CNN, Democrats hit panic button as Trump surges, Biden stumbles
The Democrats’ 2020 strategy of putting up Joe Biden as a sort of affable national uncle to calm the country has backfired apocalyptically.
Opinion
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For a look at just how bad things are going for Joe Biden, don’t turn to the polls, as dire as they may be for the White House.
No, for a real insight into what is going on with Joe Biden – and the state of things within the Democrat hive-mind – flick over to CNN.
Gone are the fairy tells they used to tell voters about Trump being sent to jail in an orange jumpsuit.
Instead, it’s all the sort of panic that traditionally follows the words, “Is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?”
On Monday, political analyst Harry Enten delivered a grim report on the so-called “Sun Belt” states Joe Biden needs to win.
Arizona, which is on the front lines of America’s southern border crisis, is tilting six points in favour of Trump.
Georgia, whose 2020 results were the subject of so much controversy, sees Trump up nine points.
In Nevada, which hasn’t gone for a Republican president since 2004, Trump is leading by a whopping 14 points.
“Frankly, for the Joe Biden campaign, these numbers are an absolute disaster,” Enten said, though he tried to comfort viewers with a bit of hope that a path to victory could be found through “Rust Belt” states like Pennsylvania and Michigan (more about which in a moment).
The previous day Fareed Zakaria, a deeply establishment thinker who writes the sort of books people buy in airports to look clever, grimly told viewers of his CNN program that the election campaign was not “playing out as I thought it would.”
“Trump is now leading in almost all the swing states … but behind those numbers lie even more troubling details.”
“I think it’s best to be honest about reality,” he said.
And the reality is this.
The Democrats’ 2020 strategy of putting up Joe Biden as a sort of affable national uncle to calm the country after four years of Trump, Black Lives Matter riots, and the first year of the Covid pandemic, has backfired apocalyptically.
The president, who five or ten years ago presented as an energetic figure and an often strong and passionate speaker, is now in clear mental and physical decline.
He gets muddled, trails off when speaking ("anyway…”), and reads directions off his teleprompter like Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy.
Aides now walk in a circle around him when he heads across the lawn to the official Marine One helicopter to block unflattering footage of his stumbles.
This would be excusable if the results were there, but they’re not.
Biden’s economic policies, particularly its inability to hose down inflation, continue to smash the middle class.
A virtually open southern border has caused mayhem across the country, particularly (and ironically) in Democrat-run cities that declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal migrants.
Meanwhile, Biden’s bipolar policy on Israel – mirroring much of the confusion of the ALP – has infuriated his left flank to say nothing of Arab-American voters, leading the White House to create a more Hamas-friendly foreign policy in the hope of shoring up states like Michigan.
Just like the ALP, the Democrats are split over Gaza, but the White House has now pulled out all the stops trying to win back both young university-age protesters and Arab-American voters.
Not only has it threatened to withhold aid from its historic ally Israel, on the weekend it was reported that the White House had even been holding back intelligence on Hamas targets.
To fix this, somewhere along the line Democrat elite, the bureaucratic, media, and professional classes who enjoy seeing their share portfolios soar thanks to inflation and like the cheap labour migrants bring, decided the best solution to all this was to tie Trump up in court.
But because the American justice system has not yet been completely corrupted, this effort has mostly failed.
Court cases over mishandled documents, the January 6 protest at the Capitol, and allegations of election subversion have all mostly fallen over or won’t be resolved until well after next November.
A case in which Trump was alleged to have overvalued assets to borrow from banks (banks, which, incidentally testified on Trump’s behalf) is headed for appeal and will likely be tossed out.
And the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case has become a farce, with the same Democrats who once defended Bill Clinton’s serial philandering now demanding Americans be outraged about the bedroom antics of a former New York property developer.
At this stage the Democrats are running out of options, though the same rules they used to stop Bernie Sanders from becoming nominee could eventually be used to swap Biden for a younger, more sentient candidate.
But before they do that, they have to agree on someone to take up the mantle.
No wonder they’re panicked.
— James Morrow hosts The US Report every Friday night at 8pm on Sky News Australia
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