President Joe Biden insisted this week that “there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump.”
Nearing the midpoint of his term, the same could be said for Biden himself.
Biden’s major prime-time address to the nation ahead of November’s midterm elections focused on a man who will not appear on the ballot.
BIDEN SEEKS DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN TRUMP SPEECH ON DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
The president touted his record and boasted of his own achievements. But it all came against the backdrop of remarks suggesting his immediate predecessor was on the cusp of causing the collapse of the American political system.
In the coming elections, Biden stands against people who “promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.”
This is what the White House previewed as an “optimistic speech … about where we are as a nation.”
For a political movement that prides itself on not “normalizing” former President Donald Trump by so much as saying his name, preferring to call him “the former guy,” Biden and his base sure talk about him a lot.
When asked about the learning students lost during the pandemic school closures, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed Trump and congressional Republicans who voted against Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
In a speech to a Democratic National Committee rally, Biden mentioned Trump twice and MAGA 13 times. He mentioned Trump or MAGA five more times in remarks at the reception beforehand.
Biden’s “battle for the soul of the nation” speech mentioned Trump three times and MAGA 13.
Defending his student loan forgiveness plan and other spending, Biden could only mention the price tag of the Trump tax cuts.
Asked about allies who were left behind in Afghanistan on the anniversary of the withdrawal, the White House noted interviews “had been paused by the previous administration.”
When Biden announced that withdrawal a year ago, he cited an agreement between the Taliban and “the last administration” to remove the remaining U.S. troops. “That’s what I inherited,” he said.
“The previous administration’s agreement said that if we stuck to the May 1st deadline that they had signed on to leave by, the Taliban wouldn’t attack any American forces, but if we stayed, all bets were off,” Biden said at the Afghanistan War’s conclusion, even as he added, “I take responsibility for the decision.”
A year later, Trump and the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, facilitated by Trump-appointed justices, remain the major rallying cries for Democrats to head to the polls to defend their slim congressional majorities.
The White House and outside liberal activists spent six months coming up with a slogan to brand down-ballot Republicans as “ultra-MAGA” Trump acolytes.
It’s increasingly clear that Biden sees another campaign against Trump, however democracy-threatening, as his best path to a second term. He had said he would be “very fortunate” to have a rematch and that it would make him even more likely to run again himself despite being in his 80s by that time.
“In 2020, you and 81 million Americans voted to save our democracy,” Biden crowed to the DNC. “That’s why Donald Trump isn’t just a former president — he is a defeated former president.”
“And it’s not hyperbole,” he added. “Now, you need to vote to literally save democracy again.”
That will be his message two years from now too.
Biden, weeks removed from polling showing Democrats don’t want him to run again in 2024, is undoubtedly happy to see the latest Wall Street Journal poll that shows him beating the former president 50% to Trump’s 44%.
But the RealClearPolitics polling average actually shows Trump ahead. Biden has no other recent lead higher than 3 points, which, depending on the battleground states, may not be enough to win the Electoral College. Several surveys have Biden languishing in the low 40s.
This is after the Mar-a-Lago raid, Jan. 6, two impeachments, and a 2020 election loss.
Republicans have good reasons to want to move on from Trump. His political and legal future is uncertain. A different nominee would be constitutionally eligible for two terms. It is time to look forward.
And it would give Biden nothing to talk about.
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Biden was elected because he is not Trump. He was supposed to move the country beyond the Trump era.
On that, more than inflation or any other issue, Biden has failed.
