteQuite so, Jack! Anything is possible. In 2016, the Left practically DARED us to vote for DJT...and we did. In 2020, they did their best to rig the process so our opinion wasn't relevant to the outcome. In 2024, saddled with a misery of an incumbent president, all the rigging they can muster might not be enough. Where, then, does a liberal fanatic go from here???
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: They are not supermen. They may face an an insuperable barrier to their totalitarian takeover!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Where can they go? As we say in Buffalo "go jump in da crik!"
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy and Ray et al from Jack: Conquest often empowers some among the conquered for whom it would theretofore have been impossible to rise. I don't doubt that if the antiamerican left prevails we will see such opportunists come out of the woodwork here. Some Politburo members are fully predictable: the squad, Hillary, the Obamas but others will unexpectably emerge from entertainment, the media, government bureaucracy, NGOs, "education" at all levels etc and we will regret (in silence of course) that we may have known them when they were Americans.A visit to an elite "university" would no doubt provide an edifying introduction to some of them in training for far left cadre service. The present campus anarchy is a fruitful time for these youthful hopeful Pol Pots or Himmlers ("Final Solution" and all that you know).
ReplyDeleteOh, very true, Jack -- leftists are quite capable of error, and of cowardice, and of self-destruction.
ReplyDeleteNow, that is an extremely interesting thought experiment: predicting who on the Left would TRULY wield power, if the Left were ever to banish the GOP and conservatives to the wastelands of Alaska and rule by fiat. In short, the grey eminences who run the Democratic Party and the progressive movement now might not be the hard cases who would rise to the top under a full-throated dictatorship...