Joe Biden and Kamala Harris swooned as a drone swarm spelled out “BIDEN” in the shape of the continental United States, lighting up the night sky above Wilmington, Delaware on Nov. 8. Coldplay’s “Sky Full of Stars” blared as supporters cheered. Biden spoke of national unity and being a president for all Americans. It seemed almost like a return to regularly-scheduled programming: back to the type of generic commander-in-chief from the movies with his practiced turns of phrase, comforting gestures and grand rhetoric.

The Biden-Harris victory rally was accompanied by celebrations of many Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans, Independents and neoconservatives, all of them busy cheering on the impending departure of the “Cheeto King”. Former US National Security Adviser and Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration Condoleezza Rice — who previously motivated support for America’s military mission in Iraq by claiming that a lack of action would result in nuclear attacks on American cities — called for “respect” and “empathy” in celebration of Biden’s win.

A ‘Win for the World?’

The Biden-Harris win was supposedly a “win for the world.” (Insert “arc of justice” phraseology, smirking European self-righteousness and other overblown silliness here). No more mean tweets or largely rudderless, erratic leadership characterized as “authoritarianism”: the world is saved. There’s even support for Biden from former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Tik Tok users posted about how different it was to watch Biden’s typical speech after “four years of fascism.” No word on why anyone would feel safe to express such views in a truly fascist system, especially if the handover of executive power has not yet taken place. It’s almost like the Trump administration is just enough fascism to be scary and super bad and show that you’re an incredible person for opposing it but not quite enough to actually result in you being shoved you in an unmarked van and disappeared for dissident speech. Interesting.

Voter Fraud Allegations

Overly credulous support for allegations of widespread voter fraud have been just as disquieting as smug certainty that there was no voter fraud. It’s clear that at least some voter fraud against Trump and the Republican party did take place. Although it seems accurate that Trump is drawing out the situation in order to leverage political capital and hang on to an illusory hope of still winning in the courts, it is true that he could still end up victorious in Arizona and Georgia. Some kind of miracle recount comeback in Pennsylvania (despite some claims of mass fraud) and Wisconsin seems like pie-in-the-sky, but the Trump team’s attempt isn’t as completely insane as some pundits have asserted.

The idea that controversy is purely imaginary is somewhat presumptuous, and — even despite that — the millions of Americans who still believe the election was stolen and will continue to believe that regardless of what transpires in the coming weeks presents a major roadblock to Biden’s supposed “unity” and healing. Should Trump concede? At this point the chance of actually overturning the election look miniscule, so yes he should. Will he? Likely not for some time yet, and don’t hold your breath to see Trump at Biden’s inauguration, either.

What’s Next in America?

The Civil War touted by many is nowhere to be found. Gun stocks have even been falling because of the lack of all-out chaos some were predicting. It’s been a bathetic outcome so far. Stop the Steal rallies have been largely harmless, despite some incidents. What would have happened if Trump had won is a far different story, and one can only imagine suburbanite BLM activists boosting the antifa and left-activist hardliners in intensifying the chaos that already swept the nation after the death of George Floyd.

The 242,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 are undoubtedly the main reason Trump lost the election. Although 96% of those who have died also had underlying health conditions, officials have been alarmed at the surge in excess deaths caused by the comorbidity of the coronavirus and caution that most of the 96% likely would not have died without contracting coronavirus.

Trump owns the grassroots of the GOP despite his loss. Record high voter turnout shows that Americans are engaged and energized by the electoral process, and record high minority votes for Trump also show that Democratic narratives about the president fell flat for many Hispanic, Black and other minority voters. Politics increasingly seems to be equally or as much about generalized class and cultural confrontation as specific policy beliefs.

Conservatives Have an Opportunity

The Biden Administration won’t have carte blanche. With Mitch McConnell still heading up the Senate Biden is going to have to compromise on many core legislative proposals. His plan to create “millions” of jobs with green and renewable energy projects could pay off, but Biden’s continuing flip-flopping on the bizarre “Green New Deal” calls into question exactly what his mass projects would entail and how they would affect fair competition with existing industries.

Conservatives also have an opportunity to push back on everything from critical race theory to overwrought woke dictates in education and other sectors that are likely to come from the Biden administration. The new president will be in a largely awkward position where it’s near impossible to pass meaningful leftist legislation but his base wants results and eventually tires of repeating that Harris is the first woman of color female vice-president. As Biden attempts to satiate its foaming-at-the-mouth hard-left base by giving them socially-left-wing cotton candy while as much as possible avoiding any real systemic economic or corporate reform this will present a growing field of opportunities for conservatives to push back institutionally and legislatively.

The Future of the GOP

There is no reason to believe the GOP will remain fundamentally united following this defeat. It is increasingly likely that partisan politics will continue on a trajectory of inter-partisan politics, with the Trump and national populist wing of the Republican party splitting off and forming its own media empire, platform and candidates and the establishment “polite” wing of the GOP currying favor at the Biden administration and trying to carve out a new slice of the electorate that’s not fully liberal on all issues but shies away from the red meat of full-on Trumpism.

As stated, Trump now owns the activist base of the GOP and Reaganism is not coming back at the grassroots level. Trump has re-appealed to minority, working class and forgotten voters who had drifted from the GOP and his legacy could ostensibly be used to build a national populist coalition of socially conservative and economically populist voters who disagree with establishment Republican and Democratic cosmopolitanism and economic free market dogma.

Despite losing, the fact that there was no “Blue Wave” is promising for the Republican party once midterms and 2024 roll around.

The Future of the Democrats

By gaining power the Democrats have been able to temporarily patch over their own fractured party, at least for now. The idea that the American center and left has truly formed a grand coalition is, of course, pure fantasy. The far left still wants “Death to America” and to think they will be assuaged by a Biden-Harris administration is absurd.

Nonetheless, the Democrats will likely be able to keep the corporate train rolling despite clashes that are likely to continue to occur in the future in places like Portland. Presumably some mix of identity politics, coronavirus panic measures and papered-over neoliberalism with occasional nods to environmentalism and pro-abortion rhetoric will manage to satiate their activist left base and allow them to continue sidestepping actual positive reforms for the working class. Essentially the Democrat’s win means they can now fake it for four years, whereas the broken Republican party no longer has that luxury.

The longer-term view, however, is one in which the Democratic party increasingly starts losing immigrants, minorities and social democrats who are no longer satisfied by woke rhetoric or agree with the Democrats on some issues but find their compliance with foreign military adventurism and strident intolerance of socially conservative views off-putting.

Party On?

The Big Tent concept of American politics is barely holding together. Look for hyper-partisan politics to increasingly become inter-partisan politics, with surging numbers of voters disillusioned with both major political parties. The Sanders and Trump voters have burned their memberships at the Donkey & Elephant Country Club and there’s not much chance of getting them to rejoin.

L'articolo Party in the USA proviene da InsideOver.

It’s still over a month before we know whether President Donald Trump will get reelected or whether challenger Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States. What is known, however, is that this election has the potential to push the country into a severe constitutional crisis, as the president has continuously questioned its validity.

The actual result could perhaps never precisely be determined, according to Trump. It is a message that aims at two particular goals.

Why is Trump Highlighting Doubts About Electoral Integrity?

Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about the election results due to the new and unprecedented number of unsolicited ballots sent to voters this year. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a massive increase in postal votes is expected in the elections on November 3. Mail-in voting is considered to be very safe and established — after all, it has been used since the times of the Civil War. Republicans, in particular, have had extremely positive experiences with the procedure. In the 2016 US election, almost one in four voters voted by post without any noteworthy irregularities.

Because of his repeated attacks, Trump has been accused of sowing doubts about the election’s legitimacy, which could lead to an unprecedented test of American democracy. In line with this, Trump has repeatedly left open when asked by journalists whether he would concede defeat — most recently in the first debate against Joe Biden on Tuesday, September 29. If he wasn’t to concede, anything is possible afterward. And what Bill Maher insinuated two years ago — namely that Trump would not leave the White House even if he were defeated — has become a conceivable scenario. This is despite all this taking place in a country in which constitutional checks and balances have long been regarded as a protection mechanism against authoritarian elements.

Trump is Likely to Lose the Election

A loss against Biden is quite likely and in all the relevant polls, the incumbent is trailing. Thus, Trump has been preparing the ground for a possible defeat not to be recognized by already questioning the legitimacy of the election results. Trump’s message to his supporters is clear: either he wins on November 3, or the election was rigged. It’s a similar strategy to what he utilized against Clinton in 2016 also.

The President likes to refer to momentum and the support his base provides. His supporters would go to the polling station, but his opponents might forego it, and only cast their vote for Biden if it can be done conveniently by letter. So Trump fears that it could be made too easy for Biden voters. He seeks to keep voter turnout as low as possible because he expects a low turnout to be advantageous to his potential victory. The Constitutional crisis he is conjuring up due to his rhetoric seems to be irrelevant, collateral damage in his quest for reelection from his perspective.

What Will Happen on Election Day?

If the result on election night is close, one can expect that the election outcome will be contested. The American electoral system has a two-step counting process. In a first step, the 50 states plus the District of Columbia capital district determine the presidential candidate who received the most votes. Then, in a second step, the electoral votes are distributed to the respective winner. According to the relevant law, all electors meet on December 14 to choose the formal winner of the presidential election in the Electoral College. Hence, Trump would have enough time to sabotage the process between election day on November 3 and the Electoral College meeting.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court could step in. In a dispute over the outcome of the election, it could take on the arbiter’s role if the conservative majority agrees. The last time this happened was in the 2000 presidential election year when George W. Bush ran against Al Gore.

In any case, Trump has already weakened confidence in the system to such an extent that he will present himself as the winner no matter what happens. Even if Joe Biden wins and moves into the White House, a large number of Trump voters will consider him illegitimate and believe the election was rigged.

The damage currently being caused will be difficult to repair no matter what the outcome is on election day.

L'articolo Why is Trump Continuing to Question the Election’s Validity? proviene da InsideOver.

Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was an all-out brawl of incoherent insanity.

Banana Republic Brouhaha

Held in Cleveland, Ohio, the debate “moderated” by Fox News‘ Chris Wallace was supposed to be focused on the candidates’ records as well as the pandemic, the Supreme Court, economic performance, ongoing violence and racial tension across the country.

Instead the evening was focused on trying to hear what anyone was actually saying over the constant interruptions from Trump – and occasionally from Biden – and the endless, rapid digressions, accusations and lies.

It’s hard to overstate the manic meltdown that occurred during the debate. The bumbling brouhaha seemed more fitting to a banana republic and had about as much substance as peeling wallpaper. At times watching the verbal assault taking place onstage was genuinely nauseating.

Trump thoroughly overpowered Biden, heckling him minutes into the debate and undercutting everything he said two or three words into every sentence.

“Will you shut up, man?” Biden said at one point, cowering.

One-Way Bullet Train to Crazytown

The two gabbling garrulous gerontocrats duked it out onstage in front of an audience just under 100 who had been carefully screened for coronavirus at a clinic across the street. Trump, who was recently nominated for a third Nobel Peace Prize faced down the Delaware Senator as the debate went steadily off the rails into crazytown.

Sticking by standard politics and doing the “talking to the folks back home” tactic simply wasn’t effective in the hyperspeed schoolyard antics on display. Politics has becoming pro wrestling and the Hunter S. Thompson-esque fever dream of Tuesday night was sincerely alarming – not for reasons of “civility” and “norms” but because of how unintelligible most of it was even for political insiders.

This was even a step up from the 2016 Trump vs. Clinton debates which at least had some genuine repartee. This debate, by contrast, was like watching a scrolling stream of angry and nonsensical YouTube comments posted by howling monkeys.

Trump had several strong moments such as when talking about Democratic conspiring to take down his presidency which has now been revealed in documents and Biden fumbled several softballs such as lying about Hunter Biden taking money, flip-flopping on whether he supports the Green New Deal and refusing to answer about court packing, but most of the debate was just half-cocked statements from the President and attempts to redirect the discussion into personal attacks on Biden and his family.

This included a near-constant stream of misinformation and throwaway one-liners from Trump such as his bizarre lie that he has made insulin “so cheap, it’s like water.”

Not Learning the Lessons of 2016

The Democrats have apparently not learned much from 2016. Biden had several strong moments but mostly seemed out of his element as he was assailed constantly the whole night and let himself be bullied and talked down by Trump.

During the last election Trump partly one by making the race visceral and instinctive rather than rational or conversational. The Democratic inability to understand that and come up with a more aggressive candidate than Biden shows a remarkable lack of will to win or a perception of what politics has become.

Respectability politics is out and garbled answers on antifa and street violence aren’t going to cut it or reassure voters. However, more to the point, whose minds will actually be changed by watching this debate? If anything it will simply add new worries to Biden voters that he’s not up to the job and that his administration will simply be a Trojan horse for other people’s policies — which, incidentally was a core insinuation of many of Trump’s accusations during the “debate.”

Biden is stuck in an unwinnable political position between the progressive left and the center during a time of crisis. He may still win the election but if he does it will only be by default.

The Big Loser

The big loser of Tuesday night was indisputably Chris Wallace who managed to be completely overpowered by Trump despite trying to placate him (by telling Trump certain questions would make him “happy”) and then visibly siding with Biden on multiple occasions.

Wallace also interjected with his own opinions frequently, incorrectly referring to critical race theory as “racial sensitivity training” when in fact it’s a jobs program for radicals. Wallace also frequently regurgitated stale Democratic talking points to try to give Biden a lift as he flailed behind the podium.

Despite these hands up, Biden had many misses, failing to explain what it means to “reimagine” the police and blaming Trump for lack of economic growth while also saying more should have been done to shutdown to fight the coronavirus.

What’s Next?

Next up, there will be a debate between Vice-President Mike Pence and Vice-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris on October 7 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

For those with a strong stomach, the next presidential debate is set for Oct. 15 in Miami with a final presidential debate to be held ten days prior to the election on Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

L'articolo Biden Debates Trump in Banana Republic Brouhaha proviene da InsideOver.

In law, boilerplate is copy-paste legal language that’s often used as the basis for drawing up standard contracts and other documents. In politics, boilerplate is the current state of the major American political parties: the Republicans and Democrats.

Miracle Economy Spring Water and Fighting Internalized Whiteness

Nowithstanding the obvious changes brought about by COVID-19 restrictions and the ensuing virtual nature of this year, the conventions were both oddly fake in their own ways, with political rhetoric spouted like ads from an all night infomercial or a Scientology grand world conference of some kind (Karen Bass might have been into it if Biden hadn’t gone for Kamala Harris instead).

Whether it’s miracle healing water that will fix anything under the sun and make the economy dance a jig or pious sermons on how to heal from whiteness and offer boilerplate pseudo-compassion-talk it all just seems like products trying to force a new market to exist.

You wake up with a headache and you don’t buy the product. All you want to forget is that it ever existed or that other people still buy it.

The word we’re looking for here is cringe.

Republican Rebranding

Still, there have been noticeable shifts in messaging. The GOP is clearly aimed at branding itself the new party that cares about working people and hitting Biden’s strong points of coming from a working class family and being from a less technocratic and older wing of the Democratic party.

And it could definitely work for them to score a repeat of 2016’s success in breaking the Democrats’ blue wall.

Still, though. It’s just so transparent.

One more infomercial about steelworkers or small farmers screwed over by the Obama Administration and you could form a new Republican film genre: Blue Collar-sploitation. “Hey, uh, Jim? Can you get the mood a bit more down, but like also determined? Turn your face more in profile.”

Calluses on hands, check. Hard-won, wry smile, check. Reluctance to get into politics but conviction that Donald Trump will still save us all from greedy Chinese people and deranged Democrats by saying provocative things, check.

Please, Just No

Between Kimberley Guilfoyle breaking the glass ceiling of volume in a speech to a bizarre, hyper-speed speech from Don Trump Jr. and boilerplate rhetoric from many other suave suits it was Alice in Republican-land. What new actual policies will be put in place or efforts to improve the country from the Republicans? The main focus instead was on socialism and saying the word socialism as many times as possible in a menacing tone of voice like you were just burning the cover of a covert spy overseas (oops, Trump already did that last year).

The convention advanced a fake version of Trump’s response to the coronavirus and overall seemed like a CPAC convention more than a political convention.

Nonetheless, the President pulled off a speech that will fire up the base despite its rambling, utopian boasts and there were also some powerful messages from pro-life activist Abby Johnson and Cuban escapee Maximo Alvarez. There was also a message from hounded Covington Catholic School student Nick Sandmann who brought up some important points while managing to look and sound like a robot or a character from a Lifetime movie that replays every night at 3 a.m.

In a seeming dig at Trump, who is often mocked by the mainstream media for bringing up how important ratings are, the New York Times noted that the first night of the GOP convention had lower viewership than the Democratic convention’s first night.

Democratic Dabbling

The Democrats, for their part, have a mottled platform that dabbles in some democratic socialism but caters more to Wall Street. Their convention showcased a party that is full of words and grand statements with little actual substance apart from keeping donors happy and spending and making sure Bill Clinton can talk about ethics with a straight face.

While candidate Joe Biden received praise for an energized and well-delivered speech that made some tough claims and bristled with emotion and conviction, the majority of other remarks and speakers were entirely forgettable, with former President Barack Obama using his abilities as a gifted orator to deliver a hypocritical, annoyingly unctuous speech.

Indeed, the slickly produced Democratic convention was full of the kind of virtue signalling pablum that is just a mirror image of Republican “freedom and liberty” rhetoric. For the Democrats the bad guys are all racist, hate-filled or religious wackos. They hold their convention using Biden as a pretext to inhale their own rhetorical flatulence and pat each other on the back in their rarefied party world of mock solidarity and pretend change.

Dullards Acting Out

The Democrats desperately want to pretend to be for the “little guy.” They are a Broadway Show live-staged on Pennsylvania Avenue full of pomp and circumstance that ultimately means next to nothing and is more like a surrender to cultural degeneration and political inertia.

“We’re the rebels,” they insist, while collecting checks from Goldman Sachs and rubbing shoulders with large, suddenly very woke corporations. They bring up all the old Iraq War boosters like John Kerry and Colin Powell to talk about “decency” and line up their new Republican muppets onstage to say some version or other of “my goodness, how horrid.” They buy full page newspaper ads of all the national security officials who support Biden.

This doesn’t win elections, to say the least, although focusing on how the “establishment” supported Clinton was one of the big ways that Trump managed to seize victory in 2016 despite his dire lack of experience or readiness.

The Script is Getting Old

For the Republicans, the Democrats are comprised of self-satisfied hypocrites and elitists as well as manipulated minorities and nagging nobodies who are obsessed with policing language, being offended and eating vegan food while talking about socialism. On the Republican side they compare Biden to Fidel Castro (seriously, what?) and have this shiny apple version of bowtie conservatism whose time has already come and gone.

Rightist politics is orange now because people didn’t want that polished schoolboy image anymore. Leftist politics is Bernie now because people didn’t want the neoliberal veneer. Both sides will do their best to talk about their embrace of their activist bases while making sure not to implement many of the major policies.

More voters will lose interest in the coming years and eventually split off from the national populist right and democratic socialist left. It’s a neverending cycle.

Drive-Thru Politics

I call it drive-thru politics. You pick a buzzword and a color and you munch down on the delicious political pickles and extra mustard and talk about how lame the other guy’s burger tastes. You get a momentary jolt of satisfaction: “I’m right and they’re wrong! Forget those idiots!” Then in a few hours you’re hungry again, however. The meal you ate had no substance, it just gave you a temporary food buzz.

You crave more high sugars and a delicious industrial sized bucket of freedom fries to fill the hole you just created by drinking a bunch of Coke and scarfing fries, so you let Nikki Haley fill you with puerile neoconservative political propaganda and Hillary Clinton whine about her disapproval of the electoral college system and how unfair the 2016 election was.

You try to feel that jolt of righteous anger. How dare they say that! But soon it dies down and you need a new jolt (this is not an energy drink endorsement of Jolt).

People are Smarter Than This

The truth is that people are smarter than this. Some of them, anyway.

A growing number of Americans are politically unaffiliated for a reason. They know the fix is in and that politicians are mostly heavily compromised. These “forgotten men and women” often turned up to vote for Trump, or Bernie Sanders, or any politician they felt could shake things up in the past. Boilerplate political conventions and signalling from both sides while American cities like Kenosha are engulfed in chaos and racial tensions are at a vicious high won’t bring over many new voters.

The new virtual era we’re in exposes a drive-thru politics that’s always – in some form – been a drive through politics. A veneer on real life and a self-stylized representation of scripted empathy that spiked even further after the introduction of television into politics in the 1960s. In fact, Richard Nixon was even convinced he lost his first race to JFK because of the latter looking better on TV in their debate, and it could be partly true.

Zooming Towards the Digitized Virtual Horizon

It’s a time of screens as we Zoom towards ever more fake virtual horizons, trying to drum up some inspiration from a broken system by legions of the people who helped break it. Many on the left will say Biden may not be perfect but he is much better than Trump; many on the right will say the exact same thing about Trump vs. Biden.

Then there’s everyone else.

The voters who aren’t a fan of either party and don’t feel represented or convinced by drive-thru politics may indeed show up to cast a ballot for Trump this November, but for many it will be because they don’t know what else to do other than stay home. The same will be true for many who show up to say yes to a Biden-Harris presidency.

The upcoming election will be like a kid being picked for a sports team because nobody else is left to pick, except this is picking the next most powerful person in the world.

Is it just me or is a telephone book selection system looking mighty tempting right about now?

L'articolo A Tale of Two Conventions proviene da InsideOver.

It marked a sea change in partisan politics this year, as six prominent Republicans stood behind Joe Biden at the recent Democratic convention. These establishment figures included ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

All called for increased integrity in the Oval Office and spoke against division in the United States. Most importantly they all spoke in favor of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.

The Unusual 2020 Democratic Convention

Just as almost everything these days, the 2020 Democratic Convention too was highly unusual. Normally thousands of Democratic Party members gather over several days. Speeches are given, and the party’s candidate officially receives the nominee to become the party’s candidate for the presidency.

This time, the convention was held virtually. Nevertheless, it was not the most significant change that occurred. Instead the biggest change was the six prominent Republicans who backed Biden and called on voters to provide him with their vote. There has never been so many guest speakers from the opposing camp at a nomination party conference before.

Biden’s Republican Backers

Among Biden’s Republican supporters are Colin Powell, a Republican and military leader who worked for three American presidents. Powell was President Reagan’s National Security Advisor, George H.W. Bush’s Chairman is often the Joint Chiefs of Staff and George W. Bush’s Secretary of State. Already in 2016, Powell said he would vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The fact that Powell of all people now appeared at the Democratic convention is a testimony of how serious the situation is and how never-Trumpers have decided to put country over party.

“We are a divided country,” Powell stated in his speech, “and we have a President who does everything to ensure that it stays that way! What a difference a president will make who unites us, who restores our strength and our soul”.

The endorsement from Cindy McCain, the widow of the late great Republican senator John McCain, was also sensational. McCain ran in 2008 as a Republican presidential candidate against Barack Obama. McCain praised the close friendship across party lines that bound McCain and Biden. All the Republican guest speakers emphasized Biden’s sincerity and decency, which they consider to be more suitable than the “divider” Trump.

The latter is also the argument of the former governor of the crucial swing state of Ohio, John Kasich. Trump led the country “astray” by “playing the Americans off against each other,” Kasich said. As a lifelong Republican, it was not easy for him to now put the good of the country above party membership. Kasich argues in a similar way to the Lincoln Project, a group of traditional Republicans who have been campaigning against the president for months.

America was “at a crossroads,” and there was a risk of “severe consequences” if one continued on the previous path under President Trump. Biden was the “man of our time,” “he can bring the country together,” Kasich emphasized.

Trump’s primary campaign strategy, i.e., Biden seeks to lead the country into socialism, was rejected by Kasich. He doesn’t believe Biden will tip over to the left. However, even this risk was lower than Trump for four more years at the helm in exceptional times, according to Kasich.

Kasich had previously been walloped by Republicans, particularly Congressman Jim Jordan, who called Kasich a “sore loser,” and by the Fox News opinion hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. Trump himself added to these attacks by stating Kasich had been “a loser as a Republican and a loser as a Democrat.”

In addition to Kasich, former New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman, manager and ex-CEO of IT company Hewlett Packard, Meg Whitman, and former Congresswoman Susan Molinari pledged their support.

With the election on the horizon, further endorsements by Republicans — even once prominent figures such as Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush — are certainly not inconceivable.

L'articolo Establishment Republicans Endorse Joe Biden at Democratic Convention proviene da InsideOver.

It has to be really uncomfortable being Joe Biden these days! He is not even running his own campaign and apparently is not allowed to attend public events or answer any questions due to fears of showcasing his lapses in logic and inability to finish sentences. Furthermore, his campaign program has been crafted by the struggling Democratic primary electorate.

The Two Bidens

The presumptive Democratic nominee Biden bears little resemblance to the former Vice President Biden, and nowhere is this more evident than in the recently published 110-page document from the Unity Task Force appointed by Biden and his former opponent, the socialist senator Bernie Sanders.

While one could have described Biden, throughout his very long years in public service, with a wide range of adjectives going from ineloquent to borderline creepy, far-left radical would not have been one of them. However, in his third try for the Presidency, he is definitely running on a socialist platform, rejecting everything he has ever stood for and abandoning his own achievements and policy initiatives.

The Unity Task Force Policy Plan

The document produced by the joint task force is meant to service as a “good policy blueprint that will move this country in a much-needed progressive direction”, as Sanders put it. Biden himself has declared that he intends to be a more progressive President than even Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Perhaps he intends to follow in the footsteps of another terrible progressive president, Woodrow Wilson, who nationalized several private industries, was one of the most racist Presidents ever and established significantly controversial efforts at government control and influence of information.

$2 Trillion to Fight Climate Change

Joe Biden has announced a $2 trillion plan in order to solve climate change. According to the task force document, the goal is to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 for all new buildings. Biden’s original plan was to set a target of halving the carbon footprint of the US by 2035. In addition, Biden has vowed to outlaw the use of coal and natural gas. This is in all effects a promise to destroy thousands of jobs at a time when the economy is still suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. As per the Wall Street Journal, “a study by the National Ocean Industries Association finds that a ban on offshore drilling alone would cost 200,000 jobs, damaging regional economies.” For comparison’s sake, the industry, were Trump’s policies to remain in effect, would generate 2 million jobs in the next 15 years. Under Trump, America also achieved energy independence, which would certainly evaporate under Biden.

Cutting out Consumer Choice

Biden’s plan would be nothing less than an elimination of consumer choice. The government would mandate what to use for transport and at a much higher cost than now, while the Justice Department would be used to target any business that would disobey. So that Congress does not turn out to be a problem, he intends to eliminate the filibuster rule and approve his proposals with a simple majority. No one of those who predicted Trump would be a Dictator are saying anything now.

The task force also included in its plan a commitment to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 as well as an expansion of solar and wind energy systems, including installing 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines. How they are going to pay for all this? The task force does not specify, however if Biden’s words are any indication, taxes will increase massively, on everyone. The former VP promised this during one of his few campaign events.

‘Buy American’ … From China?

Joe Biden recently discovered the nationalist within, campaigning on a Buy American slogan, to counter Donald Trump’s America First policy. Ironically, China controls most of the materials needed to build all of the solar panels, electric cars and other items in Biden’s list. So, contrary to what he has been saying, based on this policy platform, under him, dependence on China would increase, which would be dangerous considering the conflict of interest he has been accused of having with regards to China.

Secondly, the task force proposed expanding the unemployment insurance system to include more workers. Said otherwise, more welfare benefits and less incentives to work. Too bad no one has explained to the task force that to pay welfare, you have to transfer money from those who work to those that do not. If you put nearly everyone in unemployment programs and tax massively those few that remain in the job market, there will be no one left working and no way to fund these benefits, leading to economic ruin. Furthermore, the joint task force proposed an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a move on which Sanders has long campaigned, as well as 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, universal childcare for children of 3 and 4 year old and more food assistance programs. Social security would also change in a Biden Presidency, with increases in benefit payments. As recently as this week, Biden himself declared war on shareholders, capitalism and capital markets, calling them a massive farce.

Biden’s Education Proposals

Regarding education, the joint policy framework added policies long advocated by socialists such as capping and forgiving student loan debt, tuition free college for students whose families earn less that $125,000 annually, tuition-free community colleges for all students, including individuals included in the DACA programs. The task force has recommended to ban federal funding for private charter schools and private school vouchers, although both of them have proven to be very successful in the US. As CNN mentions, the program recommends up to $10,000 in immediate student debt relief for families.

Expanding Obamacare and Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age

On the healthcare front, it would appear that not much has been changed from what Biden has said in the past. The plan is for an expansion of the Affordable Care Act to include a public option. It is true that Sanders’ idea on Medicare for All has not been including in the proposal. However, it is written that all Americans have a right to healthcare, raising doubts that it has not been included by name, so as not to scare off moderate voters who are not keen on full nationalization of healthcare, but the end result would be Medicare for All. Moreover, the Medicare eligibility age would be lowered from 65 to 60, adding millions to a program that is foreseen to be insolvent by 2026. While the task force condemned President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, it did not specify what they would have done differently, something that has not been clarified by Joe Biden neither.

Illegal Immigration Liberalization

Lastly, concerning immigration, it is made clear that a Biden administration would declare war on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs and Border Protection. The task force calls for a full-scale audit of both agencies. Furthermore, it has become clear from both Biden himself and the task force that there would be a legalization of the approximately 20 million illegal immigrants, less control and restrictions on illegal border crossing, in the hopes of gaining new faithful voters that would ensure Democrats governed for decades.

The task force said that family unit would be a “guiding principle”, referring to detention centers. However, some in the “fair and free media” should ask Joe Biden why the Obama administration pursued the policy of family separation in the border and used detention centers? If VP Biden was against them, why did he not speak out? If the media does not raise such issues, surely, Donald Trump would not shy away in the debates to come.

Changing Policing  in Unspecified Ways

On the police, the task force and Biden are promising to change the way policing is conducted in the US. It remains to be seen whether Biden supports abolishing the police that some of his Democratic colleagues and left-wing pundits and media personalities are proposing. If the model the Biden campaign is proposing is more of what leftist mayors such as De Blasio in New York or in other Democratic run cities, then America better prepare for Gotham City type of insanity and mayhem. He is also supportive of creating a commission to study possible reparations for slavery which would have consequences neither Biden nor other leftists realize that would make the racial matter worse. Not to mention that would embolden further radical groups that are terrorizing American cities.

The Final Democratic Party Platform Will be the Furthest Left in Decades

Whether some or all of these proposals are adopted in the finalized party platform, there is no doubt that it will be the most radical left-wing platform in decades. It is a deadly combination of unchecked spending that would drive the debt and the deficits to unsustainable levels, as well as massive tax hikes that would depress consumption and investments, hitting GDP growth. It would constitute the largest increase of government control ever, effectively changing the American way of life. Biden declared that he intends to transform America and this program proves he means. Or rather the people that run his campaign and who would govern in case he is elected. Few people know that the grey eminence and the true leader of the Biden campaign is David Axelrod, as the esteemed journalist Bill O’Reilly confirmed several times on his show. Axelrod is a close adviser and friend to Barack Obama. He, along with the self-proclaimed socialist senator, Bernie Sanders, far-left senator Elisabeth Warren and democratic socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez are expected to govern for the next four years in case Biden wins.

Using Biden as a Smokescreen for Socialism

All of them control the Democratic Party of America. However, they cannot show their face to the moderate voter since their radical ideas are shunned by the majority of Americans. Thus, they use Joe Biden as a puppet. It is unsurprising that the former Vice President does not hold press conferences, does not appear in town halls or answer questions that would be uncomfortable to him. He appears in pre-taped videos and goes to friendly left-wing journalists. The plan of his campaign is to hide him in his basement and hope that Trump self-destroys by what he says in haste and in the heat of the moment, by the coronavirus crisis and by the unrest caused by the Marxist Black Lives Matter and Antifa. Nobody knows what Biden thinks about the destruction of monuments. Nobody has any clues as to what Biden’s proposals to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic are. The American people are unaware regarding the Democratic nominee’s ideas on a great many things. And it is meant to be this way by the people that run his campaign in cahoots with the mainstream media. Otherwise, if he were to speak about his radical program with sentences that make no sense, not knowing in what state or city or year he is in, he would probably win only the far-left state of California.

President Biden: a Worst-Case Scenario

Under a Biden Presidency, based on the program released by his task force and the words he has said during the last few months, we can safely deduce that there would be a major economic crisis, rise in crime and an overall weaker United States of America. It is to be expected that this would be the end result if the US is governed by people who hold Venezuela and Cuba as their models. A program that is estimated to cost around $7 trillion over a decade, together with all the tax hikes that are estimated to go as high as 56% in some cases, and cost the taxpayers $1 trillion over 10 years, the American economy risks going beyond the point of no return. Only $4 trillion out of the $7 trillion will be paid by the tax hikes. However, the mistake that all socialists make is to think that the rich and the middle class will continue to have the same income as now and will remain in the country. With the tax increases hurting businesses and consumers, there will be more unemployed, less growth and less income to tax. So all the projections they make about tax hikes paying for the enormous spending are made on false assumptions.

Businesses Would Leave America En Masse

According to reporting from the Journal, “the nonpartisan Tax Foundation concludes the Biden tax plan would reduce the size of the economy by 1.51% over the long run and lead to 585,000 fewer full-time equivalent jobs while lowering after-tax income for all income quintiles”. And this comes just from the tax hikes. Companies would flee America faster than Biden is able to finish a sentence from November until he would be sworn in.  The tax hikes would be a burden on the middle-income families who would either live the country or become much poorer.

A Weak America Hurts Everyone

The question that would come to mind is why should we care? The answer is that a weak America is not something that harms just Americans. It harms all of us. First, because it is the largest economy on earth. A long economic crisis there would mean a crisis in an already weak and nearly zombified Europe. Secondly, if the US is in such a state, it would give free rein to China, Iran, Russia and even North Korea to continue their expansion and nuclear goals. The world would be a much more dangerous place. The US — and as a result the world — would be fundamentally changed and there is no doubt about that because the Biden campaign is saying they plan to do exactly that.

The only hope for a better and safer future is a Trump victory in November. This will ensure the golden age of low taxes and deregulation, meritocracy and individual rights and freedom as well as the example of patriotism and leadership with peace through strength continues.

L'articolo Joe Biden’s Policy Plan: a Roadmap to Perdition proviene da InsideOver.

In Washington, a seemingly crazy scenario is currently circulating through the political grapevine. In its focus are three well-known Democrats: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The latter two only recently pledged their support to Biden who is the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee.

From Conspiracy Theory to Real Possibility?

The following scenario has so far had been a fantasy of fringe right-wing operatives and conspiracy theorists. However, when Republican Douglas MacKinnon’s, a former White House writer for President Reagan and George H.W. Bush, wrote a piece for the Hill in which he asked the question of whether Democrats would be inclined to replace Biden on the ticket for Hillary Clinton as the presidential candidate and Barack Obama as her Vice President, it became an openly discussed scenario.

There have certainly been doubts about Biden’s chances in the race, and Mackinnon outlines the main reasons why. There is the accusation of sexual assault and the alleged corruption in the case of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son. Moreover, as Mackinnon eludes to, Biden’s cognitive skills have seen far better days.

Would the Constitution Allow It?

Mackinnon then illustrates how constitutional hurdles could be mastered by utilizing the ambiguity of two constitutional amendments.

While the 12th Amendment states that “no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States” the 22nd Amendment states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President”.

Prima facie, the wording appears to exclude Obama from ever becoming Clinton’s running-mate. However, as Mackinnon emphasizes by referencing Professor of Constitutional Law Michael Dorf, the relevant word in the Amendment might be “elected.”

Bypassing the 22nd Amendment

The ratio is simple, though unproven. If Obama were picked as Clinton’s running-mate and Clinton needed to step down from the presidency, Obama would succeed her and thus becoming president for the third time without being prohibited by the 22nd Amendment as he would not have been elected. The stipulations of the 12th Amendment would, therefore, also be overcome, as, in this scenario, Obama would have been eligible to become president again, thus making a vice presidency legally possible.

Still Not Realistic

Nevertheless, Mackinnon’s scenario is unrealistic for several reasons.

Yes, Biden’s cognitive skills may have deteriorated due to age. His rhetorical stumbles and Freudian slips are well known. However, does anyone honestly believe that absurd statements and illogical remarks will make the difference in a Trump-Biden debate? Is there indeed supposed to be a distinction in the rhetorical skillset of Donald Trump and Joe Biden? Think again!

Moreover, even the alleged “scandals” that the Trump team attempts to fit onto Biden like an ill-fitted suit, such as the allegations of corruption against Hunter Biden and Tara Reade’s allegations cannot be sincere reasons why Joe Biden could or should be taken off the ticket.

Assessing the Accusations Against Biden

Yes, Hunter Biden’s position at Burisma looks “swampy” in retrospective. However, it was not outside of the natural course of action in political Washington. Anyone who discredits the latter may need to take a look at the president’s advisory board and pay close attention to surnames beginning with “T” and “K”.

Yes, Reade’s allegations must be taken seriously; however, the same applies to the legal principle of being innocent until proven guilty. The latter is not a partisan double standard but the rule of law. At this point, Reade’s allegations are not the Damocles sword Republicans, and Fox News had hoped they had at their disposal. Reade’s statements are opaque and rather inconsistent. Moreover, the notion Joe Biden could have had a history of sexual misconduct that remained dormant during an extremely intense vetting via the Obama team in 2007 seems inconceivable. Had there been even a slight suspicion of wrongdoing, Biden would not have become Obama’s vice-presidential candidate.

The most crucial point, however, is the fact that Biden is leading Trump in all relevant polls. A recent national poll has Biden leading by 50 to 41 per cent, while the average of national polls has him leading by 46.8 to 42.4. Moreover, Biden also leads the critical swing states of Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

No, the Democrats will not dispose of Biden, despite all of his apparent imperfections. With Donald Trump, the formerly required level of decorum, class and yes, general aptitude has been depreciated significantly. And with a nation eager to move on from its 45th president, voters are more inclined than ever to forgive any mistakes Biden may or may not make on his path to become the United States’ president in November — and rightfully so.

L'articolo Could Democrats Replace Biden With a Clinton-Obama Ticket? proviene da InsideOver.

“I am satisfied with how he has responded! I know him and I was proud to endorse him!”

That is how Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, replied to a question regarding the allegations of sexual misconduct concerning Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for President of the US. It was expected that she would defend her party’s candidate because she is a deeply political person without qualms about playing around with the truth. However, at the time Pelosi made this declaration, Biden had not yet responded to allegations of sexual misconduct, so it is unclear what statement Speaker Pelosi was actually satisfied.

The Allegations Against Joe Biden

In March 2020, Tara Reade, a former staff assistant to then-Senator Biden, alleged that her former boss had sexually assaulted her. In April 2019, she was one of eight women who came forward accusing Biden of inappropriately touching them. According to her story, Reade alleges that her supervisor told her that Senator Biden requested her to “serve drinks at an event because he though she was pretty and liked her legs”. Another staffer intervened so that she would not go, thus a fight erupted among the stuff. Later, Reade claims that Senator Biden would “often” place his hand on her shoulder and run his index finger up the back of her neck. Last month, she claimed that Biden had actually assaulted her.

The Left’s Glaring Double Standard

First of all, it should be mentioned that these are all allegations. Biden is innocent until proven guilty. This is the big difference between the mobs of the left and the reasoning of conservatives. Biden and his ilk did not waste any minute accusing and condemning then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016 as a sexual predator. Biden, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, all the Democratic Senators and Representatives, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, The Washington Post and every media and pundit across the globe condemned Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the completely unproven allegations that he had supposedly assaulted Christine Blaisey Ford decades ago, and that nobody else had knowledge of. Ford had no relationship or history with the Justice, nor could anyone corroborate her story in any way. In fact, she changed her story quite a few times. On the other hand, Reade has a coherent story with several people confirming it and she has in fact a proven history with Senator Biden. Yet, the media does not even mention her story.

Democratic Hypocrisy On Sexual Assault

“For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it’s been made worse or better over time.” That is what Joe Biden said two years ago, when Kavanaugh was being accused and lynched by the twitter mobs and left-wing extremists without any proof.

“I want to send a message to every survivor of sexual assault. Don’t let anyone silence your voice. You have a right to be heard and you have a right to be believed.” Those were the words of Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, First Lady and Democratic nominee in 2016. But then again, she has spent years smearing her husband’s accusers, so maybe she is not the right person to listen to. Similar words were spoken by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, Stacey Abrams, the failed candidate for Georgia Governor who now wants to be Biden’s VP candidate, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and many other Democratic politicians.

Believe All Women … Except Tara Reade?

If we were to reason based on VP Biden’s words, Secretary Clinton’s advice, and many others’ statements, it would mean that at least in essence Reade is telling the truth. Based on what every left-wing person said at the time, we should believe Reade without any evidence … because … believe all women. I have no doubt that this line of reasoning was wrong then and it is wrong now. Due process should be followed for anyone. Evidence must be brought in court and it should be assessed by the judicial system. However, the media and the Democratic party are eating their own words and after condemning without due process in 2016 and 2018, now they exonerate without due process. It is exactly the same situation and their reactions are different. In fact, it is much worse than that because the evidence presented in the current case is much more convincing than in Kavanaugh’s case two years ago. You cannot say believe all women, unless they accuse Biden or a member of the left. It is not only hypocritical, but plain evil. It is an attack on the fundamentals of democracy and a fair and just society.

Europe’s Media Parrots Leftist Lies

This is harmful not only to Americans, but to us in Europe as well. Many news outlets in Europe report based on what they get from the Associated Press, New York Times or CNN. If these media have their own left-wing agendas in the US, the European public should be made aware of that. It is dishonest to import double standards and cynical political games from across the ocean without questioning the motive. Imagine if Reade was accusing President Trump or any other conservative or Republican of what she is accusing Biden of. Every news outlet in the world would be reporting it, forgetting about the coronavirus and analyzing how immoral it would be and how everybody should believe the allegations.

We know this would happen, because it actually happened in 2018 with Justice Kavanaugh. His life was almost destroyed, his reputation shattered, and his family attacked mercilessly based on allegations with no evidence. Every media everywhere including overseas informed their viewers and readers about this supposed “sexual predator” that was to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. Yet, when he was proven to be innocent, no one reported it, tarnishing a man’s reputation forever. That is what happens when the mob rules.

Reade’s Accusations Against Biden

Currently, the case that Ms. Reade presents is quite strong. According to the Wall Street Journal, a Biden supporter and a neighbor of Reade’s, Lynda LaCasse, confirms that Reade talked about the assault in 1995 and 1996. Lorraine Sanchez, who was a co-worker of Tara Reade’s at the time of the alleged assault, also says that Ms. Reade had confessed to her at the time that she had been sexually assaulted by her former boss.

Moreover, a video has resurfaced of an episode of Larry King’s TV program on CNN in 1993, where a woman appears saying that her daughter was sexually harassed and retaliated against and fired by a “prominent senator” and asked Larry King where she could go for help. Before the video surfaced, Reade mentioned that her mother had made a phone call to Larry King and she had been “mortified” that her mother had done it. Furthermore, the owner of Blaze Media and a prominent journalist, Glenn Beck, says that according to the report he had, Google had removed this episode of Larry King. It was possible to find the preceding and the subsequent episodes, but not this one with the mother of the accuser.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Of course, we cannot be jury and judge even with these facts present. I will continue to say Senator Biden is innocent until proven guilty. However, it is necessary to present these facts fairly and to call on the media’s dishonest attempts to hide them and drop any pretense of impartiality. The media should ask questions about this issue. It is a very serious accusation that a potential President of the United States and a former VP and Senator has sexually harassed someone. Biden is getting away with this because the media is covering for him. Where is the outrage from the #metoo movement, the women rights groups and all the people who have said for years that all women should be believed? Do we really want to leave in a society with double standards? Do we want to throw away due process and let the left decide who to prosecute and who to forgive? It should not be the example that comes from what is known as the greatest democracy on Earth. At least, the me too movement was proven a sham and that it was never about protecting rape and assault victims. It was a political stunt to attack political adversaries when needed.

Suspicious Actions

The University of Delaware has the archives of Biden’s time as a Senator. Yet, as they were about to unseal them, the documents were sealed again for a longer period, and the University announced they would make them public when Joe Biden leaves public life. When pressed by a journalist as to why he does not allow for a search of Tara Reade’s name in these archives, Biden seemed totally perplexed, mumbling incoherently. If the current nominee of the Democratic Party has nothing to hide, he can let the world see these archives and prove his innocence. If he has any decency left, and is in fact innocent, he can tell the media to stop defending him, present his case and his version before a court and let Reade present hers. The media should pretend at least to be impartial, by letting their viewers and readers hear both sides.

This, of course, will not happen.

Biden, the democrats and the media want to defeat Donald Trump at all cost. So, Biden will not make public documents that could harm him in any way. He will continue to hide by appearing in media outlets that will protect him. When he goes face-to-face with Trump it will be another thing entirely. Ultimately, it will be up to the voters to decide on his decency and the merits of these accusations.

This is just another episode in which history will remember the mainstream media and the Democratic Party as attackers of the vital due process and as corrupt hypocrites who weaponize and manipulate victims when it suits them and ignore victims when it doesn’t.

L'articolo The Biden Double Standard proviene da InsideOver.

The Democratic Party is stuck with Joe Biden. They are forced to support a candidate who lacks charisma, energy, ideas and frankly scruples, as proven by the Burisma debacle.

Where Does Obama Stand on Joe?

It is no secret that Barack Obama did not want Biden to run for President. According to the New York Times, the former President told his VP “You don’t have to do this Joe, you really don’t.” Even Biden himself wrote that in 2016 it was his former boss who discouraged him from running. The NYT a few months ago had a report saying Obama was secretly encouraging donors to choose Elizabeth Warren, the far-left Massachusetts Senator ⁠— instead of Biden. Last year, as the Washington Times reports,Obama told a gathering in Singapore that it would be a significant improvement if women were to lead and that “old men should get out of the way.”

Is Joe Biden Mentally OK?

Biden’s frequent gaffes led President Obama to tell Biden’s staff to “make sure he did not embarrass himself”, according to a report by CNN and later by the Washington Times. Many Democratic officials and associates have also voiced their concerns on the former Vice President’s ability to lead. Several public figures have even called Biden’s mental health in question.

DNC Decision: Anybody But Bernie

Nevertheless, the Democratic establishment did not want Bernie Sanders. They fought him in 2016 and they rallied against him during this campaign. Nobody believed he would win against Donald Trump. Sanders is a self-proclaimed socialist, who defends Fidel Castro, does not condemn the communist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro and wants to transform America into a socialist country.

For decades, Sanders has been a staunch attacker of millionaires, even after becoming one and owning three houses. He went on to turn his attacks towards billionaires, while aiming to remake the United States in Cuba’s image. In this context, everyone knew that his odds of defeating the incumbent President were the same as Obama endorsing Trump. Therefore, the establishment had to choose a more reliable ⁠— albeit still bad ⁠— nominee.

Sanders Drags Dems Through the Mud

Bernie Sanders, as many Marxists before him, managed to rally ⁠— through deception ⁠— a considerable amount of people to his cause. In Europe, few know that within the Democratic Party there is an ongoing war heating back up. There are the moderates in the vein of Bill Clinton, and the far-left figures inspired by Senator Sanders represented by Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Elizabeth Warren and many others. Their aim is to take over the Democratic Party and transform it into a grouping that supports massive nationalization, increasing substantially taxes, forgiving all student loans, making university tuition free, medicare for all and climate change related frenetic spending.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bernie Sanders’ policies would cost $40 trillion over a decade and would include all the policies backed by the progressives, listed above. The WSJ reports that his proposed tax increases would top $30 trillion over a decade, more than 10% of the American GDP. It would constitute not only a massive expansion of federal government, but also a definite destruction of the American economy. Even the Progressive Policy Institute, a left-wing organization, estimates that spending in a Sanders Administration would exceed revenue by $25 trillion.

Sanders’ catastrophic program is important to be discussed, understood and diffused by everybody and to everyone, because even though he has dropped out the race, he and his colleagues hold a considerable influence over the party and Sanders will still seek to shape the platform at the upcoming convention. Biden may have already essentially won the nomination, but Sanders is slowly winning the control of the Democratic Party. Obama’s endorsement of Biden as a nominee but Sanders in terms of ideas is the proof of this.

Obama and Biden Give in to the Aggressive Socialists

The former President knows that his party’s far-left group is aggressive and has a take no prisoner policy. He and Biden also know they are unable to defeat the rising socialist voices in their Party. Even after Sanders’ endorsement of Biden, there were members of the Sanders campaign who did not follow the example of their boss.

Thus, Obama found himself disavowing his own Presidency, in order to please Senator Sanders’ base. His decision not to endorse his friend Biden earlier was noticed by many. Nevertheless, it was a smart move aimed at giving the appearance of impartiality. However, it came late also due to Obama’s lack of enthusiasm about Biden.

What Does Obama’s Endorsement Tell Us?

There were several things of note during Obama’s endorsement video. First, he emphasized Biden’s role in the economic recovery that came after 2008. Considering it was one of the weakest recoveries in American history, I am not sure Biden was that pleased by the emphasis. Secondly, Obama criticized his own signature bill, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, considering it to be insufficient and inadequate for this day and age. Thirdly, he claimed that Biden was the most progressive nominee in the Party’s history and “repented for not having been a more left-wing President himself,” as Karl Rove noted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. This mea culpa was directed at Sanders’ base who can now declare victory in the ideological battle over the fate of their party. Obama also said Senator Sanders was an “American original”, championing ideas critical in moving America in a direction of progress and hope. It will be the first time in history that the winner of a race is forced to campaign with the loser’s ideas.

There Have Always Been Two Paths for the Democrats

Before Biden, there have always been two paths for the Democrats. With all his wishful thinking, Biden can only choose one and abandon the other. The catch is that choosing either prevents him from unifying the Party and that puts the VP in a dangerous predicament. The first path would represent a continuation of the Obama Presidency. The former VP made several attempts during the campaign to defend various aspects of his administration and to associate his name as much as possible with Obama, knowing the popularity of Obama with party ranks. However, voters rejected this when Hillary Clinton ran for president using this same path. The former Secretary of State’s bid for presidency was seen as a third Obama term. She lost in part because she was perceived as corrupt and unlikable, and in part, because she assured everyone she would follow Obama’s footsteps. Why should Biden think that this time will be any different?

The second path means adopting more left-wing policies. While this may be a step in the right direction to appease twitter mobs and the far-left sect of the Democratic Party, it will alienate many more. Perhaps, in their haste to unify the party by bringing progressives into the fold, Biden and Obama have taken for granted moderates and independents who may prefer the unconventional but well-meaning style of Trump to the siren song of socialism.

Biden’s Choice

It is becoming clear that Joe Biden is choosing the second path and Obama is approving it, even if it means attacking his own record. Biden’s new program already incorporates student debt cancellations of up to $10,000 for each debtor, cancellation of all federal undergraduate tuition debt for borrows earning up to $125,000, who went to public schools, more climate change spending, expanding Obamacare with a public option and will for sure include many more far-left policies that would lead to economic ruin. Foreign Policy expects Biden to adopt policies such as conditional aid to Israel and defense-spending cuts. Even before Sanders’ endorsement of him, Biden favored raising taxes and reversing President Trump’s deregulations and tax cuts.

The pressure from the left will undoubtedly continue, making Biden the most left-wing nominee since Michael Dukakis. This will be coupled with Biden’s lack of enthusiasm, energy and leadership, as he has proven during the campaign. No matter what he does now, whichever way he decides to run his campaign will be a lose-lose scenario.

This will become more evident as he goes up against Trump’s energy, charisma, raucous campaign rallies, popular economic policies, and actual record.

L'articolo Barack Obama ‘Endorsed’ Bernie Sanders and Disavowed His Own Presidency proviene da InsideOver.

After exiting the Democratic race to be the nominee for President of the United States last week, Bernie Sanders has now officially endorsed former VP Joe Biden to lead the nation. The move was essential to prevent a second Trump term jointly, Sanders stated. However, with Sanders’ support, Biden now has to manage a difficult balancing act.

A Welcome Development

Sanders’ support for Biden is a welcome sight for the Democratic party. Four years ago in the 2016 race, Sanders was reluctant to endorse Hillary Clinton and only did so once it was arguably too late for the party to unite around their candidate.

This time, however, Sanders made his decision earlier and called on all Americans to support Biden’s presidential candidacy as he was doing. The Vermont Senator made his remarks during a joint online stream appearance with his former opponent. Sanders repeated a sentence that he has communicated consistently during the primary race: “Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the recent history of the United States.”

Sanders to Biden: ‘We Need You in the White House’

The latter is why it was so important that Donald Trump loses the general election. “We need you in the White House,” Sanders said directly to Biden, and he would do everything to make the former Vice President the 46th president of the United States.  Biden appreciated the endorsement and said that Sanders was the “most powerful voice for a fair and just America.”

Both announced that their respective staffers would work together in mixed groups on concepts for the future, including core issues such as the judicial system, the economy, the education system, climate change, and health care.

Will Bernie’s Supporters Really Come Around for Biden?

Sanders’ endorsement, however, is by no means a guarantee that the party’s democratic socialist wing will unite around Biden. In fact, various Sanders supporter groups organized themselves and sent Joe Biden a letter on Monday stating their demands in return for supporting him. These include the obligation to switch to 100 percent clean energy for electricity, buildings, and transportation by 2030, to reduce the number of gun deaths by 50 percent within ten years, to protect immigrants without legal status against deportation. Add to that the demand for Medicare for All and a new tax for wealthy Americans.

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — who has emerged as a younger — even more extreme version of Sanders, has stated that Biden’s health care plan is “almost insulting.” Sanders’ heir apparent is tremendously popular among the extreme left, so her words should not be dismissed as idle chatter.

Biden’s Balancing Act

Accordingly, through Sanders’ endorsement, a delicate balancing act for Biden begins. While the Vice President had already announced several times in the past few weeks that he planned to unite the extremely divide Democratic party, he cannot attempt to appease any demands AOC, Ilhan Omar, or other outlandish Sanders surrogates are demanding. Nor can Biden afford to even be put remotely in a box in which he coordinates his election road map directly with Bernie Sanders.

Besides the material the Trump team has already accumulated (on Hunter Biden, alleged Joe Biden mental issues and much more), the president is just waiting for Biden to step into the socialist trap as well. Any serious cooperation with the progressives including any deal, or even agreement in spirit will be assessed, amplified, and utilized fully against Biden. The Trump election commercials would be plastered with images of Biden shaking hands and smiling with the socialists and they have already been full of accusations of him being soft on China because of his family’s financial interests. If the primaries have taught observers anything, it is that socialism does not win elections.

The Biden team is cognizant of these factors. However, Biden still needs the progressives to support him. He thus has a complicated task ahead of him: to persuade a wing of the party that has not shown a proclivity to compromise without decreasing his chances of winning. The crucial point here will be the deal Biden has struck with Sanders in exchange for his early endorsement.

Nothing in politics comes for free. It is conceivable that Sanders will have a say regarding the agenda in some form, such as Biden’s running mate pick or a future cabinet position. It is a perilous path for Biden, who, now that his candidacy has been secured, faces the next encumbrance: not losing his race through alienating Bernie’s base irrevocably nor by overly catering to socialists either.

L'articolo The Devil’s Bargain: Bernie Sanders Endorses Joe Biden proviene da InsideOver.