Biden/Trump Equivalences

Biden/Trump: Equivalences

Former President Donald Trump will likely win the Republican nomination for President and could well win the next U.S. presidential election.

The thought of a second Trump presidency scares the hell out me along with many Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who reject Trump.

The media tend to compare President Joe Biden and Donald Trump as though they were equal. Yet one has fulfilled many of his campaign promises, while most of Trump’s fell by the wayside during his administration.

In my view, there is no equivalence.

President Joe Biden has done an excellent job over the past two years despite facing a hostile House of Representatives with a Republican majority.

His administration has passed a billion dollar plus infrastructure bill that will help keep Americans employed to improve the nation’s airports, harbors, highways, and internet infrastructure. People in remote areas of the country will be increasingly linked to modern communications technology with all that this implies for education, health, and finance.

His health policies have driven down prescription drug prices, and people with diabetes now pay as little as $35 per month for insulin whereas they were paying hundreds of dollars in the past.

Under President Biden’s watch, the US has created more jobs than any under other president in U.S. history. Throughout, Biden has been supported by an excellent cabinet that has not once demonstrated anything but honest professionalism. None of his Secretaries have yet been tarnished with any negative brush, and no financial or personal scandals have yet emerged.

In foreign policy, the U.S. is back. Allies are slowly regaining some of the trust in the U.S. that was lost during the Trump presidency. He has rallied allies around Ukraine, doing a job that would cost the U.S. and its NATO allies billions of dollars and possibly many thousands of lives.

Trump continues to move from one court case to another, with 91 criminal charges pending against him. A number of his cohorts are either in prison or facing jail time and financial ruin.

And yet, Trump’s cult continues to support him, and most Republican legislators at all levels of government toe his line.

His most recent egregious act was to instruct legislators to not negotiate a border control program and immigration policy with the Biden administration so that he could use the border crisis against President Biden in the campaign to come.

Democrats are ineffective at getting their messages across a media that continues to be obsessed with Trump. Their communications strategies appear non-existent.

Indeed, according to the Economist, “no Republican candidate for president has won most voters under the age of 30 since 1988. But a poll by the New York Times and Siena College published on December 19th found Donald Trump leading President Biden by 49% to 43% among voters aged 18 to 29. That is a swing in this poll to Mr. Trump of ten points since July. According to the Pew Research Centre, in 2020 Mr. Biden won that age group by 24 points, 59% to 35%”.

Youth and independent voters will be crucial in this year’s race. While President Biden has governed well, his image is one of someone out of touch with modern culture. Trump’s criminal travails have given him a certain cachet among many.

The fact is that Trump is a media star and that is the bottom line of what Democrats face this year.

This means that Democrats must get out in the face of independent voters, disaffected Republicans and Democrats, and young voters. Rather than cocooning the president, his aides need to find more ways to present him as a commanding presence.

His age concerns many, while no one seems to focus on Trump’s physical, mental condition, or age. The President must take every opportunity to be seen riding his bicycle, swimming, and doing other physical activities that will underscore his excellent physical health compared to the energy level displayed by his adversary.

Campaign planners should make more use of the cabinet secretaries and portray President Biden as the wise leader of a high-functioning team. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and California Governor Gavin Newsome project an image of youth and brilliance, are excellent communicators and can attract youthful audiences to many of President Biden’s public events.

President Biden has a good case to make, and he needs to make it both on substance and in style.

The substance is there as his record shows.

Getting the news out depends on style – a style that calls attention to the effects that he and his team have had on the American economy and the economic prospects for voters over the next four years.

The Democrats will not persuade many Trump voters to abandon their idol. They are lost to America for the immediate future at least.

The Biden team must create a political persona that can motivate non-Trump voters in November to get out and vote for their candidate and not simply stay at home or worse, vote for a third party candidate. His and his surrogates’ speeches and media and public appearances must address the issues and concerns of young and independent voters and use as many public speaking opportunities as possible.

While the fear factor that the future of U.S. democracy is in danger from Trumpian objectives, this message must be balanced by a positive vision of how the next four years under President Biden can and will address the concerns of these voters whi still believe that Biden has not delivered

Simply attacking Trump is no substitute for fashioning a vision of America that can motivate Americans to get out and vote.

Absent this, I fear for the future of the United States, as do many around the world should Trump win a new term.