In his March 8 State of the Union speech, Joe Biden nailed it. He was a feisty, articulate, 81-year-old who took his fight to the enemy. He made a few, but only a few, verbal stumbles; nothing serious. He stated his case for reelection — even though it wasn’t supposed to be a campaign speech. He spoke with energy and vigor. He nailed it.
He boasted about his accomplishments: the Infrastructure bill and the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (though the latter is about climate, not inflation.) The jobs created are indeed impressive and the economic statistics are very good.
All this is wonderful, and his speech was inspiring. It was an answer to his age critics. So why am I still feeling so bad?
I’ll tell you why. First of all, I still feel bad about grocery prices. My family’s budget for groceries (and things like paper products) has doubled in the past two or so years. Doubled! That’s inflation that hurts. It hurts bad. It hurts retired and working folks alike. There’s no money left over after you pay for the food. Biden ignores the issue, but Trump and the Republicans will not let him ignore it when the campaign begins in earnest. And, when they vote, neither will the voters.
Also, I still feel bad about Immigration and the border mess. Our state is going broke paying for hotels, food, medical care, schooling and phones for illegal immigrants sent here from Texas. And illegals keep pouring across the border. Biden didn’t talk about these issues, but Trump and the Republicans will talk about them when the campaign begins.
Trump and the Republicans handed Biden a potential gift when Trump killed the bipartisan Senate bill stiffening the border. Biden and the Democrats can now try to blame Trump for the border debacle. They are trying, but it doesn’t work; Biden still owns the debacle. He has ignored it for so long that Trump’s gift doesn’t change the public perception. Everyone still knows that it is democratic Progressives who influenced Biden’s do-nothing policy until, finally, the election forced both sides to compromise. Senator Lankford, a staunch conservative, led the Republican side and has been censured by Oklahoma Republicans for his good effort. Bottom line: the bill is dead.
Biden was ready for Marjory Taylor Green when, with her MAGA hat and uniform on display, she shouted out the name of the college coed who was murdered by an illegal immigrant. Biden had a pin ready to show us with the coed’s name on it. That prepared response seemed to surprise and quiet Green, but I am at a loss to explain how it addresses the issue of crime by undocumented — that is, illegal — immigrants. (I obviously missed the Progressive’s memo that made ‘illegal’ an illegal word. Biden apparently missed it too, and so is having to apologize for using the word ‘illegal’. How absurd! Trump says Biden should apologize for apologizing. I agree.)
In his speech Biden ignored the price of cars and the gasoline to drive them. Maybe he thinks we all have electric cars. Joe, most of us don’t want and can’t afford an electric car, even with your generous subsidy for the rich. Besides, as long as manufacturing electric car batteries generates tons of carbon, and as long as most of the electricity they use is made with fossil fuels, they don’t do the environment much good. Trump is already attacking electric cars.
I also feel bad about housing costs, both rentals and new homes. People struggling to pay the high rent can’t save up the money to buy a house. Interest rates are high, too.
Food, gasoline, cars, and housing are part of the economy Biden didn’t talk about, but it’s the part most people feel, and we feel bad. Why doesn’t Biden get it?
There are other issues I still feel bad about and Biden avoided (e.g., crime, homelessness, education) but he spent a lot of time and energy on the economy (ours is the best in the world), jobs (more generated than any other President), gun violence (he’s going to ban assault rifles – again), and abortion (he’s going to reinvent Roe v Wade). Okay, good, but . . .
What I feel bad about most of all is that Trump is probably going to win the election. He will concentrate on the five to eight ‘battleground’ states, messing with voters’ minds and the election itself. He’s got people working. He will make use of (and in some cases, fun of) grocery prices, the border and immigration’s effects on towns and states all over the country, housing costs, electric cars, crime and all the rest.
Moreover, there will be third parties that will take votes from both candidates, but more from Biden.
It’s unlikely that Trump will face any more trials. The lawyers from the Supreme Court on down will bicker, file motions, argue, file more motions, bring in new disclosures, collect their hourly fees, and do whatever else they can think of to cause delay. (The lawyers prosecuting Trump don’t seem to be much better – or quicker.) And the judges, well . . . It’s not likely there will be even one trial before the election.
And I heard that Kamala Harris is going to be assigned to debate Trump. Now won’t that be a hoot!? If he agrees to such a debate, he’ll start off by insulting her as viscously as he can.
Here’s a really big reason I still feel bad: If Trump loses the election, he’ll just say he won and we’ll have a very real brouhaha. January 6, 2021, will look like a Sunday school picnic. Trump even says there will be “a bloodbath” in the country. He clearly wants to be a “strongman” like those dictators he admires. He has a lot of support, too, in Congress and in the country.
There. That’s why I still feel bad after Biden’s wonderful, optimistic, powerful speech. And I am not alone.
I’m hoping for and waiting for some influencers – respected, admired folks who will speak up to Trump and his base, convert them, and take him down. We need, say, Billy Graham, Ike, Ronald Reagan, FDR, JFK, some current Generals, Obama, maybe the Army.
Remember how the Army took down Joseph McCarthy in 1954? Maybe Trump will, like McCarthy, take on somebody who will fight back and take him down like the Army did McCarthy?
We can hope. Just Sayin’.
John R. Dixon 