Unfortunately, I think there is a decent chance the Libertarian convention and nominee choice actually has a slightly positive effect for Trump. The party chair is basically talking about supporting Trump now, as are several others in the Mises Caucus that has taken over the party the last several years.
Re the the June 27 debate - Bill said "(if that happens)". Please say more about this, Bill. The only way it doesn't happen is if Trump doesn't show up, yes? Of course Biden will show because he went on offense and somehow got the Trump campaign to agree to his terms.
"Seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be answered unto you" I wrote a comment below complaining that Bill Kristol and Andrew Eggers should have found and compared Biden's Memorial Day speech to Trump's. Just now, I looked at the New York Times headlines and found this article by Michael Shear: "Biden Marks Memorial Day With Message About Freedom as Trump Lashes Out." It does exactly what I thought should be done. OK!!!!
I am afraid that you are right - but think about how Harry Truman would have given them Hell to make the necessary point. Our problem isn't a "do nothing Congress;" it is "screw all of you" Court.
"Is the Biden campaign in fact advancing a campaign narrative around these events? Maybe they are and I just haven’t seen it."
He is. I have seen video of his speeches online but nothing from the US major news outlets. The question you should asking is why these outlets are refusing to cover Biden being patriotic and presidential.
This, in a nutshell, is what Joe Biden’s campaign believes to be its biggest structural problem—that the race does not yet sufficiently revolve around Trump. It attributes the polls that have shown him trailing Trump for the last eight months to the fact that voters do not realize, or have not fully grappled with the reality, that Trump will be on the ballot in November. Once they do, the Biden team appears convinced, they’ll remember all the reasons they sent Trump packing four years ago.
This will not win. Biden has a record, a terrific record, t***p does not. But Biden cannot win JUST on hatred of t***p. And democrats cannot wait. Right now it needs to be all about pushing Biden's record and yes weaving a story about him being a "normal" good president who cares about the country, the military and the world. While t***p wishes everyone a "happy" holiday on the most solemn of occasions this country marks.
I suspected the Politico article about a Dem freakout would be based on flimsy evidence and it was.
The one and only person involved in the freakout who went on record was a Dem strategist named Pete Giangreco, which doesn't do much for me. The other two were anonymous, a "Democratic operative" and an "adviser to major Democratic donors".
The truest thing in the article is that the stakes are the highest ever and a freakout based on that idea is probably justified, but the tone of the article was that Biden is failing.
Actually, unless the Dems control both houses of Congress they will never be able to add the 4 additional seats. And they will need to dump the filibuster as a precondition. BUT I would argue that they need to campaign on the promise that they will deliver us from the Roberts Court or they are going to lose this election because they otherwise will not be promising anything worthwhile.
What a tremendous difference between how we mark our remembrance of Memorial day and how Trump does. But then does he ever have a fond memory of anything! It has always ticked me off that he regards all serviceman who died serving this country as "saps and suckers" He once asked his chief of staff Kelly; "I don't get it. What was in it for them"?
And that is exactly what democrats (though not Biden) should be talking about. That post from yesterday should have received "replies" telling him just what people thought of first his happy holiday wish, and a lesson on what this is really about.
One of the biggest problems facing Joe Biden is a voter memory problem. The general perception is that voters feel the economy was better under Trump and that he could handle the economy better. In truth, presidents and the government have very, very little say over the economy. Trump bragged about having the greatest economy ever. It was really the same economy under as Obama. Remember how Republicans complained about how sluggish it was under Obama? Guess what? It was the same conditions under Trump as Obama. But Trump kept tooting that trumpet about how great it was. After three months of inflation holding steady at 3.2-3.5, hopefully it will start declining again. If not, perceptions won't change.
100% spot on! I nearly posted something similar. My biggest advice for his campaign would be to cherry pick some newspaper headlines from his 1st 3 months as POTUS. Thousands dying of COVID a day....EVERY type of leisure travel was shut down causing demand for fuel to be a fraction of normal...hence the cheap price of gas....restaurants/movie theaters/sports games were either shut down or severe restrictions placed upon them...
I agree with the assessment that our friggin' 2024 voting contingent has a very short memory collectively. Time to wake them up with some reality!
Why aren’t Raskin, Moskowitz, Porter, Schiff, and so on not on every show touting Biden’s positives?
The media , except propaganda media, will be gone by the end of Trump’s first year in office, you’d think they’d do a better job. They publish without real criticism every lie and nonsensical thing Trump says. They cover the stupidity of MTG and Habba without criticism, we should wonder if we deserve to keep our democracy.
If you want Biden to defeat Trump, perhaps you could use the platform you have at Bulwark more effectively. Today's column demonstrates what I am talking about.
First, you gave the first precious lines to quoting Trump's ugly and typical grievance speech on the occasion of Memorial Day. Then you offered a long criticism of Biden's campaign for somehow not doing more, saying more, whatever.
Here's suggestion for you: how about printing what Biden had to say in honor of Memorial Day next to what Trump had to say so people, voters, could compare them. One of the reasons I most value Heather Cox Richard's essays, which I read every day just like I do yours, is that she often summarizes speeches I would not have heard. The media made note that Biden gave an address at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, but they did not report what he said. You know what? You can find the text of the entire speech at the White House web site. It took me two clicks to find it. You can also read his address to the graduating class at West Point. Juxtaposing either of these with Trump's screed would make the difference all too clear. That's what you should have done instead of complaining about the Biden campaign.
While you were at it, you could have recalled Trump's insulting that Gold Star Family. His calling soldiers who served "suckers." His failure to attend a service at the American cemetery in France because it was raining. All the other world leaders went. His insulting John McCain for getting shot down and spending 5 years in a prison camp.
You get the idea. If the Biden campaign isn't making the best use of its time, let me suggest you could better use yours. We need the media to get the truth out there because Biden, and everyone who cares about democracy has to constantly battle Trump's lies and those of his enablers. Bill, you say it first hit you that Trump might win in 2016 that September. I was way ahead of you. The horror of that possibility struck me in June 2016 when the British people voted to leave the EU based on the lies they had been told by the pro-Brexit camp. Trump subsequently met with Nigel Farange who, media reports said, told Trump he could win. All he had to do to win was lie. No problem for Trump who has lied to himself and everyone else his entire life. Unfortunately it worked, aided and abetted by Russia, also no stranger to misinformation.
Look, there are bunches of things Biden could do to strengthen his campaign, but he's also busy being president. In the past couple of days, he's been at Arlington National Cemetery and West Point. Next week he will be in Normandy to recognize the 80th anniversary of the battle that saved western civilization and the people who died fighting it. I suspect Biden will show up even if it's raining. Those soldiers and sailors resting at the American cemetery there did.
The media has bent over backwards trying to be "balanced" in its coverage of Trump and Biden. Work a little harder at reporting what Biden is doing and has done for all of us these past 4 years. Perhaps mention that he has been serving the public since he was 29. Get out there and do your job better.
Did Jaimie Harrison ( no one even knows who he is, DNC chairman) just take our donations and run off? How does he have a job? He raises a ton of money and no bang for the buck. Fire his ass NOW! Get a new , younger, moderate candidate and promote the crap out of them. The candidate should be on every news show, kissing babies, addressing unions, …holding up in the basement won’t work this time.
Challenge Trump to state how he’d fight inflation. If he says he could get the release of the US citizen being held by the Russians, then challenge him to do it. Show his gaffes over and over? Reveal the lies immediately.
But the democrats just sit back and clutch their pearls and how it’s just a bad dream. But it’s everyone’s bad dream
I miss the old days when the final stretch of a presidential campaign started with Labor Day weekend. The constant gnawing at poll results and the state of campaigns that persists over a year before the election is wearing and ultimately destructive to people's perceptions of any candidate. It's no wonder people don't want to engage with politics.
"It’s all nonsense, and much of it may not even be particularly effective. Trump’s a very flawed candidate. But he must be doing something right: He’s held his narrow lead over the last three months, despite being outspent by Biden and despite being cooped up in a courtroom in New York City for much of the last five weeks."
Or...OR, hear me out. Maybe, instead of this being Joe Biden's fault, if it wasn't for the Clintons, the New Democrats and the unholy alliance they created with big business which shipped so many blue AND WHITE collar jobs overseas (I'm including Mexico), then signed up to help Bush v2.0 invade Iraq for no reason, THERE WOULD BE NO trump. I'm sure that I'm going to hear about how Howard Dean was a radical lefty from the People's Republic of Vermont but:
""What I want to know, is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?"
If both sides are actively fucking you; literally, taking your jobs so that corporations can make more money and sending you and/or your spouse or child to a desert war for oil, why the hell wouldn't you be nihilistic about govt? Maybe look at this as Uncle Joe is trying to clean up, what, 40 years of misguided policies? Maybe it's your fault, not his.
Unfortunately, I think there is a decent chance the Libertarian convention and nominee choice actually has a slightly positive effect for Trump. The party chair is basically talking about supporting Trump now, as are several others in the Mises Caucus that has taken over the party the last several years.
https://x.com/angela4lncchair/status/1795512208748875804
Re the the June 27 debate - Bill said "(if that happens)". Please say more about this, Bill. The only way it doesn't happen is if Trump doesn't show up, yes? Of course Biden will show because he went on offense and somehow got the Trump campaign to agree to his terms.
I've been persuaded - somewhat - by psychologist John Gartner, Ph.D., that there are increasing signs of Trump's dementia (https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/john-gartner-trump-cognitive-decline). So far, 2,358 licensed professionals agree (https://www.change.org/p/our-diagnostic-impression-of-trump-is-probable-dementia-for-licensed-professionals-only). On a recent vid with Rick Wilson's media platform, Resolute Square, Gartner predicted that Trump will NOT show up to debate because the spotlight will be on his dementia as 7 In 10 voters watch (Quinnipiac).
who is Pete Giangreco ?
"Seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be answered unto you" I wrote a comment below complaining that Bill Kristol and Andrew Eggers should have found and compared Biden's Memorial Day speech to Trump's. Just now, I looked at the New York Times headlines and found this article by Michael Shear: "Biden Marks Memorial Day With Message About Freedom as Trump Lashes Out." It does exactly what I thought should be done. OK!!!!
I totally agree. The Biden campaign ought to use Trump's unhinged outburst to show
1) He cares not a whit about service members.
2) It's always about himself and he is not at all interested in doing anything to improve the lives of Americans.
I am afraid that you are right - but think about how Harry Truman would have given them Hell to make the necessary point. Our problem isn't a "do nothing Congress;" it is "screw all of you" Court.
"Is the Biden campaign in fact advancing a campaign narrative around these events? Maybe they are and I just haven’t seen it."
He is. I have seen video of his speeches online but nothing from the US major news outlets. The question you should asking is why these outlets are refusing to cover Biden being patriotic and presidential.
This, in a nutshell, is what Joe Biden’s campaign believes to be its biggest structural problem—that the race does not yet sufficiently revolve around Trump. It attributes the polls that have shown him trailing Trump for the last eight months to the fact that voters do not realize, or have not fully grappled with the reality, that Trump will be on the ballot in November. Once they do, the Biden team appears convinced, they’ll remember all the reasons they sent Trump packing four years ago.
This will not win. Biden has a record, a terrific record, t***p does not. But Biden cannot win JUST on hatred of t***p. And democrats cannot wait. Right now it needs to be all about pushing Biden's record and yes weaving a story about him being a "normal" good president who cares about the country, the military and the world. While t***p wishes everyone a "happy" holiday on the most solemn of occasions this country marks.
I suspected the Politico article about a Dem freakout would be based on flimsy evidence and it was.
The one and only person involved in the freakout who went on record was a Dem strategist named Pete Giangreco, which doesn't do much for me. The other two were anonymous, a "Democratic operative" and an "adviser to major Democratic donors".
The truest thing in the article is that the stakes are the highest ever and a freakout based on that idea is probably justified, but the tone of the article was that Biden is failing.
Actually, unless the Dems control both houses of Congress they will never be able to add the 4 additional seats. And they will need to dump the filibuster as a precondition. BUT I would argue that they need to campaign on the promise that they will deliver us from the Roberts Court or they are going to lose this election because they otherwise will not be promising anything worthwhile.
What a tremendous difference between how we mark our remembrance of Memorial day and how Trump does. But then does he ever have a fond memory of anything! It has always ticked me off that he regards all serviceman who died serving this country as "saps and suckers" He once asked his chief of staff Kelly; "I don't get it. What was in it for them"?
And that is exactly what democrats (though not Biden) should be talking about. That post from yesterday should have received "replies" telling him just what people thought of first his happy holiday wish, and a lesson on what this is really about.
It's become a holiday tradition for him to attack his "enemies". The man is so filled with grievance he can't see straight.
Ya betch ya.
One of the biggest problems facing Joe Biden is a voter memory problem. The general perception is that voters feel the economy was better under Trump and that he could handle the economy better. In truth, presidents and the government have very, very little say over the economy. Trump bragged about having the greatest economy ever. It was really the same economy under as Obama. Remember how Republicans complained about how sluggish it was under Obama? Guess what? It was the same conditions under Trump as Obama. But Trump kept tooting that trumpet about how great it was. After three months of inflation holding steady at 3.2-3.5, hopefully it will start declining again. If not, perceptions won't change.
100% spot on! I nearly posted something similar. My biggest advice for his campaign would be to cherry pick some newspaper headlines from his 1st 3 months as POTUS. Thousands dying of COVID a day....EVERY type of leisure travel was shut down causing demand for fuel to be a fraction of normal...hence the cheap price of gas....restaurants/movie theaters/sports games were either shut down or severe restrictions placed upon them...
I agree with the assessment that our friggin' 2024 voting contingent has a very short memory collectively. Time to wake them up with some reality!
Great minds think a like,Jeff!
Why aren’t Raskin, Moskowitz, Porter, Schiff, and so on not on every show touting Biden’s positives?
The media , except propaganda media, will be gone by the end of Trump’s first year in office, you’d think they’d do a better job. They publish without real criticism every lie and nonsensical thing Trump says. They cover the stupidity of MTG and Habba without criticism, we should wonder if we deserve to keep our democracy.
Hi Bill and Andrew,
If you want Biden to defeat Trump, perhaps you could use the platform you have at Bulwark more effectively. Today's column demonstrates what I am talking about.
First, you gave the first precious lines to quoting Trump's ugly and typical grievance speech on the occasion of Memorial Day. Then you offered a long criticism of Biden's campaign for somehow not doing more, saying more, whatever.
Here's suggestion for you: how about printing what Biden had to say in honor of Memorial Day next to what Trump had to say so people, voters, could compare them. One of the reasons I most value Heather Cox Richard's essays, which I read every day just like I do yours, is that she often summarizes speeches I would not have heard. The media made note that Biden gave an address at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, but they did not report what he said. You know what? You can find the text of the entire speech at the White House web site. It took me two clicks to find it. You can also read his address to the graduating class at West Point. Juxtaposing either of these with Trump's screed would make the difference all too clear. That's what you should have done instead of complaining about the Biden campaign.
While you were at it, you could have recalled Trump's insulting that Gold Star Family. His calling soldiers who served "suckers." His failure to attend a service at the American cemetery in France because it was raining. All the other world leaders went. His insulting John McCain for getting shot down and spending 5 years in a prison camp.
You get the idea. If the Biden campaign isn't making the best use of its time, let me suggest you could better use yours. We need the media to get the truth out there because Biden, and everyone who cares about democracy has to constantly battle Trump's lies and those of his enablers. Bill, you say it first hit you that Trump might win in 2016 that September. I was way ahead of you. The horror of that possibility struck me in June 2016 when the British people voted to leave the EU based on the lies they had been told by the pro-Brexit camp. Trump subsequently met with Nigel Farange who, media reports said, told Trump he could win. All he had to do to win was lie. No problem for Trump who has lied to himself and everyone else his entire life. Unfortunately it worked, aided and abetted by Russia, also no stranger to misinformation.
Look, there are bunches of things Biden could do to strengthen his campaign, but he's also busy being president. In the past couple of days, he's been at Arlington National Cemetery and West Point. Next week he will be in Normandy to recognize the 80th anniversary of the battle that saved western civilization and the people who died fighting it. I suspect Biden will show up even if it's raining. Those soldiers and sailors resting at the American cemetery there did.
The media has bent over backwards trying to be "balanced" in its coverage of Trump and Biden. Work a little harder at reporting what Biden is doing and has done for all of us these past 4 years. Perhaps mention that he has been serving the public since he was 29. Get out there and do your job better.
Linda Cades
lcades2@goeaston.net
Love this.
I’ll say this though: I think Biden has everyday incumbent issues. Some better and some worse than other incumbents.
His issue is that he can’t get any coverage. Trump and the gop are selling cocaine at the park while JB is selling apples.
Did Jaimie Harrison ( no one even knows who he is, DNC chairman) just take our donations and run off? How does he have a job? He raises a ton of money and no bang for the buck. Fire his ass NOW! Get a new , younger, moderate candidate and promote the crap out of them. The candidate should be on every news show, kissing babies, addressing unions, …holding up in the basement won’t work this time.
Challenge Trump to state how he’d fight inflation. If he says he could get the release of the US citizen being held by the Russians, then challenge him to do it. Show his gaffes over and over? Reveal the lies immediately.
But the democrats just sit back and clutch their pearls and how it’s just a bad dream. But it’s everyone’s bad dream
I miss the old days when the final stretch of a presidential campaign started with Labor Day weekend. The constant gnawing at poll results and the state of campaigns that persists over a year before the election is wearing and ultimately destructive to people's perceptions of any candidate. It's no wonder people don't want to engage with politics.
"It’s all nonsense, and much of it may not even be particularly effective. Trump’s a very flawed candidate. But he must be doing something right: He’s held his narrow lead over the last three months, despite being outspent by Biden and despite being cooped up in a courtroom in New York City for much of the last five weeks."
Or...OR, hear me out. Maybe, instead of this being Joe Biden's fault, if it wasn't for the Clintons, the New Democrats and the unholy alliance they created with big business which shipped so many blue AND WHITE collar jobs overseas (I'm including Mexico), then signed up to help Bush v2.0 invade Iraq for no reason, THERE WOULD BE NO trump. I'm sure that I'm going to hear about how Howard Dean was a radical lefty from the People's Republic of Vermont but:
""What I want to know, is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaXQobfaQzA
If both sides are actively fucking you; literally, taking your jobs so that corporations can make more money and sending you and/or your spouse or child to a desert war for oil, why the hell wouldn't you be nihilistic about govt? Maybe look at this as Uncle Joe is trying to clean up, what, 40 years of misguided policies? Maybe it's your fault, not his.
That gets missed. A large portion of the Clinton years was the Democrats listening to people like Bill Kristol.
Listening to Bill Kristol and winning national elections by large margins.
Oh, and NAFTA was the best thing Bill Clinton ever did for the American economy.