So, the 2024 presidential primaries have spoken, and the contest is set. There are no surprises. Democrat Joe Biden, at 81, is now the oldest man ever to run for President of the United States. He will turn 82 in November. Former President Donald Trump is 77 and will turn 78 in June. Three-and-a-half years younger than Biden, Trump is the second oldest man to ever run for President.
What that says about the United States or our ossified political system is troubling. While we would like to think that the best candidates always rise to the top in America, that simply isn’t always the case. Incumbency is hard to beat. For better or worse, elected presidents, with the sole exception of our fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, have always been nominated to succeed themselves if they chose to run again, and most of our presidents have sought second terms. A few didn’t. Andrew Johnson did not, nor did James Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford Hayes, Calvin Coolidge, or Harry Truman, after beating Thomas Dewey.
Donald Trump will be only the second President in American history to seek a non-consecutive second term. President Grover Cleveland pulled off a non-consecutive term after Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of our 9th President, William Henry Harrison, defeated him following his (Cleveland’s) first term in office.
Similarly, Donald Trump will face Joe Biden again in November after losing to him in the 2020 presidential election. And yes, Biden did defeat Trump by over 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes in 2020, notwithstanding the Trump nonsense about Biden stealing the election. The election was not particularly close, and Trump’s own Justice Department determined there had been no significant evidence of election fraud.
While Trump’s lawyers trumpeted fraud at every opportunity outside of court following the 2020 election, they never dared make that accusation in court because they could find no evidence to support their allegations of fraud. They would have been soundly reprimanded in court and probably sanctioned were they to have made election fraud accusations in court without being able to present any evidence of such fraud.
The only actual fraud in the 2020 presidential election was the Trump campaign’s allegations of widespread fraud. The allegation of fraud served no purpose other than to damage the credibility of our elections. Should Biden win re-election in November, we can expect the same baseless rigged election claim by Trump. Trump simply cannot acknowledge that anyone, especially Joe Biden, could defeat him. He is in complete denial that he could ever be a loser.
The real fraudsters were and are those who claim fraud without any evidence of fraud, and the fraudster-in-chief was and continues to be the former President. Former President Trump's unrelenting and unsupported fraud allegations are unprecedented in American history. The spurious claims of a rigged election and Trump’s blatant attempt to overturn the last election are the events for which future generations will most remember Donald Trump.
That’s unfortunate and ironic because the Trump presidency chalked up some noteworthy accomplishments. Trump rightly shifted America’s highest defense priority from fighting terrorism to being better prepared for challenges from China and Russia. Trump initiated across-the-board tax cuts, initially stimulating the economy before COVID restrictions abruptly but temporarily curtailed that growth. The Trump Administration also aggressively and somewhat surprisingly pursued anti-trust investigations against some of Silicone Valley’s high-tech companies. His administration filed a major anti-trust case against Google and undertook action against several Chinese high-tech companies, including Huawei, ZTE, and TikTok. Trump also tried to undo the damage his tariffs caused American agriculture by providing significant subsidies to food processors and farmers.
Trump, quite correctly, moved the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and his Abraham Accords established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. The Accords also created impetus for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel. The Hamas October 7th attack on the Jewish State and Israel’s massive retaliation has forestalled any further normalization between Israel and the Saudi kingdom for the time being.
Unfortunately, so much of what Donald Trump says and does mirrors the maturity of a petulant, immature, and ill-mannered adolescent. Many of those who served in high positions in the Trump Administration say he lacks impulse control, is prone to temper tantrums, and has a remarkably short attention span.
Sadly, in America today, that behavior, while unbecoming and revealing, isn’t disqualifying. Trump’s MAGA followers even seem to find his ill-tempered antics endearing, notwithstanding how much his behavior lowers political discourse and foments widespread discord in the nation.
The Biden-Trump face-off in November is apt to be a sad affair. Biden, the older of the two contenders, looks his age. He walks stiffly, talks haltingly, and sometimes swallows his words when speaking. Most people understand that President Biden has fought stuttering most of his life.
Serious adults are rightfully appalled at Trump’s immature mimicking of President Biden’s occasional stuttering. Trump’s antics raise a relevant question—what mature or remotely responsible adult publicly makes fun of another person’s speech impediments? Trump mocks and mimics Biden’s occasional stuttering to get a laugh at Biden’s expense. Unfortunately, some do laugh at such insipid behavior.
In today’s political world, such unbecoming and revealing behavior isn’t disqualifying. Trump’s MAGA followers even seem to find his ill-tempered antics amusing and endearing, notwithstanding how much that behavior enfeebles political discourse, foments widespread dissension, and denigrates America’s stature in the rest of the world.
Like the Trump Presidency, the Biden presidency has also chalked up some substantial accomplishments, including adding 6.6 million jobs during his first year in office while driving the unemployment rate to its lowest level in more than a half-century. Biden’s $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill is historic, and so far, no Republicans have turned down the federal infrastructure dollars that will flow into their states or districts. Finally, Biden has been right to aid Ukraine, and history will accord him high marks for leading America and the countries with which we are allied in support of Ukraine.
Trump’s opposition and other Republican opposition to assisting Ukraine is yet another stain on the GOP’s dwindling credibility.
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Please consider our Of Thee I Sing 1776 Premium option. While my weekly column is always free, for just $5/month, you’ll also receive my annual ebook, “Essays For Our Time,” and my new Podcasts.
I greatly appreciate your comments on BOTH Trump and Biden - pointing out some accomplishments by each. Sadly, today both of the major parties have given up to their extreme elements and neither represents the majority of us - in my opinion.
I’ll be supporting the No Labels ‘Unity’ ticket with one Democrat and one Republican with a track record of bipartisanship and problem solving.
I greatly appreciate your comments on BOTH Trump and Biden - pointing out some accomplishments by each. Sadly, today both of the major parties have given up to their extreme elements and neither represents the majority of us - in my opinion.
I’ll be supporting the No Labels ‘Unity’ ticket with one Democrat and one Republican with a track record of bipartisanship and problem solving.
Judy, I think people are unaware that there is a place to comment. They don’t realize that they have to scroll way down to the bottom.