Lesser Evil? Joe Biden's Grand Bargain

Top Trumpist Regime figures fanned out across the battleground states to reassure political and financial supporters that Trump isn't tanking, even if all the evidence says he he. And the Trumpist cabinet members brought promises of big money flows in return for loyalty. Associated Press reporters Bobby Calvan, Ellen Knickmeyer and John Flesher ventured that with Señor T "confronted by skyrocketing joblessness and the coronavirus pandemic as he campaigns for reelection against Democrat Joe Biden, members of his Cabinet are busy making time in pivotal states. They are carrying a message to voters about what the Trump administration is doing for them. At the same time, there are questions about whether these agency heads are running afoul of a law meant to bar overt campaigning by federal officials on the taxpayer tab... Cabinet-level leaders have come to Florida alone more than 30 times this year. Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona have also seen visits from agency and administration chiefs discussing federal funding and initiatives for local interests-- and talking up Trump... Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Gwin accused the Trump administration of focusing on 'scoring political points, not delivering for the people they work for. With COVID-19 raging unchecked, more than 17 million Americans unemployed, and our country divided, it’s shameful that Trump’s Cabinet is campaigning on the taxpayer’s dime instead of doing their jobs.'"

On the other end of the conservative spectrum, there are Republicans rallying to Biden, the best conservative in the presidential race. Yesterday, The Guardian wondered aloud if it will help defeat the Orange Menace. "In 2016, as Trump steamrolled his way through the Republican primary," wrote Daniel Strauss, "some Republican lawmakers and operatives tried to mount an effort to stop him. Elected officials and veterans of previous Republican administrations organized letters, endorsed Hillary Clinton, and a few set up meager outside groups to defeat Trump. That’s happening again-- but there are differences. The outside groups are more numerous and better organized, and most importantly, Trump has a governing record on which Republicans can use to decide whether to support him or not." And they didn't really like Hillary-- just the lesser of two evils. But they love Biden. He's one of them in all ways except for that incongruous "(D)" next to his name.

The Republicans organizing for Biden this time, aren't just organizing against Trump; they want Biden. "We’re truly a grassroots organization. Our goal is to do whatever we can to elect Joe Biden as president," said John Farner, who worked in the commerce department during the Bush administration and is one of the founders of a new Super Pac called 43 Alumni for Biden. They say this is a one-issue election: "Are you for Donald Trump, or are you for America?"

The Economist doesn't think it's even necessary, that Trump has just done himself in. "Before covid-19 hit America," they asserted, incorrectly, "Trump looked likelier than not to be re-elected, thanks to a relentlessly growing economy. Incumbent presidents almost always win in such circumstances. Our election model made him a narrow favourite, even though he was a few points down in national polls with his rival, Joe Biden. However, the president is now in a deep hole. Mr Biden is up by nine points-- more in some polls. He is doing well in battleground states like Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, and he has strong support among older voters and is doing surprisingly well among white voters who did not go to college. Our model now gives Mr Trump only a roughly 10% chance of winning. The virus has demonstrated something definitively to a large number of persuadable voters: that Mr Trump is just not that good at being a president."

They have higher hopes for Biden than I do-- not about November; I agree with their assessment that Biden is "in landslide territory [and that] Trump’s flailing has made a Democratic Senate majority possible."

But what I laugh about is that this landslide may see "a highly productive presidency which once seemed incon-ceivable." It once did seem incon-ceivable-- but it still does... because of who Joe Biden is and what he actually wants to accomplish-- and not accomplish.

The Economist: "Before COVID-19 and widespread social unrest, Mr Biden’s candidacy was about restoration-- the idea that he could return America and the world to the prelapsarian days of 2016. It transpires that he could have the opportunity to do something big instead. [T]o make lasting change through the federal government you need to win the Senate. And that cannot be done with a candidate at the top of the ticket who frightens the voters... [B]ecause he comes across as the grandfather he is, he is viewed with suspicion on the left."

The dream Biden would most like to accomplish-- the dream beyond his fondest dream-- would be catastrophic for America and for the idiots who have put him so close to the nomination: the Grand Bargain he's always wanted which would destroy Social Security (and Medicare), the #1 conservative goal since the 1930s.

"Yet that is precisely what makes him reassuring ... to voters in states like Montana and Georgia where Democrats must win to gain a majority in the Senate. It is Mr Biden’s caution that opens up the possibility of more change than a real radical would." If only they had the slightest idea of who Joe Biden really is!