The Debatable and the Relatable

Four important things happened Tuesday night during the “debate.” One, Joe Biden denied that Hunter Biden had leveraged his father’s office to take money from Ukraine and China. Two, Biden firmly took the position that he favors lockdown until the eradication of COVID-19. Three, Biden committed to reinstating the Paris Climate Agreement. Four, Biden denied the existence of Antifa.

We’ll take these one at a time, but first let’s mention another important thing. 

The “debate” itself was an intellectual and political disgrace. The moderator was a third debater. The president interrupted compulsively, even when it seemed Biden might descend into his familiar rambles. Biden called the president names—“clown,” “liar,” and “racist”—and told the president to “shut up.” Biden never sincerely answered any questions, choosing to repeat mostly, if not entirely, false campaign pablum. 

Last night’s debate format is incompatible with our present political culture. Future formats should be different. One mic, no interruptions, a passive moderator, 15 minute speeches on topics, not questions, known in advance, followed by a 20 minute rebuttal, and 5 minute second rebuttal, repeated three times. Let the candidates talk to the American people. Let the moderators control their fatuous vanity.

There. With that off my chest, let’s return to the four points above.

When Biden denied that his son Hunter exploited his father’s position to take money from Ukraine and China, he was obviously lying. Not only have these accusations not been debunked, they have been documented. 

When Donald Trump ran in 2016, he was running on the public’s distaste for Hillary Clinton, particularly her personal enrichment through politics. As I wrote in 2016, “while the media portrays Donald Trump as vulgar, uninformed, incompetent, authoritarian, racist, fascist and a threat to the nation’s survival, the public is well aware of a genuine threat to liberty and the survival of the republic: Hillary Clinton sells offices.” 

In 2016, the American people had had enough of the venality, and embraced Trump as the antidote, gambling on his ability to carry out the duties of the office given his inexperience in public life. Trump, nominated thrice for the Nobel Prize for ending conflicts, has demonstrated his ability—unorthodox or not—to fulfill his duties as president. Biden, refusing to confront the brazen corruption of his career as a public servant, reframes the 2020 race around the issues of 2016: Joe Biden sells offices.

On COVID-19, Biden fell down. Biden made clear that he favors strictly curtailing civil liberties indefinitely to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. This has always been a false choice, as Sweden demonstrated. The public knows this is unsustainable and, frankly, perverted. The harm done to children, particularly poor children, by the authoritarian lockdown schemes, which deny children on the margins of society an education, is profoundly immoral. 

The lockdown has distressed and destroyed small businesses, plunging a dagger into a middle class already gravely wounded by the globalism Biden hopes to accelerate. 

Trump, in contrast and from the beginning, has sought to balance the impact of COVID-19 against its threat, continually seeking ways to minimize the infringement of civil liberties and encouraging the exploration of new techniques to mitigate the impact of the disease—such as the use of hydroxychloroquine and other promising technologies. 

Trump has been a voice in the wilderness in protecting the First Amendment rights of Americans to exercise their religious freedom and assemble peacefully. Trump should hammer Biden’s un-American hostility to civil liberties. 

Environmentalism and the global socialist movement are intertwined. Biden in his commitment to rejoin the Paris Agreement, embraces this fanatical movement, embodied earlier this year by a shrieking child. 

The global environmental movement is profoundly anti-American and incompetent. The Paris Agreement would do nothing to control the emissions of China and India, while burdening the United States, especially its middle class. Biden’s commitment to this and his barely abridged vision of the Green New Deal—which is cover for economic central planning if you listen closely—would savage working-class jobs. 

As if going all in for international socialism were not enough, Biden aligned himself with its army of domestic belligerents. When Biden denied the existence of Antifa, calling it an “idea” rather than an organization, he made it clear that Antifa is his ally. Antifa is the first “idea” that has elaborate funding, flags, echelons of uniformed street fighters, arsonists, rehearsed tactics, and pre-positioned U-Hauls full of gear. While the FBI may have overlooked its existence, it even has a write up in The Atlantic. The Antifa insurgency, which is national, violent, and communist, disgusts the American people. Antifa is Biden. Biden is Antifa. 

The president should campaign on these themes which emerged from the “debate”—I can’t dignify what happened last night without scare quotes—and show how they are relatable to his presidency and his campaign. 

Biden has sold offices to advance a far Left platform that is indifferent to civil liberties, embraces international socialism in the guise of environmentalism, and is an ally of a Marxist insurgency at home. Vote accordingly.