GARY COSBY JR.: Approaching November: From bad
to worse
I felt pretty awful about our
choices in the presidential election four years ago, so awful that I thought it
couldn’t possibly get worse. And then it did. It might become worse still,
depending on whom Joe Biden picks as a running mate.
Why would I say such a thing? The
first reason is obvious. In a time when we desperately need a unifying force in
the White House, we are saddled with the single most divisive president in my
lifetime and possibly in the history of our nation. He is very much like the
villain Two-Face in the Batman comics and movies.
Two-Face was so named because one
side of his face was completely normal and the other side was badly burned and
disfigured. That is the essence of President Trump. His supporters see nothing
but a great guy. His detractors see nothing but a villain. The president seems
to go out of his way to further this impression. I have never seen a man who so
continually undermines himself like he does. It is as if the two sides of his
personality are at war, and one never knows if we will be seeing good Trump or
bad Trump at any given moment.
Then we have Biden on the
Democratic side. I realize the choices were somewhat limited and the only
really good candidate the Democrats put forward, Amy Klobuchar, didn’t last
through Super Tuesday; however, Mr. Biden is going to be exposed in the coming
election, and it is not going to be pretty.
First, he has already had several
accusations against him of sexual misconduct. Let’s just be honest, what some
of those allegations amount to is sexual assault. The national media will
likely try to downplay these allegations because they hate President Trump.
Probably only Fox News and a couple of the more conservative newspapers and
magazines will even attempt to fully report Biden’s alleged sexual issues.
That’s not all, and maybe what
comes next is worse or, perhaps, more pitiable. When he is placed on the debate
stage with the president, he is going to be exposed in a different way. In
listening to Biden in interviews, he seems to trip himself up and forget what
he is saying. I don’t know if this is a normal thing with him or if this is
something that is coming on due to age. Biden is 77 years old and, if elected,
would be by far the oldest man to become president.
President Trump will have little
mercy on Biden. Like a shark sensing blood in the water, he will attack hard if
this mental decline becomes obvious. Don’t think for a minute that Trump built
his financial and real estate empire by playing nice.
If Biden doesn’t choose a running
mate wisely, this really could turn into a Trump landslide. In fact, I would
say that we have never seen an election where the choice of running mate is
more important. Having said that, if Biden can even appear to be competent and
if he selects an excellent running mate, the election could easily be a win for
the Democrats.
What I think is that we will see
an Electoral College landslide one way or the other. The president is so badly
hated by the left that they will mobilize as they have never before mobilized.
There are more of them, as we saw in the last presidential election, and that
was when Democrats were fairly relaxed, thinking that Hillary Clinton would
easily defeat Trump.
It came as an absolute shock when
Trump won in the Electoral College. You can count upon the Democrats getting
out the vote this time around. They will not be lax or overconfident. What
remains to be seen is how well the president handles the next few months of
dealing with COVID-19.
This could actually propel him to
victory regardless of Democratic efforts. If he shows competence and can keep
his nastiness under control for a while, the public may rally to his side and
reward him with four more years.
For Trump, the status of the
economic recovery from the COVID lockdown is the absolute key to whether he
wins in November. The efforts to stop the novel coronavirus through social
distancing and lockdowns have been quite successful. Although he was not at the
forefront of this movement — remember the sports leagues all acted before the
White House did — he is certainly a skillful enough politician to take credit
for it.
If he can right the economy and
come out of this lockdown with job growth and no worse impact on the stock
market, the moneymen will stay in his corner. If people feel financially secure
in November, President Trump can win reelection.
Gary
Cosby Jr. is photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com
I think Mr. Cosby nailed it. Lots of heat's gonna be put on Joe Biden by President Trump and Russia (Hillary Clinton replay). On the other hand, it looks to me President Trump does have multiple personalities. That doesn't matter to his voting base, but it might matter to Independents, Greens, Libertarians, etc.
Suppose Biden selects Amy Klobuchar as his running mate. Suppose Biden pre-selects, with their approval: Barack Obama, Secretary of State; Hillary Clinton; National Security Adviser; Bill Weld, Official Presidential Sounding Board and Spokesperson; Kamala Harris, Attorney General; Elizabeth Warren, FBI Director; Alabama Democratic U.S. Senator Doug Jones, who as U.S. Attorney prosecuted and convicted Klansman for bombing Birmingham black church, head of U.S. Department of Justice; Bernie Sanders, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare; Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of Defense; Corey Booker, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Julian Castro, Director of ICE; Jay Inslee, Secretary of Interior; Andrew Cuomo, head of FEMA; Andrew Yang, Red China Ambassador, Marianne Williamson, White House Spiritual Adviser; the other Democrat candidates this year get other top appointments as Directors of EPA, Securities & Exchange Commission, Homeland Security, U.S. Treasury, etc.
Ya think such a lineup would galvanize Democrats, give Independents, Greens, Libertarians, etc. a real alternative to another Trump term, and cause Trump, MAGAs, most Republicans, Vladimir Putin and Red China to squirm?
Such a lineup would, if Biden wins in November, cost Democrats a few seats in Congress; but maybe state governors looking at that coalition in charge of the White House and federal "deep state", disaster relief, etc., would appoint Democrats to fill those empty seats.
That all assumes there will be elections in November, and people will be allowed to vote by mail, if it's not safe to vote in person. I bet, NO, if President Trump, MAGAs, the Republican Party and Russia have their way.
That all assumes there will be elections in November, and people will be allowed to vote by mail, if it's not safe to vote in person. I bet, NO, if President Trump, MAGAs, the Republican Party and Russia have their way.
sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com
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