All during the primaries, I warned DWT readers that if Biden became the nominee, the campaign would swing on stuff that aren't of much relevance to the American people: which one has a more disgusting family, which one is more corrupt, which one is more senile. Democrats, bolstered by mainstream media, believe Trump's family is worse; Republicans, bolstered by Fox News and Hate Talk Radio, believe Biden's family is worse. Democrats, bolstered by mainstream media, believe Trump is more corrupt; Republicans, bolstered by Fox News and Hate Talk Radio, believe Biden is more corrupt. Democrats, bolstered by mainstream media, believe Trump is senile and batshit crazy; Republicans, bolstered by Fox News and Hate Talk Radio, believe Biden is senile and drooling on himself. Biden's performance Thursday left Trump nearly at a loss for words. It will be much harder for him to make the senility argument, at least for a few weeks. Even Fox was singing Biden's praises. Dan Perino called his speech "a home run in the bottom of the 9th... He had pace, rhythm, energy, emotion, and delivery. I think if he looks back, he could say that's probably the best speech of his life. He just took the moment."Politico's reaction must have been rough for Trump to swallow: "In a campaign riddled with verbal gaffes and setbacks, where his cognitive abilities were questioned and his debate performances criticized, Joe Biden stepped up to the lectern and delivered the biggest speech of his life without a hitch... By addressing the somber mood of the nation and reaching out to those who suffered loss from the pandemic, Biden sought to distinguish his style of leadership from Trump, who’s long been criticized for failing to memorialize those who died from the virus... Biden's commanding delivery could make it more difficult for Trump to paint him as staggering and senile ('Slow Joe') at the Republican convention next week."Before the speech, the NY Times reported that Señor Trumpanzee "unleashed a scorched-earth campaign... predicting 'mayhem' if his rival won the general election in November. At stake in this election is the survival of our nation, it’s true. Because we’re dealing with crazy people on the other side. They’ve gone totally stone-cold crazy."A racist and sexist, he took pleasure in singling out Kamala Harris for special abuse, something I suspect is going to go over poorly outside of KKK circles, although he never mentioned how she allowed his Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to escape a prison term. The Times reported that he was revealing "the core of his coming campaign: a highly personal assault on Mr. Biden and his running mate.
“These people have gone insane and they are radical left,” Mr. Trump said, calling Mr. Biden “a puppet of the radical-left movement that seeks to destroy the American way of life.”In Mr. Trump’s often blatantly misleading telling, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris will destroy the country by taking guns away from Americans, funding late-term abortions, encouraging “deadly ‘sanctuary cities’” and allowing low-income housing to “abolish suburbs.”Seeking to undermine Mr. Biden’s appeal in rural, blue-collar parts of Pennsylvania, the president lashed out at him, saying that Mr. Biden had “abandoned” his hometown, Scranton, when his family moved when he was a young boy.Mr. Trump said that Mr. Biden had been at the forefront of a “globalist attack on Pennsylvania voters,” citing the former vice president’s support of trade deals with Mexico, China, South Korea and “the horrible, ridiculous Paris climate accords.”[PENNSYLVANIA POLLING AVERAGE:]As far as I’m concerned,” Mr. Trump asserted, “Joe Biden is no friend of Pennsylvania.”In his remarks, the president also ascribed to Mr. Biden many positions that he does not actually hold or he mischaracterized Mr. Biden’s proposals.Mr. Trump misleadingly claimed that Mr. Biden had “pledged to hike your taxes by $4 trillion dollars.” Three-quarters of the proposed increases would be levied on the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.The president falsely said that Mr. Biden would “take away your guns.” Mr. Biden’s proposed gun control measures include a buyback program that would allow those who own assault weapons and high-capacity magazines to either sell them to the government or register them.Mr. Trump also falsely said that Mr. Biden would “give free health care to illegal aliens.” Mr. Biden’s health care plan would allow undocumented immigrants to buy government-sponsored insurance or private plans on government-run exchanges, but it would not be “free.”The president misleadingly claimed that Mr. Biden would “close down charter schools.” Mr. Biden has said that he would end voucher programs for private, for-profit charter schools, but that he supports high-performing public charter schools.And Mr. Trump misleadingly claimed that under Mr. Biden, “I guess 600,000, 670,000 lose their jobs.” That is an estimate of the effect of a nationwide ban on fracking from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but Mr. Biden has not said he supports such a ban.
