To start, a Biden administration with the will to govern must first display the will to call to account the egregious lawlessness of its predecessor. A true accounting would look like a swift, transparent punishment of those who looted the public trust, including Donald Trump.
The Trump administration’s ability to create shared delusions for millions of voters was aided and abetted by its flagrant attack on the social institutions that allow a plural society to cohere. Those in the Trump clan didn’t lie to cover up their looting. They were able to loot because they first created the lie.
Whether they would admit it or not, many Republican voters choose to accept the lies because the idea that our social institutions were so easily undermined is more terrifying. Restoring baseline trust in social institutions’ survivability, and not necessarily their fairness, is critical to the integrity of governance. A President Biden should pursue all available avenues of punishment. Only a transparent accounting of what exactly happened during the last four years would allow us to pivot to radical responsiveness.
Apparently the social institution that you don;t throw your political opponents in jail when you win is one that we’re not going to try to restore trust in then.
Leftists always project.
Mind you, I am sure that Cabal have plans for Trump and his bloodline.
I think Trump was voted in as a reaction to predecessors having previously looted the public trust, whatever that means.
Actually, I think we may be in for a quiet few years. Biden has spent decades as a cipher with few personal accomplishments other than allowing his family to use his position to enrich themselves. Kamala Harris is no Dick Cheney, so there’s no power behind the throne there. She’ll be relegated to funeral duties. The Senate will kabosh any efforts to “transform” a society where almost half doesn’t want to be transformed.
What are the charges? Other than hurty words on the interwebs?
pivot to radical responsiveness
Bingo!
Biden has a mandate to not be Trump. That’s it. Dems ran on 4 years of ad hom against Trump. Okay, that’s all you got. You ran on it, now live with it.
The U.S. will be leaderless for 4 years. No one will pay any attention to sleepy Joe. And even less to Kommie Harris if – when – she takes over.
Shumer, Pelosi, Newsom and Cuomo will try to stay in front of the cameras.
Since when are pogroms part of a moderate agenda? Inquiring minds want to know….
I suspect that the Republicans will be in a pretty decent position in 2022 and 2024. Pelosi, Sanders and Warren and their ilk will be that much older and fading into the sunset. I doubt Harris will be any more popular then than she was when she ran in the primaries – of course, I’m assuming Biden goes all four years. We’ve just seen a significant number of Hispanics vote for Trump and even his black support increased. The white working and middle classes got the Democrats’ number decades ago. Now others are. How much black support can the Dems afford to lose? Likely, as the older Dems fade out and more minorities take over the party they’ll change it in ways that will make Pelosi and Warren shudder – I’m skeptical that AOC and the squad represent the Dems’ future.
Work on the border wall will surely cease, and the US will probably rejoin the Paris Accord though that will be a largely meaningless gesture. Biden may block a pipeline or two, but I’m skeptical he’ll try to ban the oil and gas industry. There will be no green new deal, increased taxes, stacking of the Supreme Court, etc. Likely though, Hunter will make a bundle and be able to take care of the old man in luxury when he leaves in four years.
Willie Brown, a prominent local San Francisco politician, wrote a similar column in yesterday’s SF Chronicle. He figures Biden is stalemated from the getgo.
Two years achieving nothing and blaming Trump for it. Two years preparing the ground for the Harris run in 2024.
That’s it for the 45th POTUS
That would be the proper use of the VP position, Mr Crook, but I find it hard to believe the Dems want Kommie Harris for President 2024. Though they could. The hierarchy surely had some influence on Biden’s choosing her.
“He figures Biden is stalemated from the getgo.”
I expect him to be. I expect him to be a national joke. A punch line.
But strange things have been happening here, so who knows?
While losing the presidency can only be viewed as a serious setback, what is now becoming clear is that Republicans have done well at the state and House of Representative levels.
Republicans have gained control of one state legislature (NH) and have a chance at a few more (pending final vote tallies). More importantly, the Democrats failed to make gains in states like TX and NC, where they spent heavily on state candidates.
Similarly, the Democrats have suffered a significant setback in the House. Republicans have picked up more seats than even they thought they could win. The moderate wing of the Democrat party in the House has already declared – publicly – that they will not support either Nancy Pelosi’s embrace of the progressive wing or the progressive legislative agenda. They even named the Green New Deal, Police Defunding and Medicare For All as policies they will refuse to support. That this would happen within days of the election – and in public – is extraordinary.
And while the Democrats could win both run-off races in GA and take control of the senate, nobody really thinks that is likely. Perdue lead Ossoff by a little over 2 points in the Nov. 2 election, which is a significant lead. Ossoff would have to gain a net of close to 3 points to beat Perdue. Do-able, but not at all easy. Democrats face a larger hurdle against Loeffler. She could have won her seat outright had The Donald not encouraged Doug Collins to challenge her (a mistake he should be regretting right now). Her opponent, Raphael Warnock, has never held public office and holds policy positions that put him firmly in the progressive camp. Even with the Republicans divided, he was only able to pick up slightly less than 1/3 of the votes cast. Given that he’s progressive and black (this is GA, after all), I have a hard time seeing him win.
@Gamecock
True there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip, but I thought Harris was popped into the VP seat to buy the ‘people of colour’ and female vote, and to prime her for a 2024 run. How can they not choose choose her in 2024? The very real possibility of getting someone like AOC as the candidate if they don’t run her.
True there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip, but I thought Harris was popped into the VP seat to buy the ‘people of colour’ and female vote, and to prime her for a 2024 run.
Perhaps. But let’s not forget that it was Biden who boxed himself in by declaring that he’d choose a woman as his running mate. It was the progressive wing of the party that demanded a “woman of color”. That narrowed the field down to a collection of losers, kooks and commies. Harris was best of a bad lot, as far as Biden and the Democrats were concerned.
Clearly Harris will have an audition for the presidency. All VPs do. But if she doesn’t improve her numbers with the electorate, she will have challengers in 2024.
Biden comes out the gate mentioning climate change. His, and the Dems, problem is that their agenda of 4 years ago is stale. Blue with mold.
At least talk of “systemic racism” is fresh. Stupid. But fresh.
Wouldn’t it be funny if Trump won his legal challenges, was therefore elected for a further four years, and actually does to his opponents what they have promised to do to him. Won’t happen if course- I doubt any court would accept video evidence of fraud taking place, the fix is in. Plus he let Hillary off the hook.
What was interesting was what Biden didn’t mention as a priority: Packing the Supreme Court and statehood for PR and DC.
@ Dennis
I’m only a Limey but I tend to assume that any Libertarian votes will go to the Republican or off in a huff so Perdue should be a pretty safe bet and Loeffler has a better-than-evens chance – depending on how many of the voters who chose other Republicans were against her rather than actively supporting the alternatives. Is that a pair of reasonable assumptions?
I’d say yes. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Republicans won both seats, but wouldn’t be surprised if the Democrats won one.
Given my track record in making predictions, take anything I say with a (large) grain of salt. I know I am.
@Dennis, Just Dennis – –
Adding to the number of justices on the supreme court requires an act that must pass both houses of congress — unlikely with the predicted makeup of the bodies based upon returns as of now.
Likewise with adding states. It must pass both the House and the Senate, and even if the Democratic party ends up with a small majority in both, something with such wide-ranging impact is likely to see defections — the whip is not nearly as strong an incentive to vote the ‘right’ way as in parliamentary systems.
If the Republican candidates for senate in run-off elections lose, we might begin to hear more about both, as both houses would then have a slim D majority.
Ironically, the last time new states were admitted, the Republicans wanted to admit only Hawaii, thinking that would advantage them (only one Republican senator and one Republican congress member have ever been elected to normal terms of office since statehood). The Democratic party wanted to admit only Alaska, thinking that would advantage them, and on net this has actually favored the Republicans.
I take comfort from the fact that fracking is an established industry with plenty of cash available to bribe Hunter. So hopefully it’ll be business more or less as usual.
A trial would be an absolute disaster for the Democrats. Like the impeachment, they think they can find charges, only for the evidence required to be nothing like what would past muster.
It would be a massive opportunity for the Donald to showboat for years, even if they could find some charge. It would actually end up becoming more of Trump being in the media constantly and sniping — it’s not like the main media channels wouldn’t cover it, nor that it would be over quickly.
The actual strategy will be to try and sideline Trump as much as possible. They will be aided in that by a large part of the Republican Party too, as they try to move on. Expect to see pretty much nothing of Trump from soon after he is no longer President in any main media.
Chester is right. A show trial in front of a house committee is one thing, a real trial in court with disclosure is very much another. The Trump side know where the documents are and what they say. The dems and the deep state have much to hide. It’s all talk, they won’t let Trump into court.
I reckon the NY Times used the word ‘loot’ or ‘looting’ more times in this single article than it did for the entire summer of BLM rioting.
Surely the most important issue for non US citizens is China? They now have a clear run. Biden isn’t going to do Brexit much good, either.
10-4, RlJ. If you own property in Taiwan, sell it NOW! Chinese invasion planning is being completed.
Beyond Taiwan, Australia should be nervous about China as well.
Australia has depended on Britain and the U.S. for protection. Biden won’t help Australia. I don’t know if Britain is in position to help.