Trump Desperately Wants Biden As His Opponent-- And He's Cunning And Manipulativative Enough To Get Democratic Primary Voters To Do What He Wants

Treason against the U.S., as former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld reminded us last week, is punishable by death. But is there even such as thing as treason against a Trumpanzee? After the psycho-fake-president was finished claiming Pelosi is no longer the Speaker of the House, he also claimed at a private event in NYC that he wants "to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now." Weld implied Trump's own treason should be handled the old fashioned way.

At the event, surreptitiously recorded by someone who sent the tape to Eli Stokols at the L.A. Times, Trump also spoke about the media: "You know, these animals in the press. They’re animals, some of the worst human beings you’ll ever meet. They’re scum. Many of them are scum, and then you have some good reporters, but not many of them, I’ll be honest with you." (That would be a first.)

He then accused Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT), who met with Zelensky in Kyiv this month, of pressuring the Ukrainian leader to accuse Trump of improper behavior.

“Democratic senators went over there and strong-armed the guy,” Trump said, affecting Murphy’s voice for a moment. “‘You better damn well do this or you’re not going to get any money from Congress.’ Oh, I see, that’s OK?”

“And then you have Sleepy Joe Biden who’s dumb as a rock,” Trump went on. “This guy was dumb on his best day and he’s not having his best day right now. He’s dumb as a rock. So you have Sleepy Joe and his kid, who’s got a lot of problems, he got thrown out of the Navy-- look, I’m not going to, it’s a problem ... so we won’t get into why. He got thrown out of the Navy and now this kid goes into Ukraine, walks away with millions of dollars, he becomes a consultant for $50,000 a month and he doesn’t know anything compared to anybody at this firm. He’s a stiff. He knows nothing. He’s walking away with $50,000.”

Hunter Biden was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine. From 2014 to 2019, he served on the board of Burisma Holdings, Ukraine’s largest private gas company, whose owner came under scrutiny by Ukrainian prosecutors for possible abuse of power and unlawful enrichment. Hunter Biden was not accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation.

Trump, as he continued to speak, expressed further dismay that he is the one being investigated, not Biden.

“They’re talking about me and I didn’t do anything,” he said, hedging slightly. “I don’t know if I’m the most innocent person in the world.”

My biggest fear is that Trump will manipulate Democratic primary votes who are only superficially following the race, to nominate Biden. At that point, the race will not be about values and policies and a vision for the country-- as it will be if Trump is forced into battling either Bernie or Elizabeth Warren-- but will be about:

• Who is further along in his alarming battle with dementia
• Who lies more frequently
• Whose repulsive family is more disgusting
• Who is more likely to rob the country blind
• Who cares less about the American people

How about who will solve the issues around economic inequality, the climate crisis, education, healthcare, criminal justice...?

Right now, impeachment is crowding out everything and no one wants to talk about anything but impeachment. I guess it's good news for the establishment Democrats that Michael Birkenau reported that Yuri Lutsenko, "a former top Ukrainian prosecutor told the Washington Post that he believed that Hunter Biden did not run afoul of any laws in Ukraine." But is this what a presidential campaign should be about? These two vile old men with their vile grifter families?