The Struggle for the Soul of America: Biden, I Wouldn’t Bet Against Him Yet

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

Joe Biden is in the race of his life. For an old guy, he still has some pretty good legs on him. The way he’s running right now, I wouldn’t bet against him despite my warning in last week’s blog post.[1]

First, take a look at how much campaign money Biden has raised. At the end of January, his campaign had $56 million on hand. Donald Trump only had $30 million on hand. In addition, much of Trump’s funds are going to pay off legal fees while Biden’s are all going into his campaign for re-election.[2] Of course, money isn’t the only important factor in this race.

Second, Biden does not have any serious competition for the Democratic nomination. Trump, however, is still fending off a primary challenger, former Gov. Nikki Haley, which is another drain on his campaign chest.[3] While she doesn’t have any real chance of winning the Republican nomination at this point, Haley’s increasingly sharp attacks on Trump make him more objectionable and help strengthen Biden’s case for his re-election.

Just the other day, Haley “jabbed Trump for taking three days to acknowledge Navalny’s death and then for failing to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for it. She’s cast her former boss as “ weak in the knees” when it comes to Russia. She’s slammed him for criticizing NATO at a time when many in the West see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a threat to European stability. And…, Haley unleashed some of her most pointed criticism yet of Trump’s relationship with Putin:

“Trump is siding with a dictator who kills his political opponents,” Haley said. “Trump sided with an evil man over our allies who stood with us on 9/11. Think about what that told them.”[4] Not only does this get Biden off the hook, but it labels his opponent as a supporter of evil and further illustrates Trump’s preference for Russian autocracy over American democracy.

Third, the Republicans have been trying to undermine Biden’s re-election campaign for some time by impeaching the president. But their effort just ran into a brick wall with the FBI’s arrest of their star witness, Alexander Smirnov. He was arrested on charges of providing the FBI with fraudulent information. An FBI informant for over a decade, Smirnov was further discredited after a DOJ report Tuesday indicated he was not only lying to the FBI about Biden but had “contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies.”[5]

Those contacts included someone who controlled “groups that are engaged in overseas assassination efforts,” as well as a “high-ranking Russian foreign intelligence service officer.”[6]

Fourth, the recent demise of the Republicans’ own border security bill due to Trump’s opposition exposes their strict immigration demands as a sham. It demonstrates their fealty to the former president is greater than their desire to fix one of our country’s most critical problems. Biden was willing to give the Republicans just about everything they wanted regarding border security in order to fix our southern border problem. Trump rejected the bill so he could still use the lack of border security as a campaign issue. Now the tables are turned, and Biden and the Dems can use it against Trump and his Congressional lackeys.[7]

Then, fifth, there’s the abortion issue. The recent Alabama Supreme Court decision ruling frozen embryos are ‘children’[8] will only increase the indignation and voter turnout of the majority pro-choice electorate which overwhelmingly favors Bien and the Dems. Calling the ruling “outrageous and unacceptable,” Biden asserted that the decision was a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.[9]

Sixth and finally, Wednesday’s Quinnipiac University poll found that 49 percent of registered voters said they support Biden, compared to 45 percent who chose Trump. Despite his age and steadfast support of Israel in its war against Hamas, Biden leads Trump by four points.[10]

Of course, there is a long way to go between now and the November election. But, right now, all things considered, I wouldn’t bet against Biden.

Bruce Berlin

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/us/politics/biden-trump-campaign-money.html

[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-haley-announcement-2024-race-donald-trump-south-carolina/

[4] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/22/in-south-carolina-haley-is-running-hard-on-russia-00142552

[5] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-scramble-save-biden-impeachment-informant-1234972867/

[6] Ibid.

[7] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-kill-border-bill-sign-trumps-strength-mcconnells-waning-in-rcna137477

[8] https://www.npr.org/2024/02/21/1232742485/alabama-supreme-court-frozen-embryos-ivf-in-vitro-fertilization

[9] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-blasts-alabama-supreme-courts-outrageous-unacceptable-frozen/story?id=107454671

[10] https://news.yahoo.com/biden-holds-4-point-lead-194943812.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Biden Under Fire While Trump Has His Own Problems

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

(Note: Since my computer was in the shop getting software fixes for some days, there was no blog post last week.)

While it’s still early, the 2024 elections look like a nail-biter. Unless one of them falls seriously ill or Trump ends up in prison before November, the presidential election will most likely be a tight race between President Biden and Donald Trump.

Usually, an incumbent president has an advantage in his bid for re-election. But only a third of those surveyed in a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll approved of President Biden’s job performance — a record low for any president in the last 15 years. Meanwhile, Trump’s approval rating is eight points higher than Biden’s.[1]

Still, Trump’s not in great shape either. A recent poll of Iowa voters conducted days before Monday’s caucuses found 43 percent of those who supported Nikki Haley said they would vote for Biden over Trump in a general election.[2]

Another sign of Trump’s general election weakness is a number of his former staffers speaking out publicly against him. Sarah Matthews, a press aide on Trump’s 2020 campaign and in the Trump White House who resigned on Jan. 6, 2021, noted, “I would support Biden over Trump…I won’t support someone who refused to participate in a peaceful transfer of power, tried to overthrow a free and fair election, and incited a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.”[3]

At the same time, Biden’s strong support of Israel in its war against Hamas is definitely hurting his re-election chances. In a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, 57 percent of respondents disapproved of his handling of the war.[4] With over 24,000 Palestinian civilian deaths due to Israel’s massive bombings, Biden is being sued for complicity in Israel’s alleged commission of genocide in Gaza.[5]

Biden’s immigration policy at our southern border is also not popular. Many feel that too many poor, illegal immigrants are entering the country.[6] While lower, nagging inflation is yet another issue pulling his approval ratings down.

Then there’s Biden’s age. He sometimes appears unsteady on his feet or unsure of his words. He often does not present a strong leadership image. Two-thirds of Democratic-leaning voters want their party to nominate someone other than Biden for president.[7] Additionally, MSNBC pundit and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough noted that every Democrat he has spoken to privately believes President Biden is “too old” to run for reelection.[8]

Though there’s nothing he could do about his age, Biden and his Democratic colleagues seem unwilling or unable to change course regarding some of these other issues. This is particularly true when it comes to Israel. As a result, he is losing a good portion of the youth vote that got him elected in 2020. And they are not just frustrated with Biden, they are actually angry with him.[9]

Both candidates have their work cut out for them. Trump needs to figure out how to convince skeptical Republicans to stick with him. On the other hand, if Biden does not start listening to the people who elected him, he may not only fail to win this critical election, but he may also be responsible for losing American democracy to authoritarian rule.

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4408318-bidens-approval-rating-drops-to-new-low-poll/#:~:text=In%20an%20ABC%20News%2FIpsos,percent%20approved%20of%20his%20performance.

[2] https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-may-help-republicans-against-110000920.html

[3] Ibid.

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/biden-israel-gaza-poll.html

[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/14/us-president-biden-sued-for-complicity-in-israels-genocide-in-gaza

[6] https://cis.org/Arthur/Why-Biden-Implementing-Immigration-Policies-Few-Americans-Favor

[7] https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/poll-biden-2024-second-term-democrat-voters-cnn

[8] https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4202366-scarborough-says-democrats-privately-say-biden-too-old-to-run/

[9] https://www.vox.com/politics/24034416/young-voters-biden-trump-gen-z-polling-israel-gaza-economy-2024-election

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Like It Or Not, Biden Is Our Only Hope

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Author: Bruce Berlin

I recently had a difficult political conversation with a couple of friends. While usually supporters of Democratic candidates, they emphatically proclaimed that they would not vote for Biden for president next year. But, neither would they support Trump.

My friends indicated that they may not vote for president at all in the coming election. However, if they decided to vote, they were leaning toward Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for president, who is currently polling an impressive 22% in a three-way race with Biden and Trump.[1]

I argued that not voting or supporting a third-party candidate would help Trump get elected. And a Trump second term would be a disaster for our country. Of course, it’s not a certainty that voting for a third-party candidate like Kennedy or perhaps Sen. Joe Manchin, if he decides to run, would boost Trump’s election chances. But can we take that chance?

In my mind, this is not about Biden’s age or whether or not we agree with some of his policies. What the 2024 election will really be about is whether the United States continues to be a democracy.

Every day Trump tells us loud and clear who he is and how he will rule our country if he regains the White House next year. The Washington Post noted Trump in his Veterans Day speech called his political enemies “vermin” and suggested that they pose a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China, or North Korea. It reminded the newspaper of dictators Hitler and Mussolini.[2]

The United States would become an authoritarian regime if Trump were elected. Michael Luttig, former conservative federal appeals judge and assistant White House counsel under President Reagan, asserted, “I am more worried for America today than I was on January 6. … [Trump’s] election would be catastrophic for America’s democracy.”[3]

Here are just a few of what a second Trump presidency would look like:

First, Trump would break down legal restrictions and traditional protections against political interference and give the White House authority to install ideological allies throughout the federal government.[4] He intends to strip tens of thousands of career employees of their civil service protections, which would allow him to fire all government officials he considers disloyal to him and replace them with loyal lackeys.[5]

Second, Trump wants to undertake the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. He would end birthright citizenship, using an executive order that would introduce a legally untested interpretation of the 14th Amendment.[6] His White-nationalist policies would invoke new legal authorities to pursue mass expulsions and enlist the military to help carry them out.[7]

Third, Trump would crack down on gender-affirming care by declaring that hospitals and health care providers that offer transitional hormones or surgery no longer meet federal health and safety standards and will be blocked from receiving federal funds, including Medicaid and Medicare.[8]

Fourth, Trump would ramp up oil drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal producers. He would roll back Biden administration’s efforts to encourage the adoption of electric cars and reverse proposed new pollution limits. He would exit the Paris Climate Accords, end wind subsidies, and eliminate efficiency regulations imposed and proposed by the Biden administration.[9] Our efforts to fight climate change and save our planet would take a huge step backward.

And fifth, Trump has pledged to terminate the Department of Education. He would push the federal government to give funding preference to states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure and allow the direct election of school principals by parents. He also has said he would cut funding for any school that has a vaccine or mask mandate and will promote prayer in public schools.[10]

There’s much more. But who would stop him? The very conservative Supreme Court majority that he built during his first term? Don’t hold your breath. If you are thinking of not voting for Biden, you better think again. At this point, electing Biden is probably the only way we can be sure to keep Trump out of the White House.

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3881

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/12/trump-rally-vermin-political-opponents/

[3] https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-has-big-plans-for-a-second-term-critics-say-they-pose-a-threat-to-democracy-203042124.html

[4] https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/politics/trump-agenda-second-term/index.html

[5] https://apnews.com/article/trump-policies-agenda-election-2024-second-term-d656d8f08629a8da14a65c4075545e0f

[6] Ibid.

[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/14/trump-mass-deportation-immigration-stephen-miller/

[8] https://apnews.com/article/trump-policies-agenda-election-2024-second-term-d656d8f08629a8da14a65c4075545e0f

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

The Struggle for the Soul of America: The Differences Between the Parties Couldn’t Be Clearer

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Author: Bruce Berlin

With the election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the divide between the two major parties has been made astonishingly stark. At the same time, from a political perspective, the Republicans have given the Democrats a big campaign gift for 2024.

Next year the American people will have an extremely clear choice. On the one hand, they can vote for House Republican Party members who “unanimously voted for a man who made it his mission to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, who put the political whims and needs of Donald Trump ahead of the interests and will of the American people.”[1]

According to a recent New York Times investigation, “Mr. Johnson was ‘the most important architect of the Electoral College objections’ to Mr. Trump’s loss in 2020… He made unfounded arguments questioning the constitutionality of state voting rules; he agreed with Mr. Trump that the election was “rigged,” cast doubt on voting machines and supported a host of other baseless and unconstitutional theories that ultimately led to a violent insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”[2] Consequently, Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president in 2024, approved of Johnson’s bid for Speaker of the House.[3]

Additionally, Johnson voted against a number of the Biden Administration’s major bipartisan bills — including one to establish a Jan. 6 independent commission, the infrastructure law, reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the codification of same-sex marriage legislation, a modest new gun law and the Chips and Science Act. Johnson also voted to cut off U.S. military assistance for Ukraine.[4]

Regarding abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, Johnson strongly opposes both as well. He has a long history of advocating against these rights.[5]

On the other hand, Congressional Democrats and the Biden Administration have strongly supported all of the above legislation and issues that Johnson has rejected.

Perhaps as telling as any of the above regarding where Johnson and House Republicans stand is the first piece of legislation he proposed as House Speaker. Despite bipartisan backing for a larger aid bill to include support for Ukraine, the U.S.-Mexico border and other pressing needs, Johnson recommended funds only for Israel. Worse still, he coupled the $14.3 billion Israeli aid with cuts to the IRS, a top priority of the far-right. Since these cuts would reduce the IRS’s ability to go after high-income earners trying to evade their tax liability, Johnson’s bill would actually increase the budget deficit.[6]

Clearly, Johnson was more concerned with garnering MAGA Republicans’ support and helping wealthy Republican donors avoid paying their fair share in taxes than assisting Israel, Ukraine, border security and other priorities. Top Senate Republicans as well as the White House and practically all Congressional Democrats quickly rejected Johnson’s bill.[7]

In 2024, will Americans support an anti-democratic, election-denying Republican Party that puts its wealthy donors above everything else? Or will they back the Democrats who stand up for the rights of all Americans and are working to build the nation’s economy and infrastructure as well as to assist our democratic allies abroad? We all need to do whatever we can to ensure that the voting public understands the differences between the parties and supports the Democratic Party that’s working for them.

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/opinion/mike-johnson-trump-speaker.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mike-johnson-house-speaker-republican-nominee-what-know-rcna122114

[4] Ibid.

[5] https://lailluminator.com/2023/10/29/mike-johson-lgbtq/

[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/10/31/israel-ukraine-johnson-house/

[7] Ibid.

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Trump and the Republican Party Represent a Real Fascist Threat to American Democracy

Posted on September 23, 2023 by Author: Bruce Berlin

In my last blog, I noted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would be my choice for the Democratic nomination for president if Biden stepped down, which, for a short time, seemed possible. Since it’s now clear to me that Biden will not be stepping down, I won’t go into why I favored Whitmer as I had originally intended. Still, keep an eye on her. She will most likely be in the Democrats’ top tier for the 2028 nomination.

But for 2024, I will strongly support Biden assuming he will be the Democratic nominee. In fact, I will support any Democrat over Trump or whomever the Republicans nominate. While there are many reasons for my position, chief among them is that the Republican Party is anti-democratic and veering toward fascism.

While this may sound alarmist, the American people need to be clear about what the Republican Party is up to. New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow recently observed that Republicans “have turned their backs on democracy.” Since they realize they are becoming a minority party, Blow concludes that the Republicans “want to devise a plan for minority rule.”[1]

That plan has a strong fascist tint to it. A mass political movement, fascism “emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.”[2] This is exactly what Trump and his MAGA stormtroopers are fighting for.

The great majority of Republicans back Trump. If he wins the presidency next year, the New York Times reports that Trump intends “a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government,…reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands…” He plans “to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government…” and suppressing all opposition.[3]

Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff in Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, interviewed numerous Trump aides and GOP leaders who know the ex-president. Here’s what they believe would happen if Trump or another MAGA candidate wins the White House next year:

First, the entire executive branch would be weaponized. The military would be deployed on U.S. soil to crush protests. Executive agencies would be politicized, focusing on actions to solidify and enhance Trump’s supreme authority.

Second, Congress would be neutralized, and GOP objectors muzzled..

Third, the justice system would be used to punish the MAGA movement’s enemies. The FBI would be used for revenge.[4]

Whatever doubts we may have about another four years of President Biden, they pall in comparison to the dangers a second Trump presidency presents. It is not too early to sound the alarm and motivate our friends, family, and colleagues to engage in the fight to save our democracy from the dire threat that Trump and his MAGA followers pose.

Bruce Berlin

P.S. I will be traveling out of the country for the next two weeks. My blog will resume the week of October 9.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/opinion/republican-party-anti-democracy.html

[2] https://world101.cfr.org/contemporary-history/world-war/what-fascism

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html

[4] https://time.com/6294052/new-trump-presidency-would-be-even-worse/