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.

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…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.

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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

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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.”

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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

Debate Today

Are you watching Thursday evening’s Trump v. Biden presidential debate? It is on CNN for 90 minutes, beginning 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific.

We hope so. We hope you’ll use the debate as a chance to compare/contrast in these columns the arguments made and policies championed by former President Trump and President Biden. You can help us answer such questions as “who won?” and “what were the best and worst arguments?” Or, “How will Biden’s or Trump’s policies help or hurt my family?” Did it change your mind about either candidate?

If you typically make such comments on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or X, you can make your voice heard here, without echo chambers or silos. The Hustings is designed to engage liberals and conservatives along their wide spectrums – from “moderate” to “staunch” or “progressive” in a civil, safe space. 

Click on the headline in the right or left column, as aligns with your political philosophy, and enter your comments in the COMMENTS section on the appropriate page.

Or, email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you lean right or left (regardless of which presidential candidate you think has won the debate) in the subject line.

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It's Debate Week, Everyone

Beaches, European vacations and Justice Clarence Thomas’ motor coach awaits as the Supreme Court enters the last week of June with important cases still on the docket, not the least of which is United States of America v. Donald J. Trump. That’s the one in which the former president is charged by special counsel Jack Smith for attempting to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Will the Supreme Court rule this week on whether the former president has immunity as a former president? They will have to if they are to keep from returning in July, which hardly ever happens. 

That probably leaves Friday, as SCOTUS does not really want to put its finger on the scales prior to the Trump v. Biden debate on CNN Thursday. 

We invite you – no, we encourage you – to make your comments on Trump’s immunity claim and other breaking news this week. We really would like your comments, from the left or right, on the debate after the debate Thursday evening.

Please email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings (regardless of who you think wins the debate) in the subject line.

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SCOTUS-Orama

THURSDAY 6/27/24

NOT TODAY: Trump v. United States – The US Supreme Court’s last ruling of the day Thursday was for Mike Moyle, Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives v. United States according to SCOTUSblog. So no decision ahead of Thursday night’s presidential debate on former President Trump’s claim of post-presidential immunity in regard to special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment for his alleged 2020 election interference. Bets on whether there’s a decision Friday, so SCOTUS can go on vacation before the Independence Day holiday?

Moyle v. United States – This is the ruling SCOTUS’ official website briefly posted a day early then quickly removed, but not before Bloomberg News could write about it. A 6-3 ruling temporarily blocks an Idaho law from prohibiting abortions necessary to protect a woman’s health, including her fertility, while allowing abortions to prevent a woman’s death. Obviously, the law places  the burden on doctors and hospitals to determine whether or not a pregnant woman faces death if there is no abortion. But the procedural ruling leaves key questions unanswered, so the issue is likely to come up before the court again soon. 

Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P.— By 5-4 vote SCOTUS threw out a controversial opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma over a “mountain” of litigation against the maker of OxyContin, Bloomberg News reports. The majority opinion, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, says the deal would have improperly shielded the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma. Family members were to be made immune to lawsuits over OxyContin in exchange for at least $6 billion in payments to OxyContin families and their victims. But Gorsuch in his ruling notes Sackler family members themselves never filed for bankruptcy, according to NPR.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile... WEDNESDAY 6/26/24

This week?: The US Supreme Court may rule as early as this Friday, after the presidential debate, on Donald J. Trump's claim of ex-presidential immunity in his election interference case. Next year: SCOTUS has agreed to hear arguments regarding a Tennessee law banning transgender care for minors, which would test the constitutionality of similar restrictions already law in 23 other states.

Tuesday’s Primaries – Known best to non-New Yorkers as the second-term congressman who pulled a fire alarm while fellow lawmakers were on the House floor working on a spending bill, Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost the Democratic primary Tuesday to Westchester County Exec. George Latimer, The New York Times reports. The primary race for New York’s 16th District cost a record $25 million, more than $14 million of which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, spent on Latimer.

Bowman had attached his star to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s The Squad and supports the pro-Palestinian side in the war on Gaza..

Meanwhile, Beetlejuice fan Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is in for a likely third term after switching districts to Colorado’s 4th, where she beat four other Republican candidates. At her election night victory, according to the AP, Boebert wore gold lamé Donald J. Trump basketball shoes and a white, signed MAGA hat, and commented; “America will rise again, and I’m so excited that you all are here to be part of it with me.” 

Boebert’s in the right place … Colorado’s 4th opened when Republican Rep. Ken Buck resigned early over what he called the GOP’s divisiveness and devotion to Trump.

State Rep. Gabe Evans (R), a former police officer, defeated former state Rep. Janak Joshi for the chance to take on Colorado 8thDistrict incumbent Yadira Caraveo (D) who won by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2022. The district extends north of Denver.

--TL

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TUESDAY 6/25/24

Pardon Assange? -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will seek a pardon from the US presidency after reaching a deal to accept a charge under the US Espionage Act, according to his wife, Stella. Assange, 52, was released yesterday from a prison in the UK where he had been held for five years and was en route Wednesday to US territory in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, per The Guardian, on the way back to his native Australia.

"The fact that there is a guilty plea, under the Espionage Act in relation to obtaining and disclosing national defense information is obviously a very serious concern for journalists and national security journalists in general," Stella Assange told Reuters.

This was not Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers: While WikiLeaks' document dump in the last decade revealed alleged war crimes on the part of the US government, Assange also has been condemned even in journalism circles for publishing them unredacted, making them open to Russia and potentially placing US agents in danger. The WikiLeaks dump resulted in history's largest release of classified US documents.

--TL

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MONDAY 6/24/24

SCOTUS to Review Transgender Law – The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments next year a Tennessee law banning transgender care for minors under 18 years of age. The case will offer SCOTUS the opportunity to consider the constitutionality of similar restrictions already imposed by 23 states since 2021, according to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile… SCOTUS’ ruling on whether ex-President Trump has immunity as an ex-president in special council Jack Smith’s case charging him with attempts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election could be delayed to early July, The Hill reports, but possibly ahead of the Republican National Convention July 15-18 in Milwaukee, by time the nine justices should already be on vacation.

•••

After the Golden Escalator – Britain’s chief Brexiter and leader of the Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, told ITV that Donald J. Trump has “learned quite a lot from me” before running for president in 2016, per Politico.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What If His Surname Was “Biden”?

By Stephen Macaulay

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics recently put out a statement about one of the House members, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R), who apparently is the representative of Florida’s First District, but who seems to be an inhabitant of Trump World, given his traveling hither and yon in support of his liege lord.

Gaetz, as you may recall, was thought to have been involved in some sketchy activities that had something to do with young women. (To put it nicely.)

Well, it turned out that in April 2021 the Ethics Committee opened a review into the allegations, but then, in response to a request from the Department of Justice, it stopped its investigation.

And what it was looking into is the stuff of the National Enquirer (to use an example familiar the Trump coterie, given the role it played in his felony convictions). 

To wit: “in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”

It brings a Warren Zevon lyric to mind: “Send lawyers, guns and money/The shit has hit the fan.”

But it didn’t hit. 

In February 2023 the Department of Justice dropped its investigation.

More than a year later, the Ethics Committee is taking another look.

This time, it is reviewing whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

It is not pursing “the allegations that he may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.”

While it might seem simple to determine, say, whether he pulled out his phone and pulled up some DIY porn on the House floor would be fairly simple — as in asking representatives — perhaps the Ethics folks feel a bit squeamish.

The Committee properly points out: “the mere fact of an investigation into these allegations does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.”

True.

But let’s review:

  • Sexual misconduct
  • Illicit drug use
  • Accepting improper gifts
  • Providing “favors”
  • Misusing state ID records
  • Using campaign funds for personal reasons
  • Taking a bribe

That’s quite a list, so it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if some violation has occurred.

The House Judiciary Committee has shown itself to be nothing short of zealous as it goes after the Bidens, Fauci, Mayorkas, etc., despite flimsy or non-existent evidence of wrong-doing. Still, there’s two-time NCAA wrestling champion, the man who apparently has never seen a suit jacket that he likes, Jim Jordan, fulminating against what is often nothing other than fantasy.

The Ethics Committee states: “No other public comment will be made on this matter except in accordance with Committee rules.”

One can’t but think that this isn’t because of some decorum.

Maybe something has hit the fan.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Get Ready for Presidential Debates

CNN has released details of the first presidential debates of the season, between former President Donald J. Trump and current President Joe Biden. It starts 9 pm on Thursday, June 27. Moderators are CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

A vice-presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Trump's yet-to-be-picked running mate will be in July, presumably after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that month.

A second Trump v. Biden presidential debate is scheduled for September 10 on ABC News. More details to come.

The live June 27 debate will be 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks, and the microphone of one candidate will be turned off when the other is speaking in response to his question. Both candidates have agreed to appear at a uniform podium design and their podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.

Follow the latest on these debates and other political news here at The Hustings.

We want to hear from you. After the June 27 debate, email editors@thehustings.news and tell us which candidate won, which candidate lost, and whether you might change your mind about which candidate to support in the November 5 election.

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…meanwhile…

FRIDAY 6/21/24

To Be Fired by a Cannon? -- Mar-a-Lagogate, the case by special prosecutor Jack Smith against Donald J. Trump for keeping classified documents from his expired administration in his Florida compound, was once considered the strongest criminal case against the former president. After all, evidence has appeared media-wide in which Trump is showing off the documents to people who definitely do not have clearance or executive privilege.

Now, as Judge Aileen Cannon (above) continues to slow-walk the trial, Trump's attorneys have Smith & Co. in her Ft. Pierce, Florida federal court to argue whether Smith was unconstitutionally appointed or is otherwise prosecuting the case without legal authority. Politico calls it a "far-fetched bid by Trump to scuttle the case altogether." Legal and political pundits are watching closely to see how far-fetched the argument under the Trump-appointee is.

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THURSDAY 6/20/24

Block Comstock? – Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) plans to introduce legislation to repeal the Comstock Act Thursday, the 1873 law that Democrats worry Republicans will use in a second Trump administration to bar abortion-related materials from being sent through the mail, The Washington Post reports. As The New York Times reported in a front-page story Sunday, Democrats at various government levels have begun a concerted pre-emptive effort to try and block the most controversial of Trump’s agenda should he win the presidential election this November.

“There is a very clear, well-organized plan afoot by the MAGA Republicans to use Comstock as a tool to ban medicated abortion, and potentially all abortions,” Smith said.

Donald J. Trump, whose appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices in his administration overturned Roe v. Wade has provided confusing messages on his anti-abortion agenda and has suggested it is a states’ issue.

•••

Target the Money – Efforts to cut the supply of street fentanyl shipped from China to Mexico are failing despite a crackdown Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping agreed to last November, so the Treasury Department will take up the cause by following the money. Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen Thursday is to announce in Atlanta Thursday measures to go after the cash international drug networks generate in selling street fentanyl in the US, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

--TL

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JUNETEENTH 2024

Russia, North Korea v. NATO – Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un signed a partnership deal Wednesday to counter what they see as a threat from NATO. The deal includes a vow of mutual aid if either nation faces “aggression,” the AP reports, and is perhaps the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the Cold War.

Trumpy v. Trumpier – Virginia State Sen. John McGuire’s Republican primary challenge to Rep. Bob Good, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus is “too close to call” the AP reports Wednesday. McGuire, who has Donald J. Trump’s endorsement because Good supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential run, led Good by just 327 votes out of 62,495. McGuire also had support from former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who seeks revenge against Good for joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion last year to vacate McCarthy as House speaker. The counting of ballots is off for Juneteenth and will resume on Thursday.

--TL

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TUESDAY 6/18/24

Just Friends – Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is on his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, where he meets Tuesday with the son of the dictator he visited in July 2000, for a two-day grip-and-grin. That’s on the surface, of course; Putin gets conventional weapons it is running short of, after more than two years invading Ukraine, including artillery shells and short-range ballistic missiles, according to USA Today. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (pictured) gets much-needed flour, cooking oil and energy from Russia in exchange, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

Then, on Wednesday, Putin departs for a visit to Vietnam. While it’s Putin’s first visit since Kim Jong Il led the Hermit Kingdom, son Kim Jong Un took an “enormous” and luxurious armored train to visit Putin in Russia just last September. 

•••

Biden and the Border – As Republican attacks on President Biden’s lack of border action continues, the White House Tuesday is expected to announce a “people in place” policy to allow nearly 500,000 undocumented spouses of legal US citizens work permits and protection from deportation, per Newsweek and the Associated Press. 

Meanwhile in Iowa … A federal judge Monday blocked Iowa’s attempt to take border control into its own hands by enforcing its own law making it illegal to enter the state after being deported or denied entry into the US (per The New York Times). Imitating an effort by Texas, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) had signed a bill to allow state law enforcement to arrest and deport undocumented aliens.

--TL

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MONDAY 6/17/24

Netanyahu Dissolves War Cabinet – With moderate Benny Gantz and two-stater Gani Eisenkot having resigned the war cabinet set up after Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu (above), the Israeli prime minister, announced Monday he is dissolving said war cabinet. Seen as largely a symbolic gesture and meant to take power from defense ministers, according to Haaretz, war strategy is now transferred to the security cabinet. “Sensitive” decisions will be addressed in smaller consultation form with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi and Shas Party Chair Aryeh Deri.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has granted 11-hour pauses per day in South Gaza to protect deliveries of humanitarian aid, according to The Washington Post. The pauses do not amount to a ceasefire, as fighting continues unabated elsewhere in Gaza.

At the Lebanese border … Rocket exchanges between Israeli Defense Forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah heated up in the last week, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, with Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel for Hamas. Israel has been hitting Hezbollah targets across the Lebanese border. 

•••

Support to Ukraine – At the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland over the weekend, 78 countries and four European institutions signed a peace summit’s joint communique to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent reports. Russia was not invited, and China, which was, did not show up. 

The US announced $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine, including support for the country’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine said it used “at least 70” drones in an attack on Russia’s Morozovsk airbase, while Russia has launched 3,500 missiles per month on civilian targets and infrastructure. 

Ukraine also says Russia suffered 4,000 casualties per month in its Kharkiv offensive. 

•••

Conviction Hits Trump Support – A new Ipsos/Politico Magazine poll finds that 21% of independents surveyed are less likely to vote for Donald J. Trump after his business records/hush money conviction last month. While significant in what is expected to be a tight race up to November 5, the poll also notes that many Trump supporters and independents remain skeptical of motivations behind the trial.

•••

Up on the Hill -- The House is on break this week and the Senate is in session Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday off for observance of Juneteenth.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

It’s (Still) the Economy, Stupid

By Stephen Macaulay

The Biden campaign is elevating its attacks on Donald Trump. There is the Robert DeNiro-voiced ad describing the wackiness cum threat that Trump did and does represent. There is a rollout of spots pointing out that the man is a convicted felon. 

Both of these approaches can be useful. To a certain degree.

But a question that needs to be asked is whether either of them is going to move anyone who isn’t already against Trump to the Biden camp.

I am dubious. At most.

Consider: according to the U.S. Senate’s Traditions of the United States Senate, a publication ostensibly for those who are becoming a senator, the organization is sometimes referred to as the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.” To be fair, it goes on to say, “No one knows for certain who coined that phrase. It came into widespread use in the latter half of the 19th century, and many have questioned its accuracy at various times in the nation’s history, but those words are routinely applied to no other legislature than the ‘upper house’ of the United States Congress.”

So one who is not a senator might assume that there are very smart people there. And said person, seeing a claque of senators applauding Trump last week, might assume that if those members of the august deliberative body think the man is worth hailing, then maybe a mere actor doesn’t know what he is talking about.

While it was once the case — and we don’t need to go back to the latter half of the 19th century, just to the midpoint of the last decade — that a felon couldn’t be elected dog catcher, apparently that is not as disqualifying as it once was.

As James Carville, who was serving as a strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign put it, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

And it is still that.

According to a Financial Times/Michigan Ross School of Business survey, those in the Biden camp ought to seriously rethink their messaging strategy.

To cherry-pick the questions about the economy and Joe Biden, there are results like this:

  • 40% strongly disapprove of his handling of the economy. An additional 14% somewhat disapprove. That’s not good.
  • 40% say that the “overall economic conditions in the United States right now” are “Not so good.” An additional 28% say “Poor.” 
  • While 31% say that there is no change in their financial situation since Biden became president, 26% say they are “somewhat” worse off and 22% say they are “much” worse off. Although that sums to 48% and is a potential positive (i.e., he’s not underwater), only 6% say they are “much” better off and14% say “somewhat,” so that’s less than half that 48%.
  • 13% say Biden’s economic policies have “Hurt the economy somewhat” and 34% say those policies have “Hurt the economy a lot.” Again, that’s less than 50% combined, but hose who say he helped a lot is only 15% and 16% say “somewhat.”

The job market is strong. Biden not only passed a massive infrastructure act (something that Trump talked about — a lot — but didn’t execute). The stock market is at record levels. Employment is strong. And that recession that is always about to occur has yet to manifest itself.

And yet there is a non-trivial number of people who think that Biden is flubbing the economy.

To be sure, much of this is probably predicated on the prices that individuals find when they go to buy groceries or miscellaneous products—but Target, Walmart, Aldi, and others have announced they are cutting their prices, presumably recognizing that the rises made during the pandemic are unsustainable. 

Team Biden isn’t doing the job when it comes to messaging on the economy.

If they want to go after Donald Trump’s record, perhaps they should emphasize that his company filed for Chapter 11 four times — and one of those filings was for a casino.

If someone can’t make money running a casino, clearly that person is not some sort of financial wizard.

Regular people can understand that.

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This Column is Open to Pro-MAGA and Never-Trump

With details released on the first presidential debate scheduled for Thursday, June 27 on CNN (see left column) this seems a good time to review The Hustings' origins nearly four years ago. Read our first debates on the debates, on Page 77, including commentary from Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay and contributing editors who were pro-Trump prior to the 1/6/21 attack on the US Capitol.

After the vice presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence on October 7, 2020, our contributing editors were debating whether there should even be a second debate between Biden and Trump.

Spoiler Alert: There was a second presidential debate, on October 22, 2020. Shortly afterward, it was revealed that then-President Trump attended the debate while suffering COVID-19.

This year's first Trump v. Biden debate begins 9 pm Eastern time Thursday, June 27, on CNN.

Tell us your reactions to the debate -- who you think won, why, who you will vote for or against -- by Friday June 28. Email editors@thehustings.news and indicate in the subject line whether you consider yourself right/conservative or left/liberal.

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