Have They No Shame?

What can one say to the news that twelve Republican Senators now plan to contest the electoral college vote in various states.   Unfortunately, the only realistic things is to face the facts and say that there is little hope of our country returning to any semblance of political normalcy in the coming years. 

Despite all the audits, recounts, court cases, and Barr's Department of Justice finding that there was no widespread fraud.   Despite the President's allies not coming up with a shred of evidence to back any of their claims.   Despite this, 12 Senators plan to back this travesty. 

One of the latest reasons given for their positions is that polls show that a large percentage of Republicans think that the election was rigged.   And that mere thought, which originates with the President's baseless claims and a chorus of right-wing pundits, is felt by these Senators to justify not accepting the election results and calling for yet another audit. 

Since their announcement, The Washington Post  revealed that a Trump conversation this past Saturday with the Georgia Secretary of State was taped.   In that conversation he asked that the Secretary "find" 11,780 votes.   He also repeated various conspiracy theories to which the Secretary said they've all been shown to be false.   He said to Trump that the problem is that he is looking at data which is not valid.

This is probably the most shameful moment in American politics.   Even more shameful than the McCarthy hearings.   Winning the two Georgia Senate races becomes even more critical now for President-elect Biden presidency. 

There is increasing talk of the need to impeach Trump again and this time convict him.   Even though he will no longer be in office, this is critically important because it will show that a President is not above the law and that he will be made to account for his actions, even if no longer in office.   It will also remove all future emoluments of having been President from Trump and prevent him from running for President again in the future. 

Yes, this will enrage his supporters.   But they are enraged anyway.   And this is necessary for the health of our democracy. 

And by the way, that commission that Republican Senators wanted to establish to do a 10-day audit of contested states.   That should be established by the new Congress to show once and for all that there was no fraud and that Biden is the legitimate President. 

What Will Happen When Trump's Defeat Becomes Final?

During the election, there were times when I shuddered in fear.   I read of roving gangs, for that's what they were, of Trump supporters in cars and trucks stopping traffic on the Garden State Parkway, the Mario Cuomo bridge over the Hudson, various highways crisscrossing the New York City region, and trying to force a Biden-Harris campaign bus off an interstate highway in Texas. 

It reminded me of dark scenes from the movie "Mad Max."  Of roving gangs of hoodlums terrorizing ordinary people in the desolate post-apocalyptic world with their brute power. 

I wondered will this ultimately be the legacy of Donald Trump's presidency?  Even if a small percentage of Trump supporters would be of a mind to engage in such activity, the result would be, as Trump prophesied, bedlam.   It would severely damage our democracy. 

Now as the final denouement of Trump's defeat gets ever closer and his options to reverse the will of the people disappear, he has not changed his tune.   He continues to say that he won by a landslide and that if just some wise people would have the courage to acknowledge the facts, meaning the Supreme Court, he would win.   His latest argument is that the fraud can't be seen because local officials loosened the process so that the fraud was not discoverable. 

Meanwhile, his base of supporters is getting ever-more angry.   Threats are being received by officials, Republican and Democrat alike.   In Arizona, the Republican Party is trashing it's own leaders, the governor and the speaker of the House, for telling the facts of Trump's defeat like it is.   The same is happening in Georgia.   The Arizona Republican Party even sent out a call for people to die fighting for the cause.   Republican officials across the country, even attorney generals, not just his voter base, continue to support Trump's baseless claims. 

Now Trump is trying to get Republicans in Congress to agree to not accept the vote of the electoral college.   His last chance, on January 6.  Senator McConnell after finally acknowledging Biden as President-Elect has urged his Senate colleagues not to join the effort.

What happens when the last nail is driven in the coffin?   When there is no escape for Trump and his supporters from his defeat?

There was an op-ed piece in The New York Times after the election saying that the most dangerous time of our history, for our democracy, will be in the coming weeks.   And I think the writer was right.   

Who will be able to quiet the Trumpist masses when Trump goes down flailing?  It's beyond hope that the Trump loyalist pundits will take a positive role at long last.    And his followers have no use for past Republican leaders, so their words will be useless.   

Some leaders of the Evangelical church might make a difference if they told their followers, Trump supporters, that regardless how aggrieved they feel, that the results of the election must be respected, that law and order must be kept, that they should harm no one in their grief.   Will organized religion finally rise to the occasion, or will it once again fail out of the human weakness of its leaders?

I do not believe in the God of our forefathers, in the God of the Old Testament, but at this moment, I pray to that God that he protect our country from this dark eventuality.   (For clarification, I do believe in the God that is the divine essence that is within each of us; yes, including Trump supporters.   Unfortunately, most people are unaware of and unconnected with their divine essence.)

Invoke the 25th Amendment

If Vice President Pence and the Cabinet were men and not puppets, if they had any ethics or commitment to American democracy, they would invoke the 25th Amendment, Section 4, and free our country from President Trump.   Trump clearly is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."  The peaceful transfer of power being one of the most important duties of an American president. 

This would certainly throw the Republican Party and its voting base up for grabs.   But the fact that Trump loyalists took such a move would at least have a chance to quiet the Trump base and result in a peaceful transition to the Biden presidency. 

From what we have seen during the past month since the election, when Trump's defeat becomes final, it will not be accepted gracefully.

Where Do We Go From Here?

This has always been a country that harbored and accommodated a large diversity of thought,  But while there were many fringe elements, the core of the populace, even those who had ample reason to be distrustful of people with power, believed in our democracy and the basic sanctity of the process.   There was respect.   That even though you weren't always, or even often, going to be in the majority, that even though government didn't do what you wanted it to, you could always depend on our leaders and government being reasonable if failed men and women. 

The underlying feeling of belonging, despite all the diversity, all the inequality, all the discrimination, all the disenfranchisement has been dealt a blow by the past four years of the Trump administration.   While every other president, regardless of which party, sought to be a unifier and lead the people, Trump was the great divider.   

He saw his power in his ability to divide people and bring half the people under his unquestioning control.   To be an authoritarian, demagogue, dictator in style and even in fact, to the extent that our democracy and his party gave him that obeisance.  And that they did,

His final days are very much in the dictator mode.   His refusal to say in the run-up to the election that he was committed to the peaceful transfer of power, to put in his supporters' mind the conviction that if he didn't win it would be because it was stolen by fraud, and then to refuse to accept the results of the election all speak to his deranged state. 

That is not much of a surprise.   What is a surprise, however, is the response of the American people.   That 70 million people saw fit to vote for the man despite his catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic, forget about all his other failures, is hard enough to fathom.   But that they believed his lies that the pandemic is all a hoax, when we have almost 250,000 dead from the virus.   And now they believe his claims that he won but that the election was stolen from him by fraud.   It truly boggles the mind.   

We have a large portion of the population whose mind has been taken over by a web of unreality.   In a recent Monmouth University survey, 77% of Trump supporters said that Biden won the election because of fraud.   

Despite no evidence, despite court after court, Republican as well as Democratic judges, throwing out his attacks on the election, this huge mass of people still believe Trump just because of his word.   As indeed they believe every thing he says, whether it's about the virus, or climate change, or white supremacists, or whatever. 

Regardless whether the Senate is controlled by Democrats or Republicans, where does the country go from here?  How do we return our populace to a state of reason, of fact.   How do we return to the feeling that although we may strongly disagree, we all at heart want the best for our country and whether one side wins or the other, the country, our democracy, our well-being will not be damaged?

It we look to history, there is no easy answer.   After the toppling of a demagogue leader, much of the country has remained loyal to him for many years.   If has often taken a generation to free the country from the grasp of his legacy.  Plus, in every other case, the demagogue was gone from the scene; in our case, Trump will be, or at least he intends to be, very much with us in the future, attempting to control the Republican Party and perhaps even run for president again in 2024.

We cannot afford to have our country torn apart for a generation.   While all of Biden's policy initiatives are in the right direction and of critical importance, this issue, which is basically divorced from any policy success he may have, is of great importance to the future of our country. 

So the question remains, what does soon-to-be President Biden do to bring our country back to a state of normalcy?  I don't think he can count on his genuineness, his decency, his talk of unity to move the country substantially back to normalcy.   I don't think his policies will have much of an impact in this regard either. 

One has to understand that the one thing that people loved about Trump more than anything else was that he was fiercely anti-establishment.   And yes, he was in the pocket of the evangelicals.   There is possibly nothing that anyone that is part of the establishment, or even working with it, can do to change their attitude.    They won't even listen to the "moderate" former leaders of their own party.   

This anti-establishment feeling had been brewing for decades and Trump finally gave it a voice, an outlet.   You can't shut back Pandora's box once it's been opened. 

Even if Trump ends up in jail, convicted of tax fraud or whatever, it won't make a difference to his minions.   Indeed, they will just think he was unjustly convicted; a victim of the very establishment that he fought against. 

I fear that only Trump himself could change the dynamic.  And that is truly to dream the impossible dream.   And so i think we, Biden, must settle for just making small inroads, slightly reducing the millions that supported Trump through a variety of positive approaches that they feel are in their best interest.  Those are the facts

But we can nevertheless rejoice that we soon will have a President, a cabinet, and a government that will get this country back on track from a policy perspective.   If a large minority of the people continue in their blind trust and distrust, that will impact their lives and possibly the next election, but this country will move forward.   And we can take comfort in that they did lose the election and next time around, their numbers should be reduced, so that they will lose again. 

What Does The 2020 Election Say About Our Country?

We just had a presidential election.   The result, Biden won.   It was a decisive win, both regarding the popular vote and the electoral college, even with some states still not decided.   

But, 70 million people voted for Trump, only 4 million less than voted for Biden. 70 million Americans voted for a man who is a narcissistic bully.   Who, because of his inability to think beyond himself, allowed the coronavirus to devastate our country and kill more than 200,000 people, which has in turn ruined the financial well-being of millions and weakened the economy.   A man who has no morals, no ethics. 

What does this election result say about our country?  There is good news and bad news. 

First the good news.  This country is peopled for the most part with good people, across the board.   People who, like everyone, have their own problems and their own perspective on things, but who have some understanding of right and wrong.   People who are often silent; who mind their own business.   Thankfully, the majority is not so wounded that they are open to the pandering illusions and lies of a demagogue. 

Against this backdrop, a higher percentage of Americans voted in this election than in the past 120 years.   Millions of people who normally don't vote cast a vote, understanding what was at stake.   They knew that this election was not about whether a Republican or Democrat lives in the White House.   It was not about whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate.   This election was about saving this country from the grip of a madman, saving the country's soul as well as its health and financial well-being.

The normally-silent majority has spoken, and as Kamala Harris said in her victory speech, they have saved us.  Tuesday, after the election was called for Biden, when I drove downtown in this small village in the Massachusetts Berkshires, there was an older woman standing on a corner holding a sign high which simply said, "Free."  Well put.   I feel like alternating between MLK's famous, "Free at last.  Thank God Almighty we are free at last." and the song from the Wizard of Oz, "Ding, dong, the witch is dead. "

Biden will have many challenges facing him.   But I have faith that he will develop effective policies and through the force of his decency, personality, and history will be able to elicit cooperation from enough Republicans that he will be able to govern with bipartisan support.   Hard to imagine after the past 12 years. 

But now for the bad news.   70 million Americans voted for Trump.   Given his mishandling of the pandemic, the economy, and his personality, that's a lot more than one would have expected.   

Trump's base is usually stated as a third of the electorate, so around 50 million voters.   Half of that base is made up of evangelical Christians.   We know from APVoteCast, that about 25 million evangelical Christians (8 in 10 evangelical voters) continued to support him.   Why?   Because he had changed the makeup of the Federal judicial bench and the Supreme Court to an extent that they never in their wildest dreams felt was possible.   The culture wars were of singular importance to them.   His failures as a person, his lack of morals, his treatment of women were not even of secondary concern.

The other 25 million of his base are people who have been so wounded that they were ripe for his pandering to their hurt and their fears, and the force of his charisma.  They cheered the gusto with which he stuck his finger in the eyes of the intellectual elite and the Democratic Party, who they view as responsible for their suffering.  Like all followers of demagogues, they see no truth other than his truth.  His enemy is their enemy. 

Why is this?  Trump is in style if not in fact a dictator demagogue.   And such leaders have historically received huge support, even in the face of disaster.   This occurs because in each case, the demagogue speaks out against something that greatly harmed the people.   

In this instance, the fervor of Trump's support mirrors the depths of despair and betrayal middle-class whites felt and feel towards the Democratic Party.  And towards the Establishment and government in general.   We, the Democratic Party, have failed our own people.   Despite warnings, we were not attuned to it.  I think Biden is very aware of this.

But what about the other 20 million people who voted for Trump?   From accounts I've read, many of these were people, traditional Republicans, who had only one concern . . .  the economy and their financial well-being.   And they felt, as Republicans always do, that a Republican will handle the economy better than a Democrat.   No matter who this Republican was.   No matter that scores of traditional Republican political leaders, military men, and public servants said that for the good of the country Trump must be defeated. 

If you look at Trump's support, these were all single-issue groups whose only concern was their own well-being.   Evangelical Christians were only concerned that they win the culture wars: that abortion would be prohibited and the LGBT community be deprived of any rights.   The white working-class just felt aggrieved and supported someone who spoke for them.   And financial conservatives just don't trust Democrats with the economy. 

The job facing the Biden administration is huge.   Not only does he have to free us from the pandemic and restore the economic health of millions . . .  and that's just to get us back to baseline.   He has to deal with the issues of income inequality, racial injustice, climate change, and the list goes on. 

But he also has to restore the faith of most Americans in the American social contract.  Simply stated, that we are all Americans, that we as citizens have rights but also have responsibilities to our fellow citizens, and that because so many lack opportunity because of the circumstances they are born into and have little control over, government has a role in leveling the playing field to insure that all Americans have the opportunity to fully engage in '"the pursuit of happiness."

And he has to give meaning to our oath that we are "one nation, under God."  Has anyone thought what that implies?   This is not about going to church.   The main implications center, I believe, on how we treat our fellow man. 

This was the aspiration the founders stated in the Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."  It means that we treat people humanely, with respect.   It means that everyone deserves  an equal opportunity to make a life for themselves; what they make of that opportunity is then their responsibility.   And it is government that is tasked to "secure those rights," securing equal opportunity, as stated again in the Declaration of Independence. 

Whether we as a nation pull together over the next four years, or whether we continue the internecine fights of the Trump years, will determine our future.   We will either thrive or we will destroy ourselves.

 

The Shamelessness of Republicans Knows No Bounds

The election is over.   Putting aside the recount in Georgia and the undecided status of North Carolina, and for some media outlets, Arizona, Biden clearly has won the election.   Even if Trump ended up winning all the remaining states, which he won't, Biden still wins.   And the margin of victory in the swing states is such that whatever Trump tries to do in the courts will not change the result.   Come December 14 when the electoral college votes, Biden will officially be President-Elect and that will be that.

So how to account for the vast majority of congressional Republicans refusing to acknowledge Biden's victory?  By historical standards, this was not a particularly close election.  This defiant posture is unheard of. 

There is only one answer.   Despite the fact that Trump lost, he didn't lose big.   He still obviously has the devotion of almost half the U.S. electorate, and so he still has a lot of power.   Power to decide future political races if he so chooses, and it looks like he wants to remain a force.  And every Republican in Congress wants to be reelected.

And so just as during the past four years, Republican officials bow to Trump and do nothing to cross him  And this could well be the scenario for the next four years. 

What does this mean for Biden's presidency?  It means that he can't count on his personal relationship with Republican senators making any difference to their actions.   It means he cannot figure on even a modest level of  bi-partisan support for his programs.   

It means that if the two run-offs in Georgia do not result in two Democratic senators and a tied Senate with the Vice President breaking the tie, Biden will not be able to get his programs through Congress.   So the importance of these run-offs cannot be overstated. 

Even defeated, out of office, Trump will continue to wreak havoc on our country.   It is beyond depressing. 

Democrats Must Vote in Person November 3, or earlier

There is substantial concern about what might happen on election night, assuming that a huge number of voters cast their ballots by mail and that they won’t be counted for days after the election.

The fears cited are that Trump voters are more likely to vote in person since they as a group seem to have little fear of the virus, don’t wear masks, don’t bother with social distancing, etc.  Thus the results available from election day voting could very likely favor Trump and show him leading.

If that is the case, the assumption many journalists are making is that Trump will declare victory that night.  And that as mail ballots are counted over the next few days and his lead shrinks or disappears, he will declare fraud and will refuse to abide by the election results.

This scenario does not seem far-fetched given the President’s personality.  Also, note that these articles are not written by left-wing activists.  Even David Brooks wrote an op-ed fearing this result.

There is only one practical way to avoid this nightmare scenario.  People should be urged to vote in person, being assured that if they wear a mask and social distance, they can vote in person, in safety.  This advice is in keeping with testimony recently presented by CDC Director Dr. Redmond.  As many people as possible must vote on election day to avoid the imagined catastrophe.

Weeks ago, I wrote this same basic post, sent it to the DNC, and sent an op-ed submission to the New York Times.  But no one gave my thought any notice.

There is still time.  While many people have already mailed in their ballots, many haven't.  The Democratic party needs to flood the airwaves and print media immediately with the positive message that if you wear a mask and social distance you will be safe voting in person, even if you are older.  And making the point that if you do not vote in person, there’s a good chance that the nightmare scenario will occur.

Democrats have only a week or two to make this appeal.  They need to start now. 

What Should the Democratic Party Stance Be Regarding the Police?

At the start of the Democratic convention, The New York Times reported that Biden made a statement during a discussion that “most cops are good; the bad ones need to be identified and prosecuted.”  It that quote is complete and not taken out of context, it shows an unfortunate lack of understanding by Biden of the policing problem.

This is not primarily a matter of good cops or bad cops.  Of course, as Biden said, most cops are good and the bad ones must be identified and prosecuted.

But the problem goes further.  It goes to the institutional racism present in many police departments.  It goes to methodologies of subduing a possible suspect that go beyond reasonable force.  It goes to the virtual free rein given police officers as they go about their jobs.

I would not argue for defunding or even reduced funding for police departments.  They have a valid function to perform and they need the dollars and manpower to do it.  But how they go about that function must be cleansed of all racism and toleration of excessive force.

There is a valid reason why the police are often considered the enemy by people of color.  The police must serve and protect all citizens equally so that this conflict between the police and those they are sworn to serve and protect ceases to be.

If Biden has gotten boxed into defending the police status quo because of progressive calls to defund, that shows a lack of analytic thinking on his part and his staff.  There is a middle ground.  As I stated above, I am not for defunding the police, but I insist on effective, practical police reform. 

In Trump We Trust

It has been apparent for most of Trump’s presidency that regardless what he does or says, regardless how outrageous, how unprofessional, regardless whether he is fact-checked and shown to have lied, and certainly regardless what the mainstream (non-conservative) media say, Trump’s core base of support believes him, and Congressional Republicans either aggressively support him or stay silent.  So much so that one could say that his base believes in him.

A new poll published in The New York Times verifies this fact, but shows that his infallibility among his core base is weakening.  The poll shows that the vast majority of all Americans trust medical scientists and the CDC to provide accurate information about the coronavirus.  90/83% of Democrats, and 75/71% of Republicans.  

In interpreting this data, since Trump’s core base is usually said to be about 31% of the electorate, and self-described Republicans have recently wavered between 25 - 30%, one can say that virtually all Republicans are in his core base, meaning they have strongly approved of his performance.

The poll verifies that the trust of Trump among Republicans is still high.  Although Republican say their trust in medical scientists and the CDC is high, their trust in Dr. Fauci, who has openly contradicted Trump on many occasions is only 51% while their trust in Trump’s providing accurate information about the virus is 66%.  Their trust in information from the national news media is a dismal 7%.

Since medical scientists, and the CDC, routinely dispute Trump’s statements about the virus and the government’s response to the virus, it indicates that for a large percentage of his base, they believe in him regardless what their mind tells them.  The explanation for Fauci getting a much lower trust score that medicate scientists, is that he openly, albeit tactfully, disputes Trump’s statements, often right after Trump has said something, and on the same stage.  He’s in Trump’s face.  Many in his base don’t like that.

The good news in this otherwise bleak report is that a good chunk of Trump’s core base (34%) do not trust him to provide accurate information.  This is in sync with various national polls that show that Trump’s support is slipping within his base.  For example, in a recent Economist/YouGov poll, his“strongly approve” job performance rating is 65% of Republicans.  And given the importance that the pandemic will have in people’s decision making process come election time, this will hurt Trump even as he tries to stoke the fires of his base.

The election is still more than 4 months away.  But the facts on the ground and the polls give one a reasonable basis for hope that the election will be decisive and not a cliff-hanger.

How Does Biden Defeat This Incumbent President?

What does Joe Biden need to do to defeat Trump in November? And hopefully not just squeaking by but by trouncing him.

First, the President has the bully pulpit, and never has that phrase been more apt than in the case of Donald Trump.  Biden has to figure out a way, in this age of pandemic with social restrictions, to give himself a public presence, to make him a leader for the American people.  He must develop his own bully pulpit.

Videos from his basement don’t hack it!  Yes, he can’t hold rallies and many of the usual things that candidates do.  

But he can hold press conferences … live ones … that reporters will cover.  Certainly on the issue of how to respond to the pandemic, he has ample reason to hold a regularly scheduled weekly news conferences to criticize what Trump is doing or not doing, tell the people what needs to happen and what he would do if President.  Like his plan for the Federal government taking over responsibility for testing and contact tracing … which was announced in a post on Medium and hardly noticed.  There is so much confusion surrounding the virus and opening up, the people would welcome a sane, trustworthy voice on these issues.

He can also use press conferences to announce his policy positions on other important matters linked to his criticism of Trump administration actions or policies.  There is no shortage of weekly items that highlight how Trump is destroying policies that were meant to protect the average person … health care, environmental roll-backs, the post office, to name just a few.  And that would give Biden the opportunity to showcase his own policies, not just to protect the status quo but to improve protections for the average person.

One caveat:  do not in general campaign against Trump the person.  Data show that most people are not as upset about Trump the person as liberals and especially progressives are.  Especially since Biden needs to attract people who voted for Trump, attacking Trump the person becomes viewed as attacking the people who voted for him.  So stick to attacking Trump’s policies.

In taking himself to the people, he has to keep in mind four key audiences:  white voters without a college degree, people of color both Black and Latino, and young voters.  If Biden is to win, let alone win handily, he must achieve a large turnout of voters in all four groups.  Luckily, everything that Biden should be saying, all the policies he should be promoting, he can say to all these audiences.  But he needs to make sure that in addition to talking about the big overarching issues, he addresses the needs of each of these constituencies directly.

One of the ways he can do this is to go and speak to them directly.  Yes, again, he cannot hold rallies.  But he can have news conferences around the country, in different type of locales that emphasize the inclusive nature of his policies.  He can hold these conferences in rust-belt areas, in urban Black ghettos and urban Latino ghettos, on college campuses.  And he should hold them in rural areas to emphasize that Democratic policies are good for rural areas; they aren’t just about helping the urban poor.

What’s disturbing is that either Biden has surrounded himself with a week campaign crew, because none of these what I think are obvious tactics are happening, which is what I think is what’s going on, or the less likely possibility that he just isn’t comfortable doing what needs to be done, other than through ads.  That would be unfortunate.

Whatever.  If he is not by his nature the man for this time, than those around him have to goose him up to become the type of man needed for this time.  The future of our country depends on it, and I am not saying that lightly.  Another four years of Trump would be devastating.   Even a nail-bitingly-close election would be harmful because it would indicate that the country as a whole was still terribly divided, not ready to move forward to do what’s necessary to truly make America great again.

Where Is Joe Biden?

Joe Biden is running a strange campaign.  Since the COVID-19 restrictions, he has not been seen in public as far as I know.  He seems to feel that he has no options other than virtual ones and that he is already a well-enough known persona who people trust that he can beat Trump.  And if he looks at the polls, he can take comfort in them.

But there is a real risk in his losing the election if he does not step up to the plate and present his leadership chops to the American people.

First of all, he does have an option.  Both because of the pandemic and his de facto position as the Democratic nominee, he could hold a weekly news conference to present his take on what is happening, what should be happening, what he would do if he were president.  

He needs to show the American people the kind of leadership he would provide.  Which as a side benefit would make Trump look bad without saying a derogatory word.  Maybe he’s getting advice that Trump’s digging his own grave, so stay silent.  I think that’s bad advice.

Second, while he may win if people want to vote for the nice guy rather than Mr. Crazy, he won’t win big, which is what we need to take back the Senate, without him providing a strong force for the country to look to for leadership.  Joe Biden needs to show the public that he has balls.  

Third, Biden needs to show that while he is a unifier and can work with the opposition, he is not just “let’s all shake hands and be friends.”  He has got to show that he doesn’t have Obama’s key flaw, which was to think that the Republicans can be brought to the table as reasonable people; be nice to them and they’ll be nice to you.  Times have changed.  He needs to show determination and fighting spirit on the important issues of the day.

Finally, although he has now addressed the sexual assault allegation made by a former staffer, what he said isn’t enough.  Although The New York Times in reporting the allegation took no position as to whether the incident occurred or not, it did give the allegation status, especially since there is a confirmed contemporaneous statement to a friend about the incident.  

There are many problems with her story, but those are not dispositive.  Then there’s the timing, she changed her story from touching to assault just after Biden de facto won the nomination.  Hmm?  Yes, he’s never been accused of a violent or gross assault.   People who do such things do them serially, so the fact that no one else has come forward with an allegation makes it unlikely.  But that also isn’t enough.

Biden needs to get past the “she said, he said” dynamic.  What he needs to do is offer to take a lie detector test and make the test public.  He should also demand that Reade take a lie detector test.  While lie detector tests are not admissible as evidence in a court of law, they are in the court of public opinion.  

He has to get past this.  He may think it’s not going to matter for most people, even most women, but it just has to matter to enough to change some close states for him to lose the election.

Plus Biden needs to show that he has grown in stature with age.  He is not just another politician who is good at glib non-responses to serious questions.  He needs to show that he truly understands the seriousness of people’s concern about such matters and that he is willing to put himself at risk to prove his innocence.

Biden was not my candidate.  Others had better personalities and agendas for our time.  But Biden is a good man and will start the process of bringing our country out of the depths of degradation it has seen and into the light.

Only a Force of Light Can Defeat Trump

These have been dark years for America.  A very personal yet social alienation and hatred has attached itself to a large percentage of the body politic, both on the right and the left.  While America had witnessed an increasing lack of political civility during the Obama years because of the intransigence of Republicans, with the nomination and election of Donald Trump the situation has morphed into a deep dysfunction which threatens our democracy.

Trump is the very essence of darkness.  Many have called him a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but it is much worse than that.  Not only does he have a lack of empathy, no genuine interest in others, and exploits people.  Not only does he have pathological personality traits such as grandiosity, arrogance, and haughtiness.  Not only does he require constant admiration and loyalty.  He is the master of hatred; of appealing to the basest instincts of people; of leading people away from their humanity.  He foments division and violence for his own personal gain.  Nothing that he does is in the public interest; it is all about him.

And as has happened in other countries in the past, people are attracted to this larger than life personality, to his grandiosity, to his smashing of political and social conventions.  This happened in Europe in the 20s and 30s when countries were hit by the aftermath of WWI; economies and people were down.  And although the economy may be booming here, at least in terms of the stock market and corporate profits, the middle class, the majority of Americans, has been hurting for decades and they feel, rightly so, ignored.  America is full of forgotten people.  And so they are ripe for Trump’s manipulation.

What makes this national experience even worse is that this hatred from the right has brought forth a corresponding hatred from the left, or as they are called now, progressives.  And so we have two warring tribes in America.  Even within the Democratic Party, the warring tribe of progressives threatens to sink any nominee who  does not reflect its positions.

It is a spiritual truth that only a force of light can defeat darkness.  If one looked at the Democratic debate before the New Hampshire primary and the recent debate in South Carolina, while there were no forces of darkness there (contrary to many Republican pundits, Senator Sanders is not the left’s Trump; he may be very angry but he is not darkness), most of the candidates were filled to a greater or lesser extent with this reactive hatred or hostility to the Republican right.

There is only one existing candidate who has consistently been a source of light.  Who is a voice of reason, of unity.  Who while passionate does not let his emotions get the better of him.  Who has the political and philosophical desire and wherewithal to lower the rhetoric and heal America.  To find that commonality that Americans used to feel, even if of a different mind.  To save us from a self-inflicted destruction.

That one source of light is Pete Buttigieg.  He may not be the perfect candidate.  He does not have a stirring voice.  He is young and lacks a certain gravitas.  And yet out of all the candidates, he is the right person for this time.  And I think that with more exposure, he will only get more effective and people across a broad political spectrum will be attracted to his message. The numbers aren’t there now, but he can beat Trump.