A funny thing has happened. Viable moderate candidates have shown tremendous selflessness and patriotism by exiting the race just days before Super Tuesday to clear the way for Joe Biden. In a normal primary season, even weak candidates would stay in longer — at least 48 more hours — hoping for an unexpected boost or at least to continue building name recognition. But this year we have a corrupt, incompetent, amoral sitting president who must be defeated. In four days, Biden has pulled off one of the most amazing turnarounds in American political history. He has emerged as the only Democrat to beat the democratic populist Bernie Sanders, and therefore beat the Trump GOP populist Donald Trump. I say “Trump GOP” because the Republican Party is now wholly owned and controlled by the president. It has abandoned most of its core values and now stands for The Donald, that is, cold, venal avarice. (scroll down for full article)

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In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump’s corruption, incompetence, and amorality have been front and center, characterizing his response to the world health crisis.

Pandemic Response

Donald has been corrupt and amoral in his dissemination of information about the pandemic’s progression, falsely playing down the danger. He called the coronavirus story a “Democrat hoax” (then denied the video evidence). He called the World Health Organization’s announced mortality rate of 3.4% “false” and said, “Personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.”

He’s deliberately misled the country, putting preparedness and lives at risk, specifically to prop up U.S. stock market performance, which has been rocked by the crisis. He believes a humming market protects his reelection chances. And if he’s not reelected, he faces indictment on multiple crimes, for which he is immune as president (notwithstanding the old saw about “no one is above the law”). Plus he won’t be able to make money anymore by gouging the Secret Service on Trump property room rates and drink prices (along with his myriad emoluments clauses violations).

Donald has been too incompetent to learn even basic information about virology and vaccination development. He was informed by his experts multiple times that vaccine trials take 12 to 18 months at minimum. But at his gathering of drug company CEOs, he was pestering them to do it in “a few months,” attempting to have them bid against each other for the shortest development time.

Additionally, the administration dropped the ball on test kit production, resulting in a huge current shortage. It sent a team of untrained health workers to receive 14 infected Americans from overseas, resulting in unnecessary exposure. Ultimately, the core incompetence has been to systematically cut health and science professionals from the government since Inauguration Day.




Selflessness

Also in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, there is a Democratic presidential primary season underway. A funny thing happened on the way to the nomination. Viable moderate candidates have shown tremendous selflessness and patriotism by exiting the race just days before Super Tuesday to clear the way for Joe Biden. In a normal primary season, even weak candidates would stay in longer — at least 48 more hours, which wouldn’t have cost them any more time or money — hoping for an unexpected boost or at least to continue delivering their message and building name recognition for the future.

But this year we have a corrupt, incompetent, amoral sitting president who must be defeated. In the course of four days, Biden — with strategic help — has pulled off one of the most amazing turnarounds in American political history. He has emerged as the only Democrat to beat the democratic populist Bernie Sanders (an Independent running as a Democrat), and therefore beat the Trump GOP populist Donald Trump.

I say Trump GOP because the Republican Party is now wholly owned and controlled by the president. It has abandoned most of its core values and now stands for The Donald, that is, cold, venal avarice.

I continue to like Bernie Sanders. His values probably align more closely with mine than Biden’s do. But as many pundits have said, the country doesn’t need another revolution right now, albeit a progressive one. It needs and wants a return to boring, competent, moral, humane, sane leadership — to steer a government of integrity, to have our nation resume its status as a trustworthy international neighbor and dependable free-world ally.

Above all, Bernie Sanders can’t win the general election. Donald would eat Bernie’s “democratic som” for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two scoops for dessert. I’ve always said Bernie should have softened his ideological label to “social Democrat.” But he forgot to ask me.

Joe Biden’s Comeback

Trump’s response to the pandemic has been but the latest example of why Democrats must choose the person best qualified to beat him, for no other reason than to beat him.

Joe Biden’s candidacy was on its death bed a week ago, after beyond-disappointing finishes in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. Then last Saturday South Carolina happened, a state much more ethnically representative of the country. After a pre-primary endorsement from influential Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Biden creamed Sanders 48% to 20%. The billionaire Tom Steyer dropped out that night. Pete Buttigieg dropped out Sunday and endorsed Joe. Amy Klobuchar dropped out Monday and endorsed Joe.

Three days later, Super Tuesday happened with 14 states holding primaries. Joe stunned even his supporters and staff by winning 10 of those states, several decisively. On Wednesday, the other billionaire, Michael Bloomberg, dropped out of the race and endorsed Joe.

After Super Tuesday, it’s essentially Joe Biden versus Bernie Sanders, with Biden holding a substantial delegate lead and the overall edge. This was not the case last week. But Uncle Joe clearly has the momentum now.

Many pundits have explained that this Democratic development is exactly what the 2016 Republican presidential primary candidates did NOT do. Most of them stayed in the race way too long, splitting the “reasonable” Republican vote. This allowed a jackleg confidence artist to take over their party, become president, and continue to hold the entire GOP hostage.

Selflessness. Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Michael Bloomberg deserve our deepest gratitude, no matter what you think of their views or perceived shortcomings. Running a presidential campaign takes over your life. It commands monumental commitment. It is extremely difficult to let go, to call it quits. These four Democrats are true patriots. They saw what it’s going to take to rid the country of a corrupt, incompetent, amoral president, and they did their duty.

Thank you. ■

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Trump Corruption Chronicles — We Must Never Forget