By Carol Lucas
Ever since the debacle of the debate between Biden and Trump, it appears that all hell has broken loose. What I hear is a cacophony of Democrats, crying out in pain for Joe to drop out of the race, all the while wringing their hands.
Stop it right now! (Note: That was my teacher voice you just heard, forceful, maybe a bit higher pitch than my usual alto, and demanding.)
Yes, the debate was not Joe Biden’s finest hour, truly an understatement. And what follows will be identified as biased by many, some going so far as to suggest that I remove my rose-colored glasses and get real.
Nevertheless, I am going to pose a question to all, a question I want you to answer, silently in your mind. Dig deeply, and respond to this: did you ever have a time when you had to be spot on, and you blew it? For whatever reason, you came out of the situation, knowing full well that what you had to pull off was a disappointment at best and a failure at worst?
Maybe you were ill-prepared, or maybe you were genuinely ill. Consider that the man in question had made two trans-continental trips within two weeks. Remember his gravelly voice and cough and saying later his physician thought he might have had COVID? By the way, in later appearances, he is still coughing.
Now consider this: suppose Joe Biden had called off the debate because of illness. I can just hear the responses to that, and so can you if you are honest. Folks, it was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.
Sadly enough, no one seemed to be too concerned about what the other person in the debate was doing, and might I add, not being called out on it. I’m not sure what the narrators of this 90 minutes saw as their role, but the lies coming out of Trump’s mouth were fast flying and multitudinous. “I did not have sex with a porn star.” Really? It seems that 12 of your Manhattan contemporaries saw it differently.
That the CNN narrators of the debate chose not to challenge even one of the dozens of lies spewed by the person who has raised lying to a fine art mystifies me to the point that I had to wonder if FOX entertainment had managed to take possession of them for that hour and a half.
So let’s play a little game of “compare the accomplishments.” The space here is limited for expanded explanations of statements taken from a Politico article. If you have the desire to read further, they are online.
What follows is a fraction of the examples that I feel exemplify the four years of each administration. I admit my bias in my failure to record the positives of the Trump administration. Frankly, I am hard-pressed to find any. I’m more than willing to say that the Biden administration has failed in its dealings with illegal immigration although what I am reading tells me that direction is shifting.
So humor me, or call me to task, but here we go.
During the Trump Administration:
— Millions of workers lost access to extra pay for long hours;
— Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a devout Christian, found ways to expand federal support for religious schools and organizations at the Education Department;
— Trump exiled climate scientists from Washington — literally;
— The much-touted wall was woefully inadequate as was intended; furthermore, Mexico didn’t contribute one cent.
During the Biden Administration:
— 200-plus million Americans vaccinated for COVID funded by Democrats’ American Rescue Plan;
— Highest ever number of Americans with health care coverage;
— Historic climate investments, including largest ever in the power grid and climate resilience;
— 32% reduction in household hunger.
So just how important is a 90-minute debate? The day after, Joe Biden was willing to let the blame fall squarely on him, adding he had a bad night, and he knew it. When was the last time you heard Donald Trump come anywhere near such a statement?
If this piece reflects my anger, good! I have reached the point where I am done with those who still justify voting for a man who is a convicted felon; a man who has managed to receive deferential treatment on so many judicial levels, including a corrupted SCOTUS; a man who promises to be a dictator … the first day. Don’t you believe the latter for one minute. He loves the power way too much to give it up.
The contrast is apparent: the needs of the everyday person vs. those of the corporate CEOs. The likes of those with whom Trump surrounds himself should also be a consideration. The “Steves” — Miller and Bannon — are salivating, the latter from the jail cell he hopes to abandon with a Trump election.
And I haven’t touched upon Project 2025 which is clearly a Trumpian playbook, should he get into office. The following excerpt may put all of this into perspective.
As Nikole Hannah-Jones put it: “As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans think is important and how they perceive these issues yet we keep pretending it’s not so.” They are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one.
Don’t be drawn in!
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
