Selfish or.Selfless?

There is little doubt that it takes someone with a fair sized ego to get into politics.

For someone to believe that they are the best person to lead 340 million Americans and be considered the most powerful person on the planet takes an ego on steroids.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are no exceptions.

They both clearly think very highly of themselves.

Joe Biden became a United States Senator just barely a month after he met the Constitutional minimum age limit of 30 in 1972.

Joe Biden by all measures was a successful politician. Six terms as a Senator. Two terms as Vice President and now sitting in The White House for over three years.

However, if measured by real life standards, Joe Biden was nothing more than a mediocre talent his entire life.

He has tried to burnish his reputation over the years by telling lies about his past.

All of that reinforces what a mediocre talent he is.

Here are just a few of the untruths that Biden has repeated over the years.

Biden has claimed he was a teenage civil rights activist. There is no evidence he did anything to support civil rights when he was younger.

Biden has claimed that he was the first in his family to attend college. He was not. Both his grandfather and father attended college.

Biden has claimed he received an appointment to attend the U.S. Naval Academy to play football.  There is no evidence to support that claim and the dates Biden cites do not match

Biden has claimed he had three undergraduate degrees. He does not.

Biden claims he was named the "outstanding student in the political science department at the University of Delaware".  He was not.

Biden has claimed he went to law school on a full academic scholarship. He received no academic scholarships and had a half scholarship based on financial need.

Biden has claimed he graduated in the top half of his law school class. Biden actually was ranked 76th of 85 students at Syracuse University.

Biden has claimed he was arrested attempting to visit Nelson Mandela in prison in South Africa. It never happened. 

The only two skills that Biden had that were beyond mediocre were the gift of gab and the ability to be a world class backslapper. He shares both of those traits with many politicians.

However, both of those skills have diminished considerably over the years. They do not even rise to the level of mediocrity today in a man who had limited skills beyond that to begin with.

The fact that he is a man with limited skills and abilities is apparent to almost every clear thinking person today. 

Joe Biden is now being pressed to drop out of the Presidential race by many in the media and an increasing number of members of his own Democrat party.

This sudden reversal has nothing to do with concern about Biden's health or the country. 

This is about one thing ---concerns about Biden's polling numbers.

After all, a month ago most of the same people were saying that Biden was "sharp as a tack".

If you doubt that here is a six minute video clip repeating that mantra over and over and over again.

Link: https://twitter.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1807658619481337958

Right now, Biden is digging his heels in.

Biden sent a defiant letter to Congressional Democrats on Monday stating that he had no intention to drop out.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-sends-letter-democrats-time-questions-end/story?id=111742809

Minutes after his letter became public, a furious Biden launched a full-throated defense of his decision to stay in this race, calling into MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"The bottom line is, we're not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere!" Biden boomed through the phone.

"I wouldn't be running if I didn't absolutely believe that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump in 2024. We had a Democratic nominating process where the voters spoke clearly," he said, well-aware that his political future is at a make or break moment.

After several days on the campaign trail, the president is adamant that voters still support him. And to those party insiders doubting him, the president issued a blunt challenge.

"Watch. Watch. I'm getting so frustrated by the elites - I'm not talking about you guys," he said, referring to hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, "but the elites in the party. 'Oh, they know so much more.' If any of these guys don't think I should run, run against me. Go ahead - announce for president. Challenge me at the convention," he said.

What I find particularly amusing in that statement is that Biden is now taking on the so-called "party elites".

Of course, the same "party elites" rallied around Biden in early 2020 after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries indicated that Bernie Sanders was poised to win the Democrat nomination if they did not intercede.

The call went out to the party faithful to rally around Biden to keep Bernie from taking the nomination.

There is no way Biden would have won the nomination without those "party elites".

The same was true earlier this year when the "party elites" rallied around Joe and conspired to keep any legitimate Democrat that might oppose Biden out of the primary contests.

This concerted effort was the main reason that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had to forego his plans to run in the Democrat primaries and instead mount an independent campaign for President.

It was all due to the elites protecting Biden.

Now that Biden's obvious infirmities are in full views to everyone and he is trailing in the polls, the elites have decided that Joe is more liability than asset.

What is also amusing is the narrative that we keep hearing that Donald Trump is a pathological liar and he is only out for himself, putting his personal interests above the national interests.

Joe Biden repeated this line in his interview with George Stephanopoulos last week when asked if he was really up to the challenge of defeating Trump.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: They're just wrong. Look, Trump is a pathological liar. Trump is-- he is-- you ever seen anything Trump did that benefited sa-- somebody else and not him? You can't answer, I know.

Trump is a pathological liar?

What I see from Trump are more exaggerations than lies or untruths. 

"It is the greatest ever" "No one has ever seen anything like it" "Nobody could believe it." "It was a beautiful thing".

When I took Commercial Law in law school I learned the term "puffery".

That is what Trump does.

What about Joe?

Saying you were arrested for trying to visit Mandela in jail in South Africa or were the the only student in his law school class to have a full academic scholarship is not puffery.

Is it true that Trump never does anything that benefits someone else and not him?.

I have written previously that that there is no President in my lifetime who has taken office and came out poorer other than Donald J. Trump.

How exactly did Trump benefit by being President?

It is a talking point that is often used by Democrats. However, when pressed, these same people cannot provide any concrete examples of how Trump benefited handsomely by being President.

Trump was a billionaire before he became President. He was a worldwide TV star. He had his own 777 jet. He owned office buildings, hotels, golf courses and casinos around the world. He had once owned a professional football team and even an airline.

His net worth and his company brand suffered because he ran for President and incurred the wrath of so many liberals and leftists who did not like him.

He became the target in numerous legal actions that clearly would never have occurred but for entering politics. In fact, they almost certainly would have not have occurred if he had not announced he was running again in 2024.

If you need any other perspective on that consider the news this week that Boeing will pay a fine to avoid a criminal trial involving its faulty work on its 737 Max airliner.

The fine is less than Trump has to pay for supposedly "overvaluing" properties on his financial statements for loans that were ultimately paid in full and for which the banks used their own appraisers to value the properties supporting the loans.

Further, I would argue that in the decisions he had to make on Covid, following the direction and advice of Dr. Fauci and others to shut down the country, Donald Trump made the single largest decision inimical to his own personal interests as any President since George Washington left Mount Vernon to be the nation's first President.

Almost every cent Trump had to his name was in investments in commercial real estate, hotels and casinos   that he knew would be financially devastated by lockdowns.

However, Trump made the Covid lockdown decision in what he was told was the national interest and against his personal interests despite the fact that his gut clearly told him that this was an unsound policy decision. Trump said at the time he thought Fauci and Deborah Birx were out of their minds when they recommended he shut the country down.

I wrote in April about the enormous wealth that Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell have amassed over their years in Washington.

Does the road to riches run through Washington, D.C.?

It apparently does.

Unless you are Donald J. Trump.

Remember how much we heard that Donald Trump was using The White House to enrich himself?

How did that work out exactly?

When Trump first announced he was running for President in 2015 Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be $4.5 billion. 

Just before the 2020 election Forbes estimated that Trump's net worth had dropped to $2.5 billion.

There has been no President in my lifetime who saw their wealth suffer after serving in office---except Donald Trump.

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton got enormously wealthy after serving as President. Joe Biden cashed in big time after being Vice President.

As of the fall of 2023 Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $2,6 billion but he was no longer on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. In 2015 he was #121. 

In ten years since first getting involved in politics Trump has seen his net worth almost cut in half.

Over those same ten years Nancy Pelosi has increased her net worth 8 times and Mitch McConnell has doubled his.

The final scorecard on wealth over the last 10 years or so.

Pelosi              up  700%

McConnell     up  100%

Trump            down 50%

Who has enriched themselves in public office and who has not?

You may or may not like Donald Trump, but the fact is that it is likely that no man who has been President has ever sacrificed so much, for so so little personal benefit, than Donald Trump.

Selfish or selfless?

Which is which?

With everything we have seen with Joe Biden and projecting all of this out over another four years how can it be argued that Joe Biden is selfless and Donald Trump is selfish?

It simply does not compute.

In fact, my guess is that Joe Biden is digging in his heels solely due to self interest.

It has nothing to do with the national interest.

Or even anything having to do with the best interests of his political party.

It is all about Joe and nothing else.

There could be any number of self centered motivations for taking the hard line stance that Biden is taking.

1. Biden knows that if he drops out of the race due to questions about his fitness to campaign for another term it is not a large leap to question whether he is even fit to finish his current term.

2. Biden's inner circle of wife Jill and son Hunter do not want to give up the privileges, perks and power that come with the office. They are not in anyway motivated to tell Joe what he needs to know and hear.

3. The same can be said for Joe's close advisers. They all go from the center of power to nobodies the second Biden exits the race or the Presidency. In fact, those close advisers look to be actually directing most of the policies and positions coming out of The White House right now. Who would give that up voluntarily?

4. Over 50 years in politics, Joe Biden has been accustomed to enjoying financial benefits from the power he wields. The entire Biden family "business" was apparently centered around this. Biden could be taking his defiant position for leverage. He is not going to go unless he is paid handsomely to step away. He knows there are plenty of Democrat "elites" with the money to buy him out. Why would Biden leave without putting some big money in his pockets on the way out? 

All of this puts the Democrats who want Biden to drop out between a rock and a hard place.

Axios published a column on Sunday that I thought did a nice job of putting all of this in perspective.

An unbendable Biden leaves the Democrats with few options.

Biden has the office.

He has a lot of power.

He also controls all of the delegates to the Democrat convention who are the only ones who can really force him out.

Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/07/07/biden-democrats-drop-election-campaign

This is the conclusion of that piece.

The bottom line: Biden holds the power. If he doesn't blink, he'd be daring Democrats to wage a public fight at the convention to undo the will of voters 11 weeks before Election Day. It would tear apart the party, the convention, Biden's legacy. The president believes that in the end, his critics will cave.

 

My take is that if Biden can survive this week he will take the high ground in the fight within his party.

There will be little focus on Biden the following week with the Republican Convention taking place in Milwaukee.

If the Democrats burn two weeks without getting Biden to drop out they might have no choice but stay with Joe.

The calendar does not leave much room to make a change after that.

Last month the DNC stated that they intended to nominate Biden by a virtual roll call vote before the end of July in order to insure he is on every state's ballot due to the Democrat convention being held so late this year (less than 90 days before the November 5 general election date).

In the meantime, every time Joe Biden appears or speaks at an event it is akin to a high wire act performing with no net.

Count me as someone who is happy I am  not one of Biden's advisers or a Democrat officeholder holding my breath every time he takes the stage or picks up a microphone.

It promises to make for a lot of entertainment over the next several months.

Biden vs. Trump

Selfish or Selfless?

You decide.