Happy Valentines Day and other thoughts

The Hur Report, another special election,

Happy Valentines Day! I have a lot on my mind and there’s a lot going on, so I hope you will indulge me wandering through a number of different topics.

First, let me clarify something about my post on Monday since a number of people seem to think I called for removing Biden from the ticket. On the contrary, I think Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee. I think he can win re-election if the campaign is either more about Trump or a comparison of the two presidencies. I don’t think Biden can win if he’s not engaging more with the American people in less controlled environments than he has been. If he’s not willing to do more interviews, press conferences, and other appearances, then he’s playing into the Republican narrative and the American people are going to buy into the argument that he’s not up to the job. As Matt Yglesias wrote yesterday, “We need to see more Joe Biden.” If Biden is not up to that task, as Republicans contend, then he needs to get out because he can’t win a presidential race hidden from the public.

Republicans took two things away from Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. They seized on one speculative line about Biden appearing too old and forgetful to be convicted by jury and managed to turn it into a media feeding frenzy. Now, Republicans want to make that the central issue of the presidential campaign.

They also used the report to claim another false equivalency and embrace their victim syndrome. To hear them tell it, Joe Biden and Donald Trump did exactly the same thing, but only Trump is getting prosecuted because everybody is always out to get him. They claim we have a two-tiered system of justice, one for Democrats and one for Republicans.

Of course, it’s all BS. Hur himself explained the difference. Biden cooperated fully with the investigation and was in possession of a few dozens papers, mostly handwritten notes from his time as vice-president. Trump, on the other hand, obstructed justice by lying to investigators, ignoring subpoenas, and hiding more than 300 hundred documents, some of which were marked “highly-classified.” So, no, they weren’t the same and the guy who wrote the report and decided not to press charges against Biden was a Republican operative.

But that’s the Republicans’ response to everything Trump has done. Their argument is always, “Democrats are just as bad as we are, but they don’t get called on it.” After initially denouncing the Donald Trump and the January 6 insurrectionists, Republican pundits and Members of Congress began claiming that attacking the Capitol and our democracy was no different than the riots and protests that followed George Floyd’s death. They claim that Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” scheme to undermine the 2020 presidential election with false electors, allegations of misconduct by election officials, and threatening other elected officials was the same thing as Stacy Abrams saying she didn’t lose the election in Georgia. They’re trying to impeach Joe Biden because Democrats impeached Donald Trump, but nobody can figure out what he’s done wrong. They tried to talk about the “Biden Crime Family” because Trump’s whole New York business was found be fraudulent.

It’s all just false equivalency meant to muddy the waters and obscure bad behavior by a political party taken over by an unpatriotic conman. Republicans have fallen in line, ready to defend Trump no matter what. They’ll take a man found liable for sexual abuse who, by their own accounts, rallied a crowd to try intimidate Congress into overturning an election. As Mitch McConnell said after Trump’s second impeachment, "There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day." Finally, they’ll abandon their entire foreign policy agenda to defend a man who says he’ll tell Putin that it’s okay to attack our NATO allies. And all for tax cuts and social wars.

On a brighter note, Democrats picked up another seat in Congress last night. Democrats have been on a run, winning special elections across the country, outperforming polls and their 2022 margins. Several Democratic analysts contend that the outcome of these elections is more significant than current polling that shows Biden struggling.

North Carolina is about to play a big role in the Trump campaign. NCGOP Chair Michael Whatley is Trump’s choice to chair the Republican National Committee. Trump is also pushing his daughter-in-law, Wilmington native Lara Trump, for co-chair. Whatley is an election denier and Lara Trump married Eric Trump.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is urging Democrats to aggressively campaign on the Republicans’ failure to pass border reform. Murphy negotiated the bill that Republicans demanded and then rejected. He wants to take the issue of border security away from the GOP and make it a liability for them.

I hope the party follows his advice. Democrats have been terrible at exploiting their strengths and Republican weaknesses. We should never have stopped hearing about Biden’s legislative success during 2022. We should be hearing far more about Donald Trump’s verbal miscues and crazy statements. Democrats need to make Republicans own the dysfunction in Congress. It should be part of a steady drumbeat.

Also in North Carolina, the GOP primary for governor is still grinding on. Attorney Bill Graham is spending money trying to convince voters that Mark Robinson can’t win in November. Judging from the response, his argument is not working. Robinson isn’t spending big yet and Democratic groups are still attacking Robinson on social media while ignoring the other candidates. A Robinson win will confirm a lot of speculation about Republican motivations.

Sorry for the disjointed rant.