Nothing Vs. Trump
By
Leonard Zwelling
To me Joe Biden is like an old suit. He is frayed around the
edges, shows extreme signs of wear, and doesn’t exactly fit the moment. Among
the contenders for the Democratic nomination for President, he was one of the
least attractive. His sell by date is in the rear view mirror. The Democrats
are asking a lot of the American people at this time of extreme physical and
economic danger to trust a man like Biden. If he were running against anyone
other than Donald Trump, I would say contest over. Biden loses. But he’s not.
He’s running against Trump and that gives the American people a very difficult
choice. Trump or nothing.
I am not one of those never Trumpers who is concerned that
given four more years in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump will permanently damage the
United States. I actually find that he is quite ineffective in getting anything
done beyond the nomination of conservative judges. There has been no meaningful
legislation that has arisen since his inauguration. His stance on China is
frankly refreshing although his positions on North Korea, Iran, Russia and
Israel will not advance peace let alone American interests in the world. I
thoroughly disagree with his removal of the U.S. from the Paris Accords. He has
done absolutely nothing on infrastructure which would be a great way to
stimulate the economy after the covid-19 downturn. The economic plight of 90%
of Americans is worse than when he took office and he regularly turns to
anti-science to make his decisions. He is a relatively inarticulate leader with
a nasty anti-immigrant streak that suggests that he has no idea what America is
really about and never did. He can’t even get the Wall built let alone get
Mexico to pay for it.
Then there’s the corruption, the misogyny, the racism and
the inability to grasp what the Civil War was about let alone who won. Mr.
Trump is not a student of history or much of anything else besides television
game shows and real estate deals. In other words, at any other time, the contest
should be over. Anyone should be able to beat this failed president. ABT—Anyone
But Trump. But Joe Biden isn’t anyone. He’s close to no one.
In essence we have a contest for the leadership of the
greatest, most powerful nation on Earth between two incompetent old, white men.
How did we get here?
In 2016 Trump grasped the moment. Hillary did not. Thus,
Donald Trump with the help of James Comey, Vladimir Putin, Julian Assange and
Paul Manafort took several key battleground states away from an arrogant
Clinton and won the election.
Biden by contrast, lost every primary up to South Carolina
which he won because James Clyburn and the largely African-American South
Carolina Democratic electorate voted for him and everyone else quit. That a
relatively small voting bloc should upend the will of the Democrats in Iowa and
New Hampshire is frankly outrageous. But that’s what happened and now we are
stuck with two inferior candidates for the highest office in the land.
Americans across the fruited plain will have to decide
whether they want four more years of chaotic leadership by a megalomaniac who
cannot manage his way out of paper bag or a very old and over the hill ex-vice
president who may well be cognitively impaired. What a choice!
If there was ever a place for E, none of the above, this is
it.
I know that I cannot sanction any more Trump so will have to
vote for Biden even as I pray that somehow someone else will get the Democratic
nomination. This is the toughest time for America that I can remember for over
fifty years. It’s going to be a real test of someone. Why does it have to be
these two guys?
I remember when I was a kid, my father took me to Yankee
Stadium on Old Timers’ Day. It was a thrill see the old guys in pinstripes like
Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Keller, but their baseball game was not exactly big
league. The 1958 Yankees like Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra played the real game
later. That was who we had come to see.
Trump Vs. Biden is like Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium
except there’s not real Yankees afterward. They’re the whole show.
Rain check, please!
