It appears that many legal observers believe that Trump will triumph in Trump v. Anderson, which is the disqualification suit brought by mainline Republicans and independents to force Trump off the Colorado GOP primary ballot. If this is correct, I think it’ll be an opportunity lost in the wake of the Special Counsel report of President Biden. But nothing is official just yet.
Speaking of the Special Counsel report, reaction to the report on Biden has been more or less as expected. Right-winger Erick Erickson:
Every red flag about Biden is now suddenly up at once. The public thinks he is too old, and the Special Prosecutor thinks Biden is not mentally fit for trial. That raises too many questions.
It was political malpractice for Biden’s team to rush him into a press conference where he confused the Mexican and Egyptian Presidents. It shows Barack Obama’s concerns are well-founded.
For me, at least, it was notable overnight that Democratic strategists who had been open in the past with their concerns about Biden were noticeably quiet. They know they have a problem. They just are not sure how to proceed.
Republicans will try to pounce and probably just break their necks.
Historian and liberal Professor Richardson, based on material from multiple sources:
But in Biden’s case, what followed the announcement that he had not broken a law was more than 300 pages of commentary, including assertions that Biden was old, infirm, and losing his marbles and even that “[h]e did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died” (p. 208).
As television host and former Republican representative from Florida Joe Scarborough put it: “He couldn’t indict Biden legally so he tried to indict Biden politically.”
Liberal Kevin Drum:
It’s instructive that, as far as I know, not a single person who has interacted with Biden personally has ever reported any kind of cognitive decline. This includes Republican leaders who have visited him in the White House, even though they have every incentive to leak dirt on Biden to the press. In fact, I’ve never come across a comment from anyone, even on background, that describes him as anything other than attentive, engaged, and detail oriented.
On a connected note, conservative/centrist/classic liberal Andrew Sullivan, behind a paywall:
And look: neither you nor I know how much dementia is affecting an 81 year old. There are times when Biden seems remarkably lucid for a man his age. My best guess is that it’s patchy: he has good days and bad days. But this much we do know: even if we judge him able to do the job now, what about in three or four years’ time? That’s what we are being asked to judge. Many of us have parents who were fine in their eighties … until suddenly they weren’t — and in the case of my mother, the decline was swift. That’s why in a poll last year, “fully 77 percent said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years,” and 69 percent of Democrats feel this way. Who wouldn’t?
Sullivan strikes an informed balance, as is his wont.
On Lawfare Chuck Rosenberg critiques the process:
But a special counsel must write a report in a way—if possible—that gives no advantage or disadvantage to any one person, apart from the consequences that flow naturally from the factual findings of the report. It is one thing to explain in a neutral way why evidence exists—or does not exist—in a case (such as Biden could not recall) and another to use language that is arguably disparaging (such as that Biden is “an elderly man with a poor memory”). It is one thing to suggest that a defendant could come across to a jury as sympathetic and another to suggest that a defendant is utterly incapable of forming criminal intent. Political opponents will turn the latter characterizations into political capital. A special counsel report should avoid providing that sort of ammunition to either side (and I believe Hur could have threaded that needle here) while still adequately explaining a declination decision to the attorney general.
Although I do not believe his final recommendation was politically viable:
If you do not want to pour the fruits of sensitive investigations (with their attendant impressions and assessments) into the public domain, then handle these investigations through normal channels at the Department of Justice, and do what prosecutors always do when they decide not to charge a case: nothing.
Doing nothing is still politically sensitive in an atmosphere that is as charged as it is today. An old-fashioned phrase for that is the fix is in.
So what is a slightly bored independent like me – and maybe you – to do in November? Sure, past performance is no guarantee of future achievement, but it’s indicative of how to bet, so I suggest evaluating Biden on the last four years, and in that respect, Biden’s running on a superb record. Sure, he had a bit of inflation, but it’s relatively easy to deduce that inflation was an unfortunate side effect of cleaning up the mess left by the Republicans. Unemployment has fallen to shocking lows, wages are up, inflation is back under control, and supply line issues have been managed, sometimes by Biden personally. The predicted recession never made an appearance, much to the flustering of Republicans and economists. He’s put outstanding personnel in charge of the various departments and then helped only where necessary. Indeed, he’s shown a highly mature understanding of the job, a matter that escaped, and, given his recent comments, will continue to escape Mr. Trump.
Speaking of the former President, treat every claim of Mr. Trump with regard to the achievements of his Administration with skepticism. His inclination to make any claim that he believes will benefit him results in mass mendacity that you may not suspect. And remember: a healthy chunk of the Federal debt is due to the 2017 tax reform bill, passed by the Republicans and signed enthusiastically by President Trump, which did nothing for the economy while reducing tax revenues, causing the annual deficit, and therefore the debt, to skyrocket.
Based purely on economic achievements, it’s clear that Biden has Trump beaten, hands down.
Is Biden declining cognitively? Could be. As Sullivan notes, some cognitive declines are sudden and definitive. But a disabled President, unlike most disabled dictators, such as Brezhnev, has specified processes for transfer of authority, its return etc. If Biden becomes cognitively disabled, we take him out and put in VP Harris, who will be supported by Biden’s various appointees, and we continue, presumably with most or all policies intact.
Mr. Trump’s judgment in the selection of most appointees proved defective during his Administration, to judge from the numerous scandals attending them, and there’s little reason to think his judgment will improve. What scandal came in with Biden’s appointees?
Well, despite the nattering of House Republicans over the President, his son Hunter, and Department of Homeland Security’s Alejandro Mayorkas, there hasn’t been much in the way of scandal. Right-wing extremist Erick Erickson claims the Administration has been infiltrated by Iranian agents, but I’m not even going to link to those claims as I’ve seen no corroborating reports. It sounds like Erickson is repeating something he saw on a blog.
Now, there was the loss of thirteen service members during the Afghanistan withdrawal, but there are two points of importance in the matter that are often glossed over. First, it was President Trump who signed the legally binding document that we would withdraw by the target date, not President Biden. True, Biden could have ignored the matter, but there is value in upholding promises, even those with which we personally disagree or find politically inconvenient. Second, it was not the Taliban who claimed to have killed the Americans, but a Taliban opponent seeking to gain an advantage of some sort. Stopping the attack used is difficult. Less defensible aspects might include treatment of Afghan translators, and the equipment, damaged, worn out, outdated, etc, that was left behind. And keep in mind that both Trump and Biden wanted the United States out of Afghanistan – and I suspect that, if Mr Trump managed the withdrawal, it might have been a disaster.
But if this incident, which is only a scandal for a far-right extremist, in truth, is the worst it gets, then, at least so far, Biden is doing as well as President Obama, who also had no scandals. And there’s some value, for the voter, in that. Almost as much as the recovery of the economy, as managed by the Democrats.
