Miranda Devine: Joe Biden’s no hometown hero
Even in Joe Biden’s heartland, the Democrat candidate, and supposed favourite in the polls, is having trouble closing the deal, particularly as evidence of his decline mounts, writes Miranda Devine.
Opinion
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The street where Joe Biden’s childhood home stands, in hard-scrabble Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a perfect microcosm of a divided country. At first sight, tree-lined North Washington Avenue is an all-Democrat enclave, with a “Biden 2020” or “Scranton Loves Joe” sign adorning about every third house.
But look deeper and it’s a different story, with shy — and a few brazen — Trump supporters equally represented in this crucial battleground state.
For Biden, the modest grey clapboard house where he spent his first 10 years plays a big role in his political story.
Although he has lived in the corporate tax haven of Delaware for the past 67 years, he still describes himself as a son of Scranton: “It’s still home.”
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Of course, it’s also politically useful, since Pennsylvania, with 20 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win, is shaping up to be the kingmaker of the 2020 election.Trump won it by just 44,000 votes in 2016, the first time the state had voted Republican since 1988.
No wonder Biden is keen to play up his roots.
“Growing up in Scranton, we were used to guys who looked down their noses at us,” he said recently.
But on North Washington Avenue, despite the conspicuous Biden signage, there is scepticism.
A giant Trump flag flies over financial planner Tom Moran’s grand Dutch Tudor home a few doors down from the old Biden home.
While only one other Trump sign can be spotted on the street, discreetly placed inside a window, Moran says “a lot of people here are under the radar. I know at least 25 people on the street who are Trump supporters, but they don’t have signs up”.
That’s because Trump signs are stolen. Moran has lost three, as have neighbours down the road.
“It’s been a constant battle and when you have the signs out there’s an intimidation factor,” he says.
The animosity between Trump and Biden supporters is like nothing he’s seen before.
“My wife and my three-year-old daughter have been outside, and guys have driven by and rolled their window down and yelled obscenities. It’s disgusting but it’s just the kind of crappy stuff that’s happening.
“My daughter’s been isolated from the neighbours’ kids. Last summer they were all playing together. This summer they won’t play with her.
“It is mean. I can’t explain it but this is the behaviour we’re seeing.”
As we speak, a neighbour walks by with his dog, raises his fist and yells, “Trump, all the way. Biden is a loser.”
Another neighbour honks as he drives past in a pickup truck festooned with Trump flags.
But in downtown Scranton, construction workers eating their lunch on a park bench have the opposite view.
“I wouldn’t vote for Trump, no way,” says Bill Ritter, 63, a member of the bricklayers’ union. “He’s a liar.”
“We don’t get what these people see in Trump,” says his colleague, Mick Humanik, 61. “They’re crazy right-wing nuts, if you ask me.”
He thinks Biden is a shoo-in to win. “He’s been involved in politics for umpteen years. He was vice president under Obama for eight years. I think he will serve the office of the presidency with a lot more dignity than Trump right now,” he says.
Back on North Washington Street, Moran is alarmed by Biden’s cognitive decline — and he has first-hand evidence.
“The idiocy of voting for Biden absolute escapes me,” he says. “This is a guy who came to visit his boyhood home and the security detail had to tell him which house is was. A buddy of mine was standing right there and saw it.
“He’s a guy who’s been in Washington for 47 years and nobody can tell you what he did.”
In Scranton we can see a slice of the rancour which is dividing America, as neighbour is pitted against neighbour, children turn against parents and friendships splinter.
But, after driving through Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia this past week, Trump is easily winning the yard sign contest.
Outside of the wealthy suburbs around Philadelphia and parts of Scranton, Trump supporters — and their signs — are enthusiastically prominent.
The President held two packed airport rallies in Pennsylvania last week, theatrical events set against the backdrop of Air Force One.
On Saturday night, after presiding over a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, he flew to a rally in Harrisburg, in central Pennsylvania. At least 10,000 fans chanted “Four More Years”, “We Love You” and “CNN Sucks” as he valiantly performed his Borscht Belt schtick in the drizzling rain for two hours.
Back in his Delaware basement, Biden was taking another day off.
Miranda Devine is in New York for 18 months to cover current affairs for The Daily Telegraph