The GOP promoting false equivalencies is a political tactic that looks doomed from the outset, and as indictments and trials accumulate in the next year, trying to paint Biden as flawed as Trump will be even more of a challenge.. To deflect public interest in Trump's flood of civil court losses and criminal indictments, the GOP and allies of Trump have as their only defense so far is to show the "Biden crime family" is just as corrupt as Trump, so one cancels out the other. That takes a leap in logic. Bad behavior is no excuse, but whose behavior is worse is a judgment call and it should take into account facts and evidence.. So far the GOP has not convinced voters yet that the pot calling the kettle black works. Blame the media, you say? One reason not to blame cable news is a majority of the country does not get their news from FOX or Newsmax or from certain internet sites on the right and on the left, MSNBC.. In fact, only 15 to 20 percent of the country follows political news deeply. Opinion | Cable News Viewers Aren’t as Extreme as You Might Think - The New York Times (nytimes.com) The rest depend on sound bites, the internet and social media, their guts, personal grievance. The audience is not the cult flame throwers; they are hopeless. The audience in doing this are the other 60%. The goal: forget the Trump cult. Consolidate and activate the other 60% and give them ammunition, focus and words.
An update: 9/22/23 Also posted on the Muftic Forum Facebook page
The GOP has already won the race to the bottom on false equivalencies in the category of character and fitness to lead. No one party or its adherents have a monopoly on disgusting behavior, but some members of the GOP have taken that "bad" to a new level. What is astonishing is the degree to which MAGA loyalists do not seem to care. Trump's p-grabbing and porn star exploits and the jury finding his liability for a sexual assault go without saying. On Morning Joe a quip by Mehdi Hasan that 2024 is not a red or blue determination: it is "choosing between the awful people and the less awful.".( Meaning, I think, ..it is a moral, cultural, and character choice.) Hasan was inspired by the report of allegations of Guiliani's groping of Cassidy Hutchinson,: which Guiliani denies. Giuliani's groping allegations are made more believable as part of the 'sick culture' surrounding Trump: Morning Joe - Add to that, Rep. Lauren Boebert's disgusting behavior in Denver caught on tape of groping and vaping in a theater audience lately that got worldwide attention.
The GOP's tactic to promote false equivalences are obvious.:
The most obvious examples: Trump has already been indicted, lost lawsuits, and impeached; H. Clinton or Biden, not. It is not that the GOP hasn't tried; they have not stopped trying to find something. The most current: now McCarthy agrees to open an impeachment inquiry against President Biden. So what's the probable cause? On what constitutional basis? Just not liking a legislative agenda does not count as a basis for impeachment.
The link between Hunter and his father has not been found, nor is there any indication that President Biden benefitted from Hunter's activities. The laptop whistleblower, before the laptop issues were the focus, had been under investigation by the FBI for being a suspected Chinese agent and is MIA.
Most people understand Hunter was a coke addict, did use his name, and was out of control..and most families have had family members who have gone off the rails, too. That empathy is a sobering factor and parents understand the difficulty in controlling the uncontrolled. It is a human problem to which many can relate.
Hunter did not have a position in the government, unlike Trump's kids, who could not even pass a security clearance without Dad's interference, yet Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, played a critical, powerful role in the administration in shaping middle eastern foreign policy and giving advice. He benefitted after exiting the government from the Saudis granting lucrative management of large Saudi investment funds. Nice job if you can get it. Be careful. Democrats could lift up that stone to see what crawls out.
Joe Biden has been under the microscope of the public for the lifetime of most Americans and has a track record of scrupulous behavior, unlike Trump's lifetime of lawsuits and controversy in his business dealings and hucksterism, multi marriages, civil fraud, cheating, and telling lies. There have been too many who think Trump's character flaws are not important; they do not affect public policy issues that affect them. Wrong. Character counts. Biden's conduct of his personal life and a lifetime of politics leave a good track record and to try to paint him otherwise with false equivalencies is a tough row to hoe.
What is also becoming clearer by the moment is that the Mar A Lago doc issue has morphed into a coverup issue more serious than just taking national security-related documents home like Biden and Pence did upon leaving office. That is very unlike Joe Biden and Mike Pence, who returned the documents when asked. That this is just a "process issue" and no one should go to jail for such a technical violation is an argument put forward by Trump apologists so therefore, pledge some GOP wannabe presidential candidates, if elected, we will pardon him. To pardon anyone of a federal crime, a president must believe Trump will be convicted. It appears that is the assumption by those who advocate a presidential pardon for a president above the law. The lesson to the Americans will be there would be no penalties with serious consequences for a future president who would endanger national security and who would obstruct laws and justice designed to protect the country from an out-of-control bad actor with evil intent. Nixon would have continued as president with impunity, for example. Obstruction of justice is nothing but violating a process? Interfering with the electoral count in a presidential election in order to steal an election they lost would be a "process" issue?. Sharing national security secrets to unauthorized persons who could be spies is also a "process" issue with no serious consequences?. Pardoning oneself for being convicted of a crime would also be a "process" question? Let me pose this question: If somehow the "impreachment inquiry" turns up something against Joe Biden, say for example he committed the crime of not reporting income form his son's business dealings, a process issue, could he also pardon himself if elected to a second term? Or is the privilege of ignoring rules, laws and regulations only apply to Donal Trump?
That those allegations of a coverup by Trump of a crime will eventually become instructive to the public as they become more aware of the details of the charges. What evidence has leaked in advance of indictments amended yesterday in the superseding indictments are charges of Trump's ordering underlings (now also charged) to play document keep away and cut off security cameras after receiving a subpoena. The timing is important to show he knew he was guilty and then took action to hide the evidence. The allegations show that it was he who was ordering the hiding of the evidence.
The importance of Trump's playing "keep-away from the FBI and the DOJ" with the evidence that had national security importance is not that there is proof it actually hurt US security, but that it is a window into Trump's priorities. That he did not care if he endangered national security by flashing his stolen docs is an example of putting his ego-boosting over a sense of responsibility to the nation. It is a dramatic illustration of why Trump is unfit to serve a second term with such personality flaws. He cannot be trusted to make judgment calls that put America's national security first if it interferes with his personal interest and lust for power. It is not just a matter of violating laws or failure to dot the technical stuff or some off-the-wall interpretation of rules and regulations and laws themselves. His character flaws matter. It is a matter of trust that at minimum, he cares about the security of the United States. Democrats can make that point, though they have not yet.. It is not just a technical violation of document laws. It is another example of his self-serving priorities, just as he was willing to withhold anti-tank weapons from Ukraine in order to get some political dirt on Hunter Biden.
How serious are the Mar-a-Lago doc issues? More than just potentially endangering US security, it appears. Similar issues of cover-up resulted in the resignation of Nixon leaving office and they figured in the defeat of Hillary Clinton. Trump refused to return critical ones and now makes Rosemary Wood's "accidental erasure" of damning tapes of Nixon's coverup, ultimately resulting in her boss' resigning, look way too familiar, and Hillary's missing tapes look like a non-proven, often investigated, non-equivalence.
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