What a difference a day makes. Or 90 minutes, in this case. Oh, what the hell, let’s narrow it further: 12 minutes.
That’s how long into the debate it took for President Joe Biden to short-circuit, stammer and stutter, mumble and mutter, take a long pause, and incoherently proclaim he beat Medicare.
Game over.
In that moment, most Democrats and most media outlets experienced a meltdown which would rival a popsicle on Georgia asphalt in July. The chorus line of meat puppets who vowed and declared for months that Biden was as sharp as a tack were exposed. How quickly thousands of cell phones must have begun to ring.
First excuse: He had a cold (that didn’t fly). Second excuse: He was exhausted (after a week and a half of prep and rest at Camp David?). Third excuse (diversion): Donald Trump told almost 30 lies and is morally inferior (two words: Bill Clinton).
My late grandmother once told me, “If you’ll lie, you’ll steal. And if you’ll steal, you’ll kill.” Given that premise, most politicians are potential murderers. I realize that seems extreme, but she was trying to make a character-based point to me at a young age, and it stuck. Nonie knew best.
Biden, though seldom fact-checked, is no stranger to fibbing.
Democrats and most media chose to ignore Biden’s claim that he was the only President under which no troops died anywhere in the world. Perhaps he forgot the 13 who died during the Afghanistan withdrawal, but I’ll bet their families haven’t forgotten how he checked his watch as the flag-draped caskets were taken off the airplane.
Add to that three from Georgia who died in a drone attack at a desert base in Jordan in January.
That was only one of several lies strategically ignored by media and Democrats.
But here are some facts:
•Inflation was at 1.2 percent in 2020 when Trump left office. Under Biden, it rose to 4.7 percent in 2021, rose again to 8.0 percent in 2022, fell to 4.1 percent in 2023, and is now about 3.3 percent (still more than twice what it was under Trump).
•Food cost increase fluctuated from 0.9 to 3.4 percent from 2017 to 2020 under Trump. Under Biden, from 2021 through 2023, it ranged from a low of 3.9 percent to a high of 11.4 percent in August 2020, the highest since May 1979. Now it is between five and six percent, much higher than Trump’s worst number.
•Average cost of gasoline was $2.14 per gallon when Trump took office, and was $2.17 per gallon when he left office. By 2022, under Biden, it had risen to $3.95 per gallon, and now is around $3.42.
•Mortgage interest rates were about 2.65 percent when Trump left office in January 2021 and doubled to 5.3 percent by May 2022 under Biden. Rates almost tripled to 7.79 percent in October 2023, and still are around seven percent.
•Average cost of a new vehicle rose from $35,000 to $39,000 from 2017 to 2020 under Trump. It jumped to $46,300 in 2022 and $48,200 in 2023.
But Joe’s Democrats would have you believe that Bidenomics is working. Things are better. If you don’t believe it, you just don’t understand.
Biden and Democrats have said no one is above the law, but he continues to ignore a Supreme Court ruling against student debt forgiveness at taxpayers’ expense.
He said he could not take an executive order to secure the border for months, but suddenly did so when poll numbers indicated it was necessary to further his political agenda. Was Biden lying then, or is he lying now?
Biden and Democrats warn of a potential Trump dictatorship and weaponizing the Department of Justice against his opponents. Trump has been impeached and charged (in Democrat jurisdictions) more than any President in history.
While on that subject, it makes Democrats and media look foolish to seriously quote Trump as saying he would be a dictator “the first day” when it was obvious he was making a comical reference to restoring his border policies. And claiming his “bloodbath” comment was a call for violence when it clearly, in context, was an economic reference.
Back to the original subject - the debate - it’s amusing to sit back and watch the corner into which Democrats have painted themselves. The excuses and finger-pointing have failed, the softball-tossing media have abandoned ship (with the exception of a few idiots on MSNBC), and Biden is being thrown under the proverbial bus.
Remember Obama’s reference to a “circular firing squad?” It’s happening.
The Democrats and left-wing media are calling for Biden to step down. Unfortunately for them, if they bypass Vice President Kamala Harris (a diversity-equity-inclusion hire whose approval ratings are more dismal than Biden’s), they will expose themselves as the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
I’ll add, Biden’s wife Jill is doing him no favors by leading him around, speaking for him, and telling him in public, “You did great. You answered all the questions.” Jill, you are no Nancy Reagan.
With less than four months remaining until the election, maybe Trump should take a page from Biden’s 2020 playbook and hide in the basem*nt. Let the opposing “squad” fight among themselves and remember, “The less you say, the more your words will matter.”
As of the writing of this column, Biden has told Democrat leadership he will remain in the race, regardless of their concerns.
Enjoy the show.