Do you want to know what’s actually happening in the presidential campaign today?Check out this item in Politico:
“This is nothing more than an attempted coup by the Democrat[ic] Party,” senior Trump adviser CHRIS LaCIVITA told JMart in an interview yesterday at the grill. “They are actively engaged in an attempt in my view — and a lot of people share this view — in deposing the President of the United States. You can't step down as a candidate for president because you're cognitively impaired while still being president. So you know, the two are linked.”
As Tom Friedman recently wrote: study what your opponent wants you to do, and then do the opposite. LaCivita, who will live in infamy as the author of the John Kerry Swift Boat calumny, is Trump’s master strategist. He sounds pretty scared to me. He should be. His man blew it last night. Trump had the opportunity to enter a rather select pantheon of American politicians. He could have given a transcendent, healing speech; he could have won the country—but he lost the tug of war between his ego and the teleprompter. He couldn’t suppress the vomitous bile that propels him through life. Sociopaths will sociopath.
The other reason why LaCivita should be worried is that the Democrats now have an opportunity to recast this race. It became abundantly clear yesterday that Biden will have to end his candidacy soon. Mark Halperin reports that Jon Meacham is already drafting a withdrawal speech. Halperin noted several other things that less likely: that Biden won’t endorse Kamala Harris, but will back an open convention. That’s not what I’m hearing. The party will want the cleanest possible transition. The smart thing will be to turn the page as quickly as possible…and that won’t be hard. Conventions are ephemeral, a momentary sugar rush—and this week’s GOP festivities won’t be an exception, especially after Trump’s buzz kill speech last night.
But turn the page to what? Trump provided some hints last night. The Democrats need to tell the truth about their record, despite the masochistic proclivities of their left-wing interest groups. Trump said:
—Drill baby drill…but we have been drilling furiously, producing more energy than ever before in our history, exporting fossil fuels. And also pursuing the necessary transition to renewable energy. Democrats should own this and proclaim it proudly.
—All those murderers and Hannibal Lecters streaming across the border. Which is apocalyptic nonsense, but the border problem is real. Biden let it fester for far too long. Harris, or whomever comes next, has to seal the border while supporting higher levels of legal immigration. And she should steal an idea Trump floated, but quickly withdrew: offer green cards to every foreign student who graduates from a U.S. college. The truth is the precise opposite of what Trump pretends it to be: The fact that people are dying to come here—sometimes literally—is an American triumph. It means that our country is a fabulously successful idea. Democrats shown own that, too.
—The Republicans talk about fentanyl crossing the border, and rightly so. Democrats need to celebrate the brilliance of Big Pharma—especially when it comes to the creation of new vaccines—but campaign against the opioid pill-pushers who have devastated rural America.
—Trump lied about 401Ks peaking during his Administration. They’ve never had more value than they do now, and 62% of Americans have them. Capitalism is the greatest anti-poverty program in human history. It should be regulated, of course—but it should also be celebrated. Democrats need to be unequivocal about this—and unequivocal in their disdain for groups like Democratic Socialists of America (which just unendorsed Alexandria Ocasio Cortez because she sponsored a forum on anti-Semitism).
—Identity politics wasn’t a major theme of Trump’s speech, but opposition to it—especially racial preferences—is the rock upon which his movement is built. Democrats have to celebrate the success of blacks and Latinos over the past 50 years, celebrate their burgeoning middle and professional class, their rapidly growing legions of college graduates, the cratering crime and incarceration rates. They have to shed jargon like “white privilege” and “sex-affirming procedures” and “structural racism.” They should follow the research and be far more equivocal about sex-change operations—and they should absolutely oppose teaching sexual mutability to pre-pubescent children.
—-Trump embraced school choice. Democrats should, too. They won’t because of the power of the teachers unions, but they should. They need to offer a plan to transform teaching into the high-status profession it should be. They need to support higher salaries for good teachers and accountability for bad ones. They need to shuck the “critical theory” illiberalism amok on college campuses. They need to embrace the notion of knowledge, of science, of expertise. If they want to oppose book banning, they need to mount a campaign to restore Huckleberry Finn to its rightful place in America’s libraries.
—Trump claimed he could stop wars with a phone call. The truth is, he has empowered some of the worst authoritarians on the planet. Democrats need to tell America that we can’t escape the world. We need to be realists. We need NATO and as many friends as we can get…but we also should be hyper-aware of the sins of arrogance we’ve committed overseas.
—Trump avoided abortion. Democrats shouldn’t. But they also have to answer this question: Does a mother have the right to terminate a viable fetus with Down Syndrome? Dems have to make clear that the quest for perfect designer babies is immoral.
—And in the most shocking omission in Trump’s speech, he said nothing about the fact that the bullet that grazed him came from a semi-automatic weapon. Those guns should be illegal. Democrats should remind him of that. Constantly.
That’s my sanity agenda. There are nuances and exceptions and details to all of the above, and I’m open to revisions. There are other issues, too. But if the Democrats want to seize the moment and revivify our democracy, they need to get a move on. It starts with Joe Biden stepping aside—and that should be followed by a public celebration of his career and humanity and his excellent record of public service. Then we should focus on the future with optimism and energy and joy. Especially joy. We are the luckiest people in history.
In the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s favorite prayer, “Let Unconquerable Gladness Dwell!”
Pitch
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Right as rain today, Joe. Trump gave the single most disappointing speech in my memory and managed to end what had been an exhilarating, uplifting convention on a flat, anti-climatic bummer of a note. “Sociopath” indeed, and don’t forget the adjective “narcissistic.”
Any decent nuggets in that Bataan death march of a speech was lost in the beached whale of a tedious non ending. (LaCavita and Wiles had to be going nuts!)
Samuel Johnson said that second marriages are “the triumph of hope over experience,” and as a conservative it makes me sad to say that so does hoping for a new and improved Trump. But alas, we are stuck with him whereas the Dems are evidently finally getting rid of their albatross.
For once I will spare everyone my thoughts on how bad I think Kamala and the Democrats are; it’s Friday and it’s still too early for a drink. 😉
Thoroughly understand your need to remove Biden from the playing field. Unfortunately, earlier today he said he was going back out on the road, to campaign this week. He also, for better or worse has the delegates to be nominated. He may want to be nominated and then say NO. Forcing an open convention. Short of Biden agreeing to leave the contest, that really only leaves the Democrats with an opening of opening an impeachment to remove the President for not being mentally competent to do the job. Can not image a situation where it comes down to that. It is simply an option no one is discussing, for how long, remains to be seen.