Readers’ Comments on Biden

Editors:

I can understand that Biden’s performance in the debate is a real concern, but I don’t blame him. He is an old man, too, and has made significant contributions to America. So I still choose to support Biden no matter what happens in the end. If we let Biden out of the race now and put someone else in his place, there would be some time crunch, and even if the best candidate is selected, who’s to say that the candidate is capable of standing up to Trump?

--Maria Thomas

via Substack

•••

Also in this column …

•More readers’ comments on the Trump v. Biden June 30 debate.

•Contributing pundit Ken Zino’s column on the presidential debate; “Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem.”

_____

…meanwhile…

Good news too late for Biden? – June’s Consumer Price Index fell to 3.0%, from a 3.4% rate the month before. Month-over-month prices actually fell by 0.1% on the heels of Chairman Jerome Powell’s hints the Federal Reserve may soon ease interest rates. Overall CPI less food and energy was up 3.3%, lowest since April 2021. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Biden His Time – President Biden holds a news conference in Washington Thursday afternoon to wrap up the NATO summit, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Meanwhile, the future of his re-election bid appear to be at the tipping point, as Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to call for him to withdraw. 

Biden has held the fewest press conferences of any president since Ronald Reagan, according to NPR.

Did I say that out loud?... Actor George Clooney’s warning in his New York Times op-ed that Biden’s cognitive issues also will hand the House and Senate over to Republican control reportedly is shaking up Democratic congressmembers themselves, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “hasn’t tried to hide her disdain for the situation the party now finds itself in,” one anonymous lawmaker told Politico Playbook. 

Meanwhile… Adding to pressure from the Democratic side, the Trump campaign is now looking at a landslide and hope Biden will not drop out, according to Tim Alberta in The Atlantic magazine’s The Decision newsletter. “Donald Trump was well on his way to a 320-electoral vote win before the debate,” campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita told Alberta.

Politico Playbook quotes “about a half-dozen” Democratic lawmakers who say Pelosi told them Biden will not win in November, and aside from her much-parsed statement on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Biden should make the decision himself, has advised some Democrats in swing districts that they should “secure their own re-elections” even if it means they ask Biden to step aside. 

About time… However, Pelosi’s advice above comes with the warning that they hold off from asking Biden to withdraw from the race until after this week’s NATO summit is finished. 

It’s going to be a long weekend.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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AOC: Impeach Thomas, Alito/WEDNESDAY 7/10/24

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, above) has filed articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito alleging a "pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements" (The Hill).

"Justices Thomas and Alito's repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law. And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis. These failures alone would amount to a deep transgression worthy of standard removal in any lower court, and would disqualify any nominee to the highest court from confirmation in the first place," she said in a press release.

BIDEN AND NATO'S 75TH

Zelenskyy Addresses NATO – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the meeting of NATO members gathered in Washington for the alliance’s 75th anniversary that American missiles and permission to fire them across the border into Russia helped his military hold off an attack on the city of Kharkiv, and for thus stopping a Russian offensive this spring, The New York Times reports. But he requested the lifting of other restrictions to allow Ukraine to fire at military bases hundreds of miles inside Russia to destroy aircraft and weapons being dropped on his country’s civilians and children. 

‘Trump-proof’… At Washington’s convention center, policymakers moved control of major elements of aid to Ukraine to NATO’s “umbrella” from the US in order to “Trump-proof” the military alliance (The Washington Post). Whether Joe Biden or Donald J. Trump wins the November election, “Putin will hate him,” Zelenskyy said at the conference (NYT).

Meanwhile, on MSNBC… Appearing on Morning Joe with Belarusian political activist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, with whom she penned a Washington Post op-ed, House Speaker emeritus Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was asked to comment on whether Biden should remain in the presidential race. Pelosi gave the non-answer answer; “It’s up to the president to decide if he’s going to run.” Of course, Biden has decided, and the primary delegates he won are his to give up. 

Pelosi’s WaPo op-ed with Tikhanovskaya is titled, “NATO is a bulwark against tyranny,” subtitle, “Facing down dictators such as Vladimir Putin and (Belarus’) Alexander Lukashenko is what the alliance was built for.”

•••

Hollywood Dissent -- Actor George Clooney, who hosted a star-studded Los Angeles fundraiser for President Biden in June is now asking him to step down from the campaign in a New York Times op-ed.

"I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as a president," Clooney writes. "I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced.

"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. ... It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe "big F-ing deal" Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."

--TL

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TUESDAY 7/9/24

Biden Bites Back – President Biden has support of his continued re-election campaign by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), The Washington Post reports Tuesday morning. Democratic senators were to discuss Biden’s debate debacle and what to do about his defiance in remaining in the presidential race at their weekly luncheon Tuesday.

Meanwhile, NATO… Tuesday evening in Washington, Biden is to give a commemorative speech at the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with leaders from its member countries (WaPo).

Meanwhile, Ukraine… “Poorly trained” Russian forces are unlikely to make “significant” territorial gains in a Ukraine that finally has been reinforced with fresh Western munitions, The New York Times reports ahead of NATO’s 75th celebration, citing US officials. 

•••

Neurologist’s Visits – White House visitor logs show Dr. Kevin Cannard, expert on Parkinson’s disease from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, visited the White House eight times in eight months up to this spring, The New York Timesreports. At least one of the meetings was with President Biden’s physician. 

After Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “dodged” and refused to reply to questions about the president’s health, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor released a statement at 9:40 p.m. Monday that Biden had not seen a neurologist “outside his annual physical” and suggested most of those eight visits were to others working in the White House.

•••

MAGA in Milwaukee – The Republican National Committee released the 2024 Republican Party Platform Monday from Milwaukee, where the national convention that will formally nominate Donald J. Trump as its presidential candidate begins next week. The document reflecting “20 GOP Principles, Roadmap to Make America Great Again” calls for, number one, to “seal the border, and stop the migrant invasion,” and two, to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Number three; “End inflation, and make America affordable again.”

Number four is to “make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far!”, answering the Democratic argument that the US already is the world’s largest oil exporter … but with OPEC still hanging on, not yet “by far.”

Five, “Stop outsourcing, and turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower.”

Six, “Large tax cuts for workers, no tax on tips!”

Seven, “Defend our Constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms.”

Eight, “Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country – all made in America.”

Number nine, almost the halfway point, is to “end the weaponization of government against the American people.”  

Read all 20 planks of the platform here.

The platform’s press release concludes with “When America is united, confident, and committed to our principles, it will never fail,” and “Today and together, with Love for our Country, Faith in People, and Trust in God’s Good Grace, we will Make America Great Again!”

•••

Defund Justice? – The fiscal year 2025 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill is up for markup Tuesday in the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where Republicans hope to “handcuff” the Department of Justice with riders preventing it from suing states over laws that limit abortion, curtail court challenges to state redistricting plans and block it from bringing lawsuits against local or state governments that limit “transgender medical procedures,” CQ Roll Call reports.

None of this will get far in the Democratic-controlled Senate or the Biden White House, of course, though it would give voters a clear roadmap of what a 2025 Trump White House and GOP-controlled Senate would look like.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Right

What is right is that whether you are liberal or conservative, you are invited to submit your civil comments on the center column's latest political news/aggregate, as well as on comments by our contributing pundits writing writing for this or the left column. 

Go to the COMMENTS line in this or the left column as appropriate for your political leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you consider yourself conservative or liberal in the subject line.

•••

Also in this column …

•Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s post-debate column, “There’s No ‘Take Two’”.

•Reader comment on the Trump v. Biden June 30 debate.

•Macaulay’s July 4 chronological list of US presidents’ retirement ages.

•Macaulay’s column on the debate, “Take Away the Keys.”

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Comments on the Debate

Scroll down one page (far-right scrollbar) for reader comments in the right column on the first (only?) presidential debate between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden. Scroll down two pages for comments in the left column.

Read our next-day coverage of the debate, “Panic at the White House,” in the center column. It is accompanied in the left column by Ken Zino’s commentary, “Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem,” and in the right column by Stephen Macaulay’s “Take Away the Keys.”

COMMENT in the appropriate column or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

_____

What Will Dems Do About Biden?

By Todd Lassa

(7/8/24) French voters’ reversal in Sunday’s second round of ballots of what looked like an assured takeover of the Assemblée Nationale by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party might have given the Democratic Party a bit of confidence they have enough time to do something about President Biden ahead of their convention in Chicago next month. 

The whole thing took place in a month, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling for snap elections on June 9 after far-right parties won European Union elections in France, Italy and Austria, and came in second in Germany and The Netherlands. That sort of timing most certainly is the European way and most certainly is not the American way, though we still have October for surprises.

Le Pen’s nationalist/populist/MAGA-like party led French polls for a month and chalked up a big victory in the first round. But a coalition of moderate-left to far-left parties rallied against National Rally and turned out in huge numbers Sunday. 

Nevertheless, the left-wing coalition still must work with other political forces to put together a governing majority, Le Monde(English version) reports. In the second round, Nouveau Front Populaire snagged 182 deputy seats on the 577-seat Assemblée Nationale to 168 seats for Macron’s coalition and just 143 seats for National Rally. A majority is 277 seats.

Back here at home, congressional Democrats are worried about certain loss of a Senate majority and no chance of retaking the House majority on top of any level of shift toward authoritarianism by a Trump victory in November. In a Sunday call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) that lasted nearly two hours, four Democratic leaders, Reps. Jerry Nadler (NY), Adam Smith (WA), Mark Takano (CA) and Joe Morello (NY) added their names to five House members whom already had called for Biden to step down from the presidential race, Politico reports. Four others “voiced concerns,” according to the report.

Democratic Reps. Lloyd Doggett (TX), Mike Quigley (IL), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), Seth Moulton (MA) and Angie Craig (MN) had already called for the president’s withdrawal (The Hill). Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia will lead a regularly scheduled Tuesday Senate Democratic member's meeting to discuss what to do about Biden, NPR's Morning Edition reports. Obviously, Biden’s spirited, if also telepromptered rallies in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend did nothing to quell House and Senate Democrats’ concerns. 

Nor did his Friday interview in Madison, Wisconsin, with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News This Week. Rather than reverse effects of his debate with Donald J. Trump, Biden seemed to borrow what Democrats would say is the former Republican president’s playbook. 

Trump’s “I alone can fix it” became “I don’t think anyone is more qualified to be president,” in Biden’s words. And only “the Lord almighty” could force him out Biden said, though not while holding up a Bible (about the same time, Trump disavowed knowledge of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025/Presidential Transition Project, with its Christian Nationalist undertones). 

But it was Biden’s answer to Stephanopoulos’ question of how the president would feel if he lost to Trump this November that might cause his fellow Democrats to wonder how serious he is about 'saving democracy': “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the good job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

There’s No “Take Two”

By Stephen Macaulay

“There’s no such thing as a second first impression.”

That’s something that many Democratic operatives, the Biden Boosters, seem not to realize.

Sure, President Biden has accomplished some very good things in his tenure — the Inflation Reduction Act alone trumps all of what Donald J. Trump accomplished vis-à-vis infrastructure, and the IRA is no small thing as it has tremendous benefits for Americans at all levels of the economic stratum.

And, yes, there is no question that Trump has openly stated that he plans to do all manner of things should he get a second term that are more along the lines of assuaging his own bruised ego than Making America Great Again. (To say nothing of his conflict with electricity and/or sharks.)

But on the evening of June 27 millions of people tuned in to the presidential debate, millions of whom were happily anxious to see Joe Biden school Donald Trump in a perfunctory manner.

And what they saw within the first few minutes was an old man who seemed as though he wasn’t sure why he was where he was at.

That impression is something that will not be overcome.

On November 5 there will undoubtedly be a number of people who had voted for Biden or who had been previously inclined to, who will just stay home. How can they, in good conscience, vote for a man who was clearly out of his depth?

There is no question that Trump spewed lie after lie after lie. 

But during his time on the stage, he proffered these lies in a forceful way. He sounded confident. He appeared in control. 

And while he could have really taken it to Biden for Biden’s evident confusion, he didn’t.

That alone, perhaps, will make some people who were on the fence to go to his side.

When the polls that the Biden Boosters cite tend to have it as a “close race, within the margin of error” — and not acknowledging that they need the margin on their side —can they really doubt that they’ve lost a number of people?

What’s more, there is the issue of other people on the ballot in November: 34 Senate seats are open and the Democrats have a chance to take back the House — assuming that people come out to vote.

As of April 2024, according to the Pew Research Center, 49% of registered voters are Democrats or lean that way while the number is 48% for the Republicans.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on July 2 has it that 32% of Democrats think Biden should end his reelection bid.

The math isn’t hard to figure when you consider the delta of registered voters.

Donna Brazile told Politico Playbook, “Joe Biden won the Democratic nomination. To undermine the voters in this country at this hour would be the worst thing the Democratic Party could ever do.”

Presumably this is because the people who voted for him in the primaries (and how many alternatives did they have — besides, of course, Dean Phillips and Jason Palmer on ballots in some states?) would feel disenfranchised were Biden to not be the nominee.

But how many of those people, who watched the debate and who have read the articles that indicate that perhaps the man isn’t running on all cylinders, might want to reconsider their choice?

The “worst thing”? On a scale of losing the presidency, House and Senate?

First we were told Biden had a bad performance because he had a cold. Which miraculously seemed to have disappeared the next day. (Yes, colds go away, but have you ever gone from, say, feeling like hell one day and then on top of the world the next?)

Now we’re told it was because he was tired from travel.

Politico:

“Biden went to France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in early June, then to Italy for the G7 meeting on June 12. The president followed that up with a Los Angeles fundraiser on June 15. He returned to Washington on June 16, or 11 days before the debate. He and his team holed up at Camp David for prep for nearly a week prior to the event with Trump in Atlanta.”

Eleven days and he was still tired?

Isn’t that concerning in itself?

More than 50 million people watched the debate.

More than watch any individual speeches or appearances of either of the men.

Trump looked strong. Biden didn’t.

And no amount of staged events or excuses can make that impression go away.

_____

The Debate Debate

[Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is the UK’s new prime minister.]

We have been holding a little conversation – let’s call it a debate – this week about last week’s debate between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden.

Is Biden tempting fate by handing an easy victory to a decidedly more authoritarian Trump in refusing to drop out of the presidential race ahead of the Democratic Party’s national convention in August? Will the DNC’s convention in Chicago be a repeat of its disastrous 1968 convention there? 

Scroll down with the scrollbar on the right-edge of this page to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s “From Behind to Way Behind” plus a rundown of all 45 US presidents’ ages at retirement the author provided for Independence Day. 

In the left column of that page, you’ll see readers’ responses to Biden’s poor debate performance. 

Scroll down further to read analysis of the June 27th debate, with contributing pundit Ken Zino’s commentary, “Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem” in the left column and Macaulay’s commentary, “Take Away the Keys” in the right column.

As always, you are encouraged to join in on the conversation/debate with your civil comments. Please use the COMMENTS section in the column appropriate to your political leanings, or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your leanings in the subject line.

_____

…meanwhile…

The U.S. added 206,000 new jobs in June, with leading gains in government, health care, social assistance and construction, the Labor Department reports. Unemployment crept above the 4% mark -- to 4.1% -- for the first time in 29 months. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

FRIDAY 7/5/24

Landslide for Labour – King Charles formally appointed Keir Starmer (left column, above) as the UK’s prime minister after his Labour party overwhelmed the ruling Conservatives in Sunday’s general elections by more than three to one. 

Appearing on the street in front of his new residence at 10 Downing Street in London Monday, Starmer – who once called for the end of Britain’s monarchy – said; “If I asked you now whether you believe that Britain will be better for your children, I know too many of you would say no. And so my government will fight every day until you believe again.” (Per The Guardian.)

Starmer became only the fourth Labour party leader to win a general election since World War II. While Tories could end up with the lowest number of seats in Conservative Party history, Labour is forecast to fall short of the 419 seats Tony Blair won in 1997, according to the BBC. The Conservative party has led the UK since 2010.

Labour won 410 parliamentary seats, with 326 needed for a majority, 1440 reports, while the Tories snagged just 131 seats and the Liberal Democrats, 61.

Yesterday’s PM, Rishi Sunak, was re-elected for his Parliament seat for Richmond and Northallerton but said he would resign as the Tories’ leader.

“I have heard your anger, disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss,” Sunak said.

Yes, that’s what a peaceful change in power sounds like.

Meanwhile, in France … Second round in France’s elections happen Sunday. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party holds a huge lead after last Sunday’s elections.

•••

Biden, Take Two – In what could only be described as a desperate effort to reverse the effects of last week’s CNN presidential debate with Donald J. Trump, President Biden sits for an interview Friday with ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in Madison, Wisconsin, after a campaign rally in the state (per Good Morning America). First excerpts of the debate will be broadcast on World News Tonight with the full interview at 8 p.m.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Comments from the Right on the Debate

Editors:

It almost feels wrong to be critical of President Biden in his current rapidly deteriorating condition. I’m not sure he will make a second debate no matter how accommodating it is for him in going toe-to-toe with former President Donald Trump. Someone in the president’s close circle needs to counsel him that four more years is not realistic and dangerous for the country internally, and most definitely on the international stage.

The last time our country faced this was when President Reagan (my guy) was finishing his second term. No American wants to see the leader of the free world in a weak, lost and mentally struggling state. I’m sure I’m not alone in observing that President Biden is not capable of competently finishing his first term, let alone serving as POTUS for a full second four-year term. Those in the increasingly far-left party of progressives who now seem to run the Democratic Party should do some soul searching and perhaps beg President Biden to bow out gracefully.

--Rich Corbett

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Readers on the Left React to Trump v. Biden Debate

Editors:

I am having a problem listening to what is called a debate. Trump is lying his ass off and while I support Biden I believe that at this turn in the world neither one of these individuals is up to the job. That Trump with his vulgarities and convictions is able to ask the American people for their trust and confidence shows just how pathetic our democracy has become. Watching television and listening to their positions isn't going to save the country. I'm just not sure at this point if anything can. I am hoping that we can count on younger generations to fix the situations that have brought us to the brink.  

--Kate McLeod

•••

Oh, dear. While President Biden’s performance did not change my mind about who is a better person or a better president, nor even about who would be a better president starting next January, it did make me very pessimistic about who will be the next president if these two men are the nominees. Mr. President, I will still vote for you, make phone calls, put up signs. But I will be doing it through an internal mist of despair. Please, sir. Cap your life service to our country by withdrawing from the race.

--Hugh Hansen

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Biden Bubble

THURSDAY July 4, 2024

THE LATEST -- Donald J. Trump has extended his lead to six points over President Biden, the widest margin since late 2021, in a poll by The Wall Street Journal begun two days after the presidential debate. That's a bump from a two-point Trump lead in February. Also, 80% told the WSJ poll they consider Biden too old to run for a second term as president.

Meanwhile... President Biden has told key allies he understands the coming days of campaigning are "crucial" and that he may not be able to salvage his bid for a second term if he can't convince the voting public he is up to the task, The New York Times reports. Biden is scheduled for a Friday interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News, plus campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"He knows if he has two more events like that , we're in a different place," one of the allies told the NYT.

But in a call to his campaign staff, Biden said, "No one's pushing me out. I'm not leaving."

And White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president told her directly he had not spoken with allies about dropping out of the race.

__________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 7/3/24

A clear divide is bubbling to the surface between rank & file Democrats and the president's close advisors, friends and family, after his disastrous performance in last Thursday’s debate with Donald J. Trump. 

“In private, Democrats panic. For the Biden campaign, everything is fine,” reads a Wednesday headline in The Washington Post.

Veteran Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became the first, and so far only, Congress member to call on Biden to step down from his campaign, telling NPR’s Morning Edition “we have a criminal and a gang who are about to take over our government.” 

The issue is not with Biden’s first three-and-a-half years, which most mainstream Dems heartily applaud. It’s about the next half-year, which Biden simply cannot win as far as they’re concerned.

“I think he’s behind and we need to put our best people forward,” Doggett told NPR. “I think the concerns I’m voicing are widespread.”

The Biden camp, consisting of his family and long-time advisors including Jennifer O’Malley, Anita Dunn, Mike Donilon, Bruce Reed, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and his chief of staff while vice president, Steve Richetti, should be conferring with him at Camp David this long July 4 weekend. If any single one of them can pop Biden’s bubble and convince him it will take a younger Democrat to keep Trump out of office, the Democratic campaign for president will change very quickly.

We would say this will turn the 2024 presidential election on its head, but that happened nearly a year ago, when Donald J. Trump announced he would run for the Republican nomination. If Biden refuses to end his re-election campaign, “down-ballot” Democrats including House candidates, who until now were confident their party would flip the Republican Party’s wafer-thin margin in the lower chamber fear they will lose seats and not have the majority necessary to slow a second Trump administration’s radical agenda. 

To that point, Biden Wednesday morning issued a memo to his House allies that shows still-tight internal polling and greater fundraising than the Trump campaign in June. The Biden campaign “significantly outraised” the Trump campaign, $127 million to $112 million, according to the memo, revealed to Politico.

--Todd Lassa

__________________________________________

SCOTUS' 6-3 ruling Monday granting ex-President Trump immunity from official acts in connection with the January 6thattack on the US Capitol remains the topic of political discussion leading into the nation’s 248th birthday Thursday.  Should we consider 248 years without a king a pretty good run?

End of Democracy? -- TUESDAY 7/2/24

Trump Gets Another Court Delay -- Sentencing of Donald J. Trump on his conviction in a Manhattan court for falsifying business records in connection with a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels has been rescheduled from next Thursday, July 11 -- four days before the Republican National Convention begins -- to Wednesday, September 18, according to The Wall Street Journal. How did Trump manage yet another court delay? Two extra months gives Judge Juan Merchan time to consider whether the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity affects Trump's conviction.

More from Sotomayor – Monday we repeated Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s (pictured) minority opinion in which she was joined by justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in concluding; “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”

Sotomayor began her dissent thusly: “Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for ‘bold and unhesitating action’ by the President … the Court gives President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more.”

_____________________________________

TRUMP WINS IMMUNITY -- MONDAY 7/1/24

UPDATE: SCOTUS Hands Trump ‘A Major Victory’ – A US president has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” the Supreme Court said in a 6-3 ruling, which Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign calls “a major victory.” But the ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, sends the issue back to Tanya Chutkan, US district court judge for the District of Columbia, for the question of which acts Trump allegedly committed in conjunction with the January 6th attack on the Capitol are “official” and which are not (per NPR and the AP). 

Delay is a win… Punting back “official” versus “unofficial” acts to Chutkan gives Trump the big win, as there is no chance special counsel Jack Smith’s case will come back to the district court before November 5. If Trump wins the presidential race, the case will die under his Justice Department. 

Opinions… Roberts’ majority opinion says the district and appeals courts did not take sufficient time to consider the questions of immunity and official v. unofficial acts. Writing for the minority, which included fellow liberals Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes that the majority opinion “reshapes the institution of the presidency,” and concludes: “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”

•••

Post-Presidential Immunity? – The Supreme Court Monday will issue its ruling on whether Donald J. Trump has immunity as an ex-president, in special counsel Jack Smith’s case charging him for his alleged efforts to block Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. SCOTUS also will issue its ruling on whether states, specifically Florida and Texas, can restrict social media companies from removing certain political posts or accounts, The Washington Post reports. Then SCOTUS goes on vacation until the first Monday in October.

•••

France Turns Right – As Democrats wring their hands over whether it has a better chance of not losing to Donald J. Trump this November with a new presidential candidate brokered at its Chicago convention this August, the far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen was leading France’s parliamentary elections after the first round of votes Sunday. The Wall Street Journal quotes a Harris Interactive poll that says National Rally and its allies took 34% of the first-round votes to 30% for a coalition of leftist parties. 

President Emmanuel Macron, who surprised and upset his supporters when he called for snap elections last month, clearly has lost – his pro-business party and its allies were in third place with just 22% of the votes. 

“I have never seen France more divided,” remarked NPR’s veteran Paris correspondent, Eleanor Beardsley.

•••

Britain to Turn Left? – The UK’s parliamentary elections are Thursday, July 4, where the Labour Party, led by former public prosecutor and human rights attorney Keir Starmer, has led the Conservative Party by double-digits for 18 months, according to The New York Times. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, of the Conservative Party, called for the elections in May, the first full parliamentary elections since December 2019, when Boris Johnson won in a landslide victory for the Conservatives, who have led since 2010.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

THURSDAY July 4, 2024 THE LATEST — Donald J. Trump has extended his lead to six points over […]

Retirement Ages

By Stephen Macaulay

Here’s something for your July 4th distraction, a list of the presidents of the United States and their ages when they left office:

1.       George Washington (65 years, 10 days)

2.       John Adams (65 years, 125 days)

3.       Thomas Jefferson (65 years, 325 days)

4.       James Madison (65 years, 353 days)

5.       James Monroe (66 years, 310 days)

6.       John Quincy Adams (61 years, 236 days)

7.       Andrew Jackson (69 years, 354 days)

8.       Martin Van Buren (58 years, 89 days)

9.       William Henry Harrison (68 years, 23 days)

10.     John Tyler (53 years, 291 days)

11.     James K. Polk (53 years, 225 days)

12.     Zachary Taylor (65 years, 227 days)

13.     Millard Fillmore (53 years, 56 days)

14.     Franklin Pierce (52 years, 101 days)

15.     James Buchanan (69 years, 315 days)

16.     Abraham Lincoln (56 years, 62 days)

17.     Andrew Johnson (66 years, 212 days)

18.     Ulysses S. Grant (58 years, 311 days)

19.     Rutherford B. Hayes (57 years, 292 days)

20.     James A. Garfield (49 years, 105 days)

21.     Chester A. Arthur (56 years, 159 days)

22.     Grover Cleveland (51 years, 351 days)

23.     Benjamin Harrison (60 years, 128 days)

24.     Grover Cleveland (60 years, 185 days)

25.     William McKinley (58 years, 228 days)

26.     Theodore Roosevelt (50 years, 128 days)

27.     William Howard Taft (55 years, 170 days)

28.     Woodrow Wilson (67 years, 37 days)

29.     Warren G. Harding (57 years, 273 days)

30.     Calvin Coolidge (54 years, 206 days)

31.     Herbert Hoover (58 years, 86 days)

32.     Franklin D. Roosevelt (63 years, 72 days)

33.     Harry S. Truman (68 years, 37 days)

34.     Dwight D. Eisenhower (70 years, 98 days)

35.     John F. Kennedy (46 years, 177 days)

36.     Lyndon B. Johnson (60 years, 146 days) 

37.     Richard M. Nixon (61 years, 198 days) 

38.     Gerald R. Ford (63 years, 165 days)

39.     Jimmy Carter (56 years, 111 days)

40.     Ronald Reagan (77 years, 349 days)

41.     George H. W. Bush (68 years, 222 days)

42.     Bill Clinton (54 years, 154 days)

43.     George W. Bush (62 years, 198 days) 

44.     Barack Obama (55 years, 355 days) 

45.     Donald J. Trump (74 years, 220 days)

And as a bonus:

46.     Joe Biden when he was inaugurated: 78 years, 61 days

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Biden: From Behind to Way Behind

By Stephen Macaulay

“Without more voters saying he’s up for the job, we won’t win.”

That was former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki, on Sunday June 30.

That was Plouffe’s wrap-up, having started his segment on the show noting that earlier that day CBS News had come out with a poll showing that 72% of Americans don’t think Biden “has the mental capability to be president.” (Plouffe added that 49% don’t think Trump has the mental stuff, but that 72-49 gap is like the Grand Canyon.)

Plouffe pointed out that Biden was behind in the polling before the debate and that his performance in Atlanta wasn’t a benefit.

“They could run the perfect campaign and they won’t get to 270 unless that fitness number were to get better,” Plouffe said. He pointed out that “campaigns don’t change big things,” and if Biden’s performance — or lack thereof — wasn’t a big thing, it is hard to imagine what is.

“There’s no Aaron Sorkin screenplay here,” Plouffe said.

It seemed as though Jen Psaki, who had been a press secretary for Joe Biden, couldn’t get Plouffe off the screen fast enough. 

And Plouffe is supporting Biden, thinking that the man will continue to run.

Psaki had to move on to other guests, like 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi.

Guess who thinks that Biden still has the stuff?

One of the more absurd arguments about Biden dropping out, an argument that is voiced by Psaki and others, is that going to an open convention is “hard.”

Really? This was the sort of thing that happened every four years before there were things like the internet and AI.

Somehow getting a whole lot of people in Chicago’s United Center and having them vote is tricky.

Another thing that has been raised is that these are delegates, not the voters who went to primaries.

True, but isn’t the Electoral College based on. . .delegates?

The Biden family, we’ve learned, is behind the patriarch. Of course they are: these are his close family members. Just like Don and Eric think their dad should run.

Is that what should be behind the decision of who will be the next president: What the wife and kids think?

In June, before the debate, Gallup had Biden’s job approval rating at 38%.

Then that number was compared with the June rankings of recent incumbents who won their reelections — Obama, G.W. Bush, Clinton, Reagan.

Of those four, Obama had the lowest June number: 46%.

As for the losing incumbents, Trump was at 39% and G.H.W. Bush at 37%.

And Biden is in the middle.

That’s before he pulled his own variant of the Mitch McConnell Freeze.

Interesting to note that there probably wasn’t a Democrat-leaning pundit who didn’t call for McConnell to be removed after one of those episodes.

McConnell, to his credit, announced in February: “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter.

“So I stand before you today  ...  to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

It doesn’t matter how many speeches Biden makes with a teleprompter or ads showing him shouting (again, teleprompted) about “getting up.”

People were disaffected in notable numbers before.

His Atlanta outing has done nothing but engender more doubt about his capacity.

If people decide that there is no good choice in November — either a serial liar or a man who doesn’t seem to have all of his lights on — and stay home, the side where there is the most enthusiasm is going to win.

And whatever enthusiasm there was for Biden has certainly diminished, if not disappeared.

He, and the rest of the Democrat infrastructure need to do the hard thing.

Because another Trump presidency will undoubtedly be a whole lot harder.

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View from the Right

Writing in The Atlantic, Tom Nichols repeated a fear that struck many never-Trumpers, including defectors from the right after last Thursday’s debate: “I am no longer sure that Biden is electable.” Then, on Sunday, New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat wrote that he fears what would happen if President Biden wins re-election.

“(F)or the same reason that Trump’s incapacities seemed likely to yield dangers,” in his first term, Douthat writes, “it seems plausible that Biden’s decline has itself encouraged our enemies, and been partially responsible for the gravity of the challenges we face.”

One thing on which the two op-ed pieces agree is that the “Biden Era” has ended. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign pushed back hard over the weekend to say, essentially, that the incumbent president is fit or another term, which would end when he is 86, and anyway, he will not step down and release his delegates to a (vape-filled?) room in August. Our terribly divided political landscape thus is splitting into even more factions.

That’s where you come in. If you are a pro-MAGA conservative, or a never-Trump conservative, or a liberal, progressive or hard-left, let’s discuss the Trump v. Biden election here with civility.

Go to the COMMENTS section in the appropriate (right or left) front-page column or email editors@thehustings.news, and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Substance Abuse – Two Unliked Candidates Confirm Our Problem

By Ken Zino

Thursday night two disliked candidates for president – Pew says 25% of Americans have unfavorable views of both Biden and Trump – were pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bush about why they should be elected 179 days from this morning. They both failed to make a convincing case. And it just wasn’t over Trump’s numerous lies about the economy, unemployment, his $2 trillion tax cut, his increases in the national debt, inflation, border security, women’s abortion rights, global warming, Putin, Ukraine, cutting Social Security, affordable health care and prescription drugs, the ongoing opioid crisis, accepting election results, among other serious policy issues. 

 Donald Trump, the Republican convicted felon of 34 counts of fraud, as well as rape and libel (There are more cases pending and he will be sentenced for the 34-count fraud conviction in New York on July 11, facing a maximum sentence of 20 years) was true to form continuing his cavalcade of blatant lies at least 26-fact-check times, according to The New York Times. Trump was evasive, self-delusional and downright mean as the night dragged on. Biden correctly noted that he had the “morals of an alley cat.” Which lead Trump to falsely say that he didn’t have sex with a porn star. As the night progressed Trump continued to obfuscate and not answer pertinent questions by continuing his ad hominem attacks on Biden, appealing to his base and their base emotions of fear and hatred. 

The Joe Biden who showed up was not the State of the Union Biden previously covered here. Rather when he spoke it was with a raspy, strained and inaudible tone that yet again raised douts about his age – he would be 86 and the end of his term if re-elected, Trump 82 -- and ability to effectively run the country for four more years. 

Younger voters are particularly a problem here for the Democrats. The Israel Hamas war is dragging on and the Democratic Convention this year is in Chicago, the same city when young progressive Democratic voters turned out in 1968 to protest the Vietnam war. A police riot was the chaotic result.

No wonder here that the chattering class –- between commercial breaks -- once again raised the prospect of an alternate candidate. The obvious one is Vice President Kamala Harris, who in a brief appearance on CNBC post-debate wryly noted that only one candidate had the endorsement of his vice president. 

In case you missed it, Mike Pence has not endorsed Trump, who sent a January 6th  insurrection mob his way with a noose. That’s the mob he is planning on pardoning with his divine right of kings’ attitude toward the US legal system (40 of his 44 top cabinet officers have refused to endorse Trump). Given the current racism running rampant in Trumpland, it’s unlikely that a Black woman with a distinguished law and order record as a prosecutor and now considerable foreign policy experience and eloquence on women’s’ family and reproductive rights to have doctors not politicians make personal health care decisions would have an easy time of it. Look at what happened to “lock her up” Hilary Clinton -- which Trump also denies having said even with multiple examples of video footage. Sigh. 

Well, Biden has beaten Trump before. Three of the last recessions have come under Republican rule. The Democrats need to demonstrate starting today why Biden’s policies are path to a hopeful not hate-filled future.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Panic at the White House

By Todd Lassa

No matter how Vice President Kamala Harris tried to spin President Biden’s performance in his debate with Donald J. Trump Thursday evening, the incumbent’s performance was a disaster, serving to confirm multiple polls that say voters think he is too old to run for re-election. Ex-President Trump, 77, is too old, too, say many of these polls, but Biden, 81, was unable to effectively strike back at Trump’s multiple lies beyond repeating familiar arguments in a thin, raspy voice. 

Credit CNN’s debate rules, at least, for preventing the sort of mayhem that defined the first such clash between the two in late September 2020.

CNN anchor John King told a post-debate panel he has never had his phone light up as much before, from Democratic operatives reacting early in the debate – when Biden lost his train of thought several times. The president appeared to perk up later in the debate when Trump made incendiary comments about Biden’s family and on his record with the Veterans Administration and foreign policy before the whole thing devolved into an argument over who is the better golfer.

Pundits and news outlets had made much prior to Thursday about how the debate was by far the earliest between presidential candidates in modern times. Intentional or not, this early bird special debate gives both the Democratic and Republican parties the opportunity to “broker” their upcoming conventions if their respective candidate voluntarily steps down. 

You can bet that won’t happen at the Republican National Convention in “horrible” Milwaukee next month. But Biden has to Chicago in August to step down from his campaign if he’s serious about stopping what much of his party considers “dictator for a day” Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies. 

Democratic Party leadership knows that Biden’s vice president would not be the answer. Never mind that no MAGA Republican would ever vote for her under any circumstances; progressive Democrats, already angry over Biden’s policy toward Israel in Gaza would oppose her presidential candidacy for her law-and-order crackdowns as California attorney general and as San Francisco district attorney before that.

Most obvious step-in is 2028 presidential candidate and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He stood behind Biden after the debate, saying “I have no trepidation” about his continuing to run, NPR reports. 

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), a designated Biden surrogate, defended the president’s performance on Morning Edition, arguing that Trump “spent the entire debate lying and lying and lying.”

True that Trump repeated such Fox News talking points as that Capitol police invited in the January 6th rioters he will pardon if he wins November 5. And Dana Bash had to ask three times whether Trump would accept the election result “no matter what” before he gave the usual answer about assuring clean ballot counting.

As of Friday, Democratic Party leadership and certainly anti-MAGA Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger realize it is very unlikely President Biden will be re-elected November 5.

Other voices … Friday’s headlines:

“Biden’s Struggles in Debate Alarm Democrats” – The New York Times.

“The debate Democrats feared” – Semafor.

“Democrats Discuss Replacing Biden on Presidential Ticket” – The Wall Street Journal.

“Democrats really have no way to spin this. We break down Biden’s disastrous debate” – Politico.

“DEFCON 1 moment: Biden’s debate performance sends Democrats into panic”, and “Ninety miserable minutes of Biden v. Trump” – The Guardian. 

“Joe Biden’s horrific debate performance cast his entire candidacy into doubt” and “The president had one job to do and he utterly failed at it” – The Economist.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Take Away the Keys

By Stephen Macaulay

‘Talking with an older person about their driving is often difficult. Most of us delay that talk until the person’s driving has become what we believe to be dangerous. At that point, conversations can be tense and awkward for everyone involved.” — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

“Drivers aged 70+ have higher crash death rates per 1,000 crashes than middle-aged drivers (aged 35-54).” — Centers for Disease Control

Ask yourself this: Would you have gotten into a car being driven by Joe Biden last night?

Would you have entrusted your loved ones to him behind the wheel?

At some point you must tell mom or dad, grandma or grandpa that they just can’t be behind the wheel.

They may be sharp as a tack at Wordle or other mentally focused tasks. 

We accept that they probably aren’t going to be so good at pickleball.

But when it comes to being president of the United States, things are happening at such a pace, with such an intensity, that there isn’t that ability to concentrate to figure out a five-letter word. And because there is the plethora of incidents, one needs to be robust and healthy.

“Oh, but he had a cold.”

It is unnerving to hear people like Mika Brzezinski holding forth on MSNBC about what a very bad man Donald Trump is and what a very good man Joe Biden is and how Biden has proven that he performs in the clutch.

To stick with the automotive metaphor, I don’t think Joe Biden could operate a clutch -- though he likely learned to drive in a car with a manual transmission -- both in terms of leg strength to engage it and the acuity to know how to move the shifter through the gears.

To the extent that there are the mewling apologists (“Oh, he just had a bad night”) we can expect another Trump presidency.

Sorry: Biden is no longer “the comeback kid.” And time won’t change that.

Is it thought that he is going to get better with age?

Do you think that Mario Andretti is a better driver at 84 than he was at 24?

This is analogous to the situation of when Trump was president and media outlets refused to use the word lie when Trump was, as he did last night, repeatedly lying.

Now there is a ridiculous reticence to simply say, “Biden is too old.”

Yes, he is good man, a moral man, a man who has proven that he was able to get things done during his presidency, whether it was enacting landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act or helping defend democracy in Ukraine.

But like all of us, he does have his flaws, one of which may be the “I alone can fix it” mentality, though in his case it is “I alone can beat him.”

Without going all Sophoclean, we know the consequences of hubris. But in this case, the effect of hubris extends to all of us.

‘Talking with an older person about their driving is often difficult. Most of us delay that talk until the person’s driving has become what we believe to be dangerous.”

It’s dangerous, folks.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news