 On December 1, 2024, President Joe Biden granted his son Hunter a full and unconditional pardon “For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024”. The pardon clears Hunter Biden of the nine federal tax charges that he plead guilty to in September and his three felony convictions for lying on a federal firearms application. In his statement announcing the pardon President Biden stated that Hunter had been treated differently and unfairly singled out to hurt Biden’s presidential campaign. The president went on to state that, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice”.  Reactions From the Right: The reaction from Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans was predictable. Trump called the pardon an abuse of power and a miscarriage of justice. House Republicans called it proof that Joe Biden couldn’t be trusted and that the Biden family was attempting to coverup criminal behavior. This is pure hypocrisy. In justifying his own questionable pardons while president, Trump stated that the presidential pardon power is complete and free of limitations. Trump has pardoned close friends and associates such as Rodger Stone, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort for various crimes committed in his service. Let’s not forget that Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner who was convicted of tax evasion, witness tampering, and making illegal campaign contributions. To add insult to injury Trump has selected Mr. Kushner to be the next U.S. ambassador to France.  House Republicans have been using their majority over the past two years to investigate Hunter Biden in order to damage President Biden. A since discredited star witness for the Republicans claimed that Joe Biden had financially benefitted from illegal overseas schemes involving Hunter. The House Republicans could never prove any wrongdoing by Hunter Biden, as I have written about in a previous blog .  Reactions From the Left: If you need any further proof that the Democratic Party is adrift, look no further than their response to the Hunter Biden pardon. Party leaders across the country were quick to jump all over Joe Biden for failing to keep his campaign promise not to pardon his son. The hand wringing and moralizing about the degradation of presidential norms and standards is astonishing and speaks volumes about the state of their party. Do they forget who the American people just elected to be the next president of the United States? They have given Trump a pass on every misstep and misdeed, so the bar has already been reset. If the Democrats have a problem with this, they need to have a serious conversation with the American people about standards and norms. Well, what about Joe Biden’s legacy? Biden’s legacy has already been diminished by his decision to run for reelection in 2024 and handing Donald Trump a 2nd term. Pardoning his son will be a mere footnote to the storm that the next Trump Administration will bring.  The Real Issues Raised by Hunter Biden’s Pardon: No one is really very surprised that Joe Biden pardoned his son, and on a personal level they understand it. The issues surrounding the pardon that have caused consternation among legal scholars and politicians are the scope of the pardon and the language used by the president to justify it. The pardon gives Hunter complete immunity for all federal offenses he may have committed back to January 1, 2014. This sets a new precedent and could possibly lead to abuses of the presidential pardon in the future. The pardon may not have caused much of a stir outside of MAGA world if not for the president’s attack on the integrity of the justice system in his statement announcing the pardon. The president’s statement made clear that he thought the prosecution of his son was politically motivated and that Hunter had been unfairly treated by the justice system because he was the president’s son. Democrats fear that Biden’s condemnation of the justice system will bolster Trump’s claims that the Department of Justice had been weaponized against him.  In Defense of Biden: On several occasions over the past year President Biden had pledged not to pardon his son for the tax and gun violations he was charged with. Biden should never have made that pledge, but it was in the middle of a presidential campaign, and he fully expected Donald Trump to lose the election. With a Democrat returning to the White House, Biden thought his son would be protected against further criminal investigations and prosecutions. That was upended when Trump won the election, and Republicans won majorities in the House and Senate.  Biden’s apprehension grew as the new president-elect began to nominate MAGA loyalists to key positions in his administration who are hell-bent on dismantling the “deep state” and seeking retribution against Trump’s enemies. The nomination of Kash Patel to head the FBI and Pam Bondi to be Attorney General, convinced Biden that his son’s legal problems would only intensify. Newly emboldened House Republicans have pledged to continue to investigate the “Biden Crime Family” and other foes of Donald Trump. Given these circumstances it is understandable that Hunter’s pardon was written to provide broad protection to cover the timetable outlined by the House investigation into his overseas business dealings. Hunter’s pardon frees up the FBI and House of Representatives to spend their time and taxpayer money on pursuits more aligned with the needs of the American people.  To the charge that Biden’s expansive pardon of his son clears the way for Trump to pardon January 6th defendants, I say nonsense. Trump has been stating for months that he considered the January 6th defendants to be “political prisoners”, and that he would most likely pardon them if reelected. I expect Trump to pardon some, if not all the January 6th defendants, and it will have nothing to do with Hunter’s pardon, despite his claims to the contrary.  The U.S. Constitution gives the president broad powers to grant pardons, so President Biden did nothing illegal in issuing his son a pardon. It was wrong for Biden to claim that the prosecutions of his son were political, impugning the integrity of the Justice Department. But there is no doubt that investigations into Hunter Biden’s overseas activities by House Republicans were politically motivated to damage President Biden. With the pardon of Hunter Biden by the president, Democrats fear that they have ceded the moral high ground. But to whom? Certainly not the Republicans! With the election of Donald Trump our national politics has entered a period when morality takes a back seat to expediency. The Democrats and the rest of the country need to get over the president’s pardon of his son and focus on the real threat to presidential norms and standards.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 American @gmail.com.
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 There was a seismic shift in the 2024 presidential race on June 27 when Joe Biden’s debate performance showed the country that he was not up to the challenge of winning another term against his challenger Donald Trump. The more that President Biden dug in and tried to reassure his party and the country that he was up for the job, the further behind in the national polls he fell. Things began to fall into place for Trump’s return to the White House.  Trump was handed a get out of jail free card on July 1 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of his immunity claims. The Court ruled that presidents have broad immunity when conducting official acts while in office. This casts doubt on the legality of the remaining state and federal indictments that Trump is facing. To put an exclamation point on Trump’s legal victories, a federal judge in Florida dismissed the classified documents case, finding that the special counsel handling the case had been appointed unconstitutionally.  Surviving an assassination attempt on his life on July 13 cemented Trump’s image among his base of supporters. He was viewed as the divinely chosen candidate destined to retake the White House. Trump himself believed in the inevitability of his winning the presidency. This is borne out by picking J.D. Vance as his running mate. J.D. Vance is the youngest and most inexperienced of the VP candidates that the Trump campaign had vetted. He won’t bring in many new voters, and more importantly, he won’t help Trump’s odds in the all-important swing states. The pick of J.D. Vance shows that Trump was convinced that he would win the election, and he wanted a VP whose ideologic views were aligned with his and who could be the future of the MAGA movement.  Just days after the failed assassination attempt, Trump was welcomed at the Republican National Convention as a concurring hero. The reverence for Trump among his MAGA supporters had never been higher, and even the Democrats thought that it would take a miracle to defeat him in November. That miracle came on July 21 when Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the race and throwing his support behind VP Kamala Harris.  Harris Becomes the Democratic Nominee for President: Kamala Harris quickly garnered the support of Congressional Democrats, big donors, and party leaders such as the Clintons and Obamas. Within days of Biden dropping out of the race delegates to the nominating convention began to pledge their support for Harris. On August 6 Harris received enough delegate votes during an online voting process to become the Democratic nominee for president.  Enthusiasm among Democrats for Harris’s candidacy has exploded to levels not seen since Barack Obama was the nominee in 2008. Donors both big and small have been pouring money into the Harris campaign, and in the runup to the Democratic National Convention Harris was ahead of Trump in most national polls.  Readjusting to a New Reality: The Trump campaign was built around defeating Joe Biden, and is scrambling to recalibrate against a new opponent. The past three weeks have not gone well for Trump’s campaign or his psyche. The cloak of invincibility has been pulled from Trump and what’s underneath is disturbing. With all the light shining on Harris, the Trump campaign and the Republican Party have tried to recapture the narrative, but with limited success. Republicans attribute Harris’s surge in the polls as her honeymoon period, but there is more to it than that. The main obstacle to the Republican’s message getting through to swing and undecided voters is Donald Trump himself.  Trump Goes on the Attack: Over the past two weeks Trump has tried to shift the momentum back to his campaign through a series of press conferences and interviews. The press conference at Mar-a-Lago on August 8 was the first of these events and was a prelude of things to come. The Trump campaign had hoped that their candidate would present a substantive case for his election, including his accomplishments and important policy prescriptions. But that didn’t happen. Trump has an inexplicable inability to stay on message and quickly defaults to his old playbook of personal grievances, untruths, bizarre theories, and petty personal attacks. The Trump campaign, and even Trump himself realizes that Harris is vulnerable on some key policy issues, namely the border and inflation. Rather than sticking to a winning strategy against Harris, Trump resorts to personal attacks, nonsensical theories and blatant lies. Below are a few choice examples of Trump’s failing message.  Personal Attacks on Harris: The personal attacks by Trump won’t stop because he claims that he is entitled to them due to the mistreatment he has received from the Biden/Harris Administration. The personal attacks are petty and undignified for a candidate running for the highest office in the country. Here are some of Trump’s recent public comments about Harris:
  Bizarre Theories and Nonsense:
 Untruths and Scaremongering: Trump has always been fast and loose with the truth, but the rapidity with which he tells lies has reached a fever pitch with the rise of Kamala Harris. This makes it difficult to accurately access anything that Donald Trump says, which is why some people dismiss anything he says outright, and others support him out of blind faith. Here are just a few notable lines on his current play list:
 The Democratic Party came to the realization that their presidential candidate was unelectable in the days following the June 27 presidential debate. President Biden’s age, mental acuity and physical stamina were preventing him from being an effective spokesperson for the party and could no longer assure victory in the November election. Party leaders persuaded Biden to drop out of the race for the good of the party and the country. After several agonizing weeks, Biden did the right thing by dropping out of the race and passing the torch to Kamala Harris.  Today the Republican Party is worried that their candidate may be slipping and turning off voters that they will need in November. In many of his public appearances Donald Trump comes across as paranoid, delusional, and stuck in the past. Campaign officials are frustrated with Trump because they are well aware that Kamala Harris is vulnerable on key issues, particularly border security and the economy. If Trump could stay on message his campaign might have a winning strategy. Trump’s dystopian view of America does not play well against Harris’s joyful optimism. Trump should take a page from Ronald Reagan’s playbook, who with hope and optimism portrayed America as that shining city on a hill. It is Donald Trump’s election to lose, and if he does, he has no one to blame but himself. Trump is already setting the stage to contest the election if he falls short on November 5, 2024. But that is a topic for another day.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary, please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: [email protected].
Thanks, Armchair American  Dear President Biden, I voted for you in 2020 without hesitation because Donald Trump posed a clear and present danger to our democracy and had to be defeated. My vote proved justified as Trump’s lies about “the stolen election” led to one of the darkest days in U.S. history, January 6, 2021. Mr. President your many years of government experience and calm demeanor were just what the country needed to move beyond the chaos and trauma of the Trump presidency. When you ran for president in 2020 you were already well into your 70’s, and many Americans had doubts even then whether you had the physical stamina and mental vigor to take on such a demanding job. You calmed people’s fears about your age by saying that “I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else”. At that time Mr. President you campaigned with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Cory Baker, who you called “۰۰۰an entire generation of leaders”, and “۰۰۰the future of this country”. In other speeches you said that “I view myself as a transition candidate”. You portrayed yourself as a one term president to steady the ship of state before transitioning to a new generation of leaders. Now is the time to begin that transition Mr. President. In the CNN debate last month your goal was to show the American people that you have the cognitive ability to beat Donald Trump and to serve four more years as president. You failed in spectacular fashion. Your performance on the debate stage cannot be explained away due to a cold, jetlag or fatigue. No one is buying your explanation that you simply had a bad night. It will take a candidate with physical stamina and sharp mental faculties to defeat Donald Trump in the fall and to lead this country for the next four years. The American people don’t believe that you are up to the challenge. Your recent interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos did nothing to quell concerns over whether you have the mental acuity to serve another term as president. It proved to me that you are not being honest with yourself or the American people about your health. The shocked reaction to your debate performance shows that your administration has shielded you from public scrutiny and has not been transparent with what is now apparent to all. You are not the man the American people elected in 2020, and your fitness to stay in the presidential race is in doubt. Mr. President, the majority of registered voters were never enthusiastic about a rematch between you and Donald Trump, and the distaste for such a rematch only grows. You have stated that you are the most qualified person to be president and to defeat Donald Trump. But your poll numbers have taken a substantial hit since the debate, and you are now trailing him nationally and in the all-important battleground states. As an incumbent president you should be trouncing your opponent who is a convicted felon, serial liar, and responsible for the January 6th Capitol riot. Your refusal to acknowledge your negative poll numbers shows how out of touch you are with the sentiments in the country. It is hubris to think that you are the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump in the fall. You have criticized the Republic Party as being a cult of personality built around one man. Show the American people that the Democrat Party is a party of principles and bigger than one person. It is not too late to pull out of the race on your own terms and preserve your legacy as a successful president. If you don’t get out, the next four months will be a nonstop test of your mental acuity. Every speech you make, every interview, every utterance will be analyzed for any signs of decline. Your record of successes and the issues important to the American people will be drowned out by a continual sound loop of your verbal stumbles gleefully played by the Republicans. This will take a toll on you personally and politically and will be a drag on other Democrats down the ballot. President Biden, if you put your political clout behind Vice President Kamala Harris it will ignite a spark under the moribund campaign, and improve the Democrat’s chances with independents, undecided voters and those sitting on the sidelines. The decision to stay in the race is entirely yours Mr. President, but the American people will live with the consequences for years to come. Don’t go down in history as the president who oversaw the transition of the United States from a democracy to an autocracy and the ascendancy of King Donald I to the presidential throne. Thank you for your service Mr. President. Sincerely, A very concerned voter. July 8, 2024  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: [email protected]. Thanks, Armchair American Update: On July 21 President Biden announced that he would end his presidential re-election campaign. In a speech to the nation he said "The defense of democracy is more important than any title." He went on to say that nothing can come in the way of saving democracy, and that includes personal ambition.
Thank you Mr. President for putting country ahead of self.  In September of last year, the Republican lead House of Representatives opened a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. In a blog that I wrote at the time, I stated that the inquiry was politically motivated to appease Donald Trump and to damage President Biden in the next presidential election. I stand by that statement. The justification for the inquiry was that Joe Biden was involved in corrupt business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Hunter Biden sat on the board of directors of Burisma while his father was Vice-President of the United States. The Republican’s smoking gun against Joe Biden was information provided to the FBI by an informant that claimed Joe and Hunter Biden were paid $5 million in bribes by Burisma in return for protection against a Ukrainian government investigation. Despite numerous warnings from the FBI that the information provided by the informant was uncorroborated and its credibility unknown, the Republicans made it the centerpiece of their case against Joe Biden. Republican Representative James Comer, the chairman of the Oversight Committee called the source of the allegation “highly credible”. Republican Representative Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee Chairman, called the information provided by the FBI informant the “most corroborating evidence we have”. The informant’s statement, obtained from the FBI, was read into the Congressional Record and included as a “key” document into the impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden.  It has recently been made public that Alexander Smirnov was the FBI informant who made the allegations against the Bidens in 2020. He was arrested last month in Las Vegas on charges that he had fabricated the story to discredit Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential race. The two-count indictment against Mr. Smirnov alleges that he made false statements to the FBI and falsified records in a federal investigation. During the investigation into Mr. Smirnov’s activities, federal prosecutors have determined that he is actively peddling new lies about the Bidens that could impact the current presidential race, and that he has recently been in contact with a number of Russian officials. As a result, federal prosecutors have successfully petitioned the court to keep Mr. Smirnov in jail while he awaits trial.  Since Alexander Smirnov’s arrest, Democrats have called for the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden to end. But the House impeachment managers have vowed to press on. They are more interested in keeping the investigation into Joe Biden alive and in the press than they are with the facts. James Comer and Jim Jordan are beholden to Donald Trump, not to the truth. This is an election year, and it is politically expedient to hang the prospect of impeachment over the head of Joe Biden and stay on the right side of Donald Trump. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  In one of my blogs last year I raised the question “Would Ukraine be better off if Trump was president?” The answer, for me at least, is a resounding no! Without the financial and military support from NATO countries, Ukraine would not be able to stand up to the military might of Russia. Russia would overrun Ukraine’s territory and annex it, much in the same way as it did to the Crimea in 2014. Soon Ukraine would no longer exist as an independent country.  The United States’ policies toward aiding Ukraine, under the leadership of President Biden, have strengthened the Western alliance and made NATO more united than it has been in decades. Finland was recently admitted to the alliance, and President Biden helped negotiate a deal with Turkey’s President Erdogan to remove the final roadblock to allowing Sweden to join NATO. President Biden also helped to secure commitments from all NATO member nations to allow Ukraine to join the alliance once the war with Russia is over. Under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, an attack on one member is regarded as an attack on all of them. If Ukraine became a member of NATO before the end of the war, it would put the United States and other member nations at war with Russia. The United States is simply not willing to go to war with Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. In addition to escalating and widening the war by involving all NATO countries, Putin is just crazy enough to use nuclear weapons if he felt backed into a corner.  Last week President Biden traveled to Helsinki to congratulate Finland’s president on becoming the newest member of NATO. During his time in Helsinki the president also met with the leaders of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. President Biden gave assurances of cooperation between our countries and conveyed the United States’ commitment to NATO. The contrast between President Biden’s recent Helsinki Summit and the one attended by President Trump in 2018 couldn’t be more different. At the summit in 2018 Trump met privately with Vladimir Putin. After the meeting Trump sided with Russia against his own U.S. intelligence agencies, disavowing the findings that Russia had indeed interfered in the 2016 elections. Trump stated during a press conference that he believed Putin, who had told him that Russia had not meddled in the U.S. elections. This left many of the United States’ allies in Europe shaken, questioning whether or not they could rely on security commitments from the United States going forward.  Despite Donald Trump’s attempts to rewrite history, it has been extensively reported over the years that he was no friend of NATO. On several occasions Trump told his top national security advisors that he wanted to pull out of NATO. If not for his chief of staff John F. Kelley and his national security advisor John Bolton, he might have done just that. He called the alliance obsolete and berated member states for not paying their fair share. Even though these claims were not true, it undermined confidence in the alliance and created division between members. In short, President Trump left the future of NATO in doubt, and President Biden has unified and strengthen it.
The COVID pandemic taught us that the world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. Economic and strategic relations between nations are vital, and that is particularly true for the United States. Tackling worldwide threats such as disease, climate change, and microplastic contamination of the environment will require strong relationships and cooperation among nations. It would be foolish to think that the United States has the resources and will to go it alone against military and competitive threats from the likes of China, Russia, and Iran. The United States cannot go it alone. Without security alliances such as NATO, and partnerships in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region, we will go the way of ancient Rome, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union. International relationships and alliances are key to the long-term prosperity and survival of our country.  ChatGPT or any form of artificial intelligence were not used in the writing of this blog.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  Only in Washington D.C. can you get congratulated for simply doing your job. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy both took a victory lap last week with the signing into law of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The President and the Speaker did the right thing by reaching a compromise deal leading to legislation to lift the debt ceiling, thus avoiding a fiscal calamity. The debt ceiling drama, which had consumed Washington D.C. for the past several weeks is over for now. Let’s hope that Congress can get back to work on more important issues, such as immigration reform, border security, and gun violence. As I stated in a previous blog on the subject, the debt ceiling showdown could have been avoided if the President pushed through a debt ceiling resolution last fall when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Now, with the House of Representatives in the hands of Republicans, Biden had to move away from his position of not negotiating to lift the debt ceiling. It was inevitable that the President would have to negotiate with Speaker McCarthy to get any legislation passed.  Highlights of the Debt Ceiling Legislation:
 In the Fine Print:
 In the end, the debt ceiling legislation was a win for both President Biden and Speaker McCarthy. The President can claim success for signing into law a truly bipartisan piece of legislation and minimizing draconian budget cuts that Republicans were demanding. McCarthy can claim that he extracted some spending cuts and imposed new spending discipline on the Democrats. He also showed that he could lead the House and get results in the face of strong opposition from the conservative members of his party who demanded far steeper spending cuts. It will be interesting to see if he is punished by the Freedom Caucus for not extracting more spending cuts from the Democrats.  The spending “cuts” won’t put a dent in the massive federal debt and ongoing budget deficits that this country faces. But at least the debt ceiling negotiations got the federal government talking about the need for fiscal discipline. But it will be up to the American electorate to demand that tough choices be made, sooner rather than later. The longer the tough fiscal choices are ignored, the more painful the solutions will become.  My views on the debt ceiling have not changed. I still think that it should be abolished. Government debates over pubic debt and borrowing limits should be part of the appropriations and budgeting processes. It is a little late to think about how to pay for something after you have already ordered it.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  I previously wrote about the debt ceiling in October of 2021. It was the last time a divided Congress threatened the financial stability of the country, and indeed the world, by withholding support for increasing the amount of money the U.S. Treasury can legally borrow to pay its bills. The only thing different this time is the cast of characters in Washington D.C.  The federal government reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling on January 19, 2023. It took the government decades to reach this level of debt, and is the result of tax cuts and spending increases from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stated that through the use of “extraordinary measures” (fancy accounting), the federal government will be able to continue to pay its bills through early June. Congress must increase the debt ceiling in order for the Treasury to raise the money needed to pay the bills that Congress has already approved. If this doesn’t happen, the Treasury will run out of money and not be able to pay all of its financial obligations. No reasonable person wants this to happen, but it is a test of the new Congress and President Biden as to how the current impasse gets resolved.  President Biden’s Position: The President has stated that he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling. He wants it increased with no strings attached. President Biden’s refusal to negotiate with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stems from his experience during the 2011 debt ceiling negotiations between the Obama Administration and Congressional Republicans. When negotiations broke down, the United States suffered its first ever credit downgrade, financial markets were rattled, and recovery from the Great Recession was threatened. Biden pledged that he would never again allow debt ceiling negotiations threaten the financial stability of the United States. President Biden should have pushed through a debt ceiling resolution last fall when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. I believe that he feared that such a move would have appeared too partisan. To that I say, “so what”. It’s better than allowing Congress to threaten the financial credibility of the country, and diverting legislative attention away from more important issues.  Speaker McCarthy’s Position: During his fight for the House Speakership last month, Kevin McCarthy assured the ultraconservative members of his party that he would use the debt ceiling as leverage to force budget cuts. The new House Speaker has met with the President in recent days to extract spending cuts in exchange for a debt ceiling increase. McCarthy wants an 8% reduction to the current budget, which would bring spending down to 2022 budget levels. Apparently, the meeting was not a negotiation but simply a discussion, with each side stating their position. But McCarthy has not shown the President, or the American people, his proposed budget. He has spoken in general terms, but has not defined which budget items would be cut and to what extent. Speaker McCarthy has mentioned that he would like to see changes to major entitlement programs, and to cut annual spending that funds the operating budgets of federal agencies. All well and good, just show us your plan. I don’t think that McCarthy will be able to gain much ground with the President on this issue anytime soon. The government won’t run out of cash until sometime in June, which gives McCarthy more time. This will be a real test of his leadership abilities, and show just how secure his position as Speaker of the House really is.  Do Away with the Debt Ceiling: Paying our federal debts should be an automatic act, not subject to the whims of political brinksmanship. The debt ceiling doesn’t control federal spending, and needlessly burdens Congress with legislation when its time is needed for much more urgent matters. It often brings the Congress to a standstill and prevents the Treasury from performing its functions efficiently. It’s time for the United States to join most other industrialized countries and abolish the federal debt ceiling altogether.  The fact that the U.S. government is on the verge of adding more debt to the $31.4 trillion already owed is incomprehensible to most Americans. Interest payments alone on the national debt amounted to $475 billion in the last fiscal year. It will be significantly higher this year. That is money not available for social programs, infrastructure spending, or any other national priority. An alternative to borrowing more money to fund public spending is to collect more taxes. But one of the first bills passed by the new 118th Congress was to rescind the $80 billion in new funding for the I.R.S., passed in the last Congress. That makes it hard for me to believe that the Republicans are serious about getting the government’s fiscal house in order. Fortunately, the bill will never get approved by the Democratic held Senate.  The discussion over government spending and public debt is a discussion worth having. But having that discussion when the debt ceiling has already been reached, is a little late. The money has already been spent. The time for that debate is during the presidential election season. Substantive discussions around government spending, paying down the national debt, and other fiscal initiatives would be welcome, and long overdue. Bring on the debate!  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  The year 2021 started off with so much promise. COVID vaccines had just become available and Joe Biden was about to become President. But the optimism of the new year was shattered for me on January 6th with the Capitol riot. This led to another impeachment of Donald Trump, ongoing Congressional investigations, and a widening of the partisan divide. Even with the occasional rays of sunlight shining through the fog of COVID, the dark clouds were never far away. But the year wasn’t all bad, and if you were smart enough to tune out the news and social media banter, you may be in a pretty good place right now. Job prospects have rarely looked better, the economy is doing well, despite the spike in inflation, and many of us are spending more time outdoors and with family and friends. It is actually raining in much of California as I write this, and the record Sierra snowpack for December brings much needed drought relief. The good news often gets overshadowed by the bad. My New Year’s resolution is to focus more on the good and turn down the volume on all the negativity and bad news. The change-over from one year to the next is a time of renewal, and gives us hope that things will be better in the future. It is also a time for reflection of the year just past and for the prospects that a new year may bring. This blog is about some of the biggest stories of 2021 and my reflections upon them.  COVID and Vaccines: The COVID pandemic continued to dominate headlines and our lives throughout 2021. All Americans ages 16 and above became eligible to receive a COVID vaccine starting on April 19, 2021.That was the month that I got vaccinated and was happy to drive 120 miles and stand in line for two hours to receive my first shot. Children ages 12-15 became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine in May. This brought a lot of optimism and it seemed as if the country was emerging from darkness into the light. But the virus had other ideas with the emergence of the Delta variant, which became the predominate variant in the U.S. by the end of June. The Delta variant caused more infections and spread faster than previous variants. The vaccines proved less effective at preventing infection from the new variant, but they remained highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. In late October the FDA authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children ages 5-11.  All of the approved COVID vaccines lose effectiveness over time. Booster doses are required as immunity diminishes. In October the FDA authorized the use of booster doses for all adults, six months following the 2nd shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and two months following the J+J vaccine. At the start of 2022, Pfizer booster shots were authorized for children ages 12-15, and the waiting period changed from six months to five for all recipients. It is now clear that a full vaccine regimen includes the initial shots plus the booster. The CDC should begin using the term “full vaccination” to mean the initial shots plus the booster, and eliminate the word “booster” altogether. It is confusing, and gives the impression that the booster shot is optional and not part of the full vaccine regimen.  The Omicron variant was first detected in the U.S. on December 1st, and by the end of the month was the dominant variant. It arrived just in time to disrupt holiday plans here and around the world. It appears to spread at a rate 2-3 times faster than Delta and has resulted in a surge in hospitalizations. The final week of December saw an average daily infection rate of nearly 400,000. The actual total is probably much higher, since many people with breakthrough cases don’t seek medical attention. There is a silver lining here. According to studies from South Africa and Britain, the Omicron variant appears milder and is far less likely to result in hospitalization than any other variant. Research suggests that Omicron is less damaging to the lungs than Delta, and is mainly limited to the nose, throat, and windpipe, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/02/new-studies-reinforce-belief-that-omicron-is-less-likely-to-damage-lungs.  We should never forget that COVID vaccines have been a huge success. According to the CDC, unvaccinated people are ten times as likely to become hospitalized and ten times as likely to die from COVID as vaccinated people. Even though the cases of breakthrough infections have increased due to the highly infectious Omicron variant, the vast majority of people getting seriously ill and dying from COVID are the unvaccinated. To date, approximately 63% of the U.S. population is vaccinated, but only about 30% of the vaccinated adults have received a booster shot. There are millions of Americans who have not been vaccinated, and billions are yet to be vaccinated around the world. This leaves a lot of hosts for new COVID variants to emerge. For this pandemic to end, more people need to get vaccinated, and wearing appropriate face masks in public should become routine.  Capitol Riot: The work of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol is far from over. The committee is likely to release an interim report by the summer and a final report sometime this fall. I hope that the thoroughness of the investigation and the timing of the final report’s release is not influenced by the mid-term elections. Meanwhile, Federal prosecutors are busy conducting investigations of individuals who may have been criminally involved in the January 6th riot. To date, more than 725 people have been charged with various crimes pertaining to their activities in the Capitol on that day. Earlier this month a new law was passed which grants the Capitol Police Chief the power to unilaterally request emergency backup from the National Guard and federal law enforcement agencies. This legislation will allow the Capitol Police to react more swiftly to emergencies. It shouldn’t have taken such a massive breach in our Capitol’s security for a bill of this type to be enacted. I guess it takes a crisis for anything to get through Congress on a bipartisan basis.  President Biden’s Legislative Agenda: President Biden’s triumphs were overshadowed by his failure to pass his massive “Build Back Better” social agenda by the end of the year. His job approval ratings ran as high as 55% near the start of his presidency, but have sunk to the low 40s by the end of the year. In March, the President signed into law the $1.9 Trillion “American Rescue Plan”. This was a big victory for the President. It provided much needed funding to fight the COVID pandemic, and it provided economic stimulus to states, counties, cities and families.  The other major legislative victory for the President was the passage of the $1.2 Trillion “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” in November. This important piece of legislation was passed on a bipartisan basis, which is no small achievement. But the Democrats were not content to end the spending spree there, and the progressive wing of the party pushed the President to move forward with his multi-trillion dollar “Build Back Better” social spending plan. This backfired on the President when a few moderate Democrats in the Senate pushed back due to the price tag. The plan is not dead, but it will be scaled back and will consume a lot of energy as the politicos turn their attention to the mid-term elections.  I think that the President overplayed his hand with “Build Back Better”. As several others have remarked, nobody elected Joe Biden to be FDR, they elected him to be moderate and stop the chaos. The Democrats have very slim margins in the House and the Senate. There is no mandate to get big progressive bills through Congress. Joe Biden should have known better.
Economy: The economy came roaring back in 2021 due to pent up demand and trillions of dollars from stimulus programs. But as everyone has experienced, inflation has reared its ugly head. Consumer prices rose by 5.7% in November from a year earlier. Anyone who has purchased gasoline, groceries, and household goods in recent months has felt the pinch. Housing prices, automobiles and electronics have also seen significant price increases over the past year. Initially the economists thought the inflation would be transitory due to COVID related supply chain disruptions. But with low unemployment rates fueling wage increases, inflation is not going to be so easy to tame. The Federal Reserve is poised to step in and end its bond purchasing program, and begin to increase interest rates in the new year.  End of the Afghanistan War: The U.S. completed its evacuation of all U.S. military troops from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021, marking the end of the twenty-year war. Any good that resulted from the war was overshadowed by the collapse of the U.S. backed government and the rapid disintegration of the Afghan military, which allowed the Taliban to regain control of Afghanistan. Today Afghanistan is facing an economic and humanitarian crisis. Billions of dollars of the country’s assets are frozen in the U.S, and most international aid has stopped. Despite pledges to the contrary, the Taliban has reverted to its repressive policies of the past. Severe restrictions have been placed on women, and many democratic institutions have been dismantled. The U.S. military’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan and the rapid takeover by the Taliban will be used against the Democrats in the midterm elections and beyond. I still believe that it was the right decision for the U.S. to exit Afghanistan. But President Biden’s much heralded foreign policy expertise and his knowledge of the situation, came up woefully short.  Mike Pence is the Unsung Hero of the Year: Yes, Mike Pence, the former vice president! Mike Pence was Donald Trump’s last hope against the certification of the 2020 Presidential election. All of the dozens of legal challenges to the outcome of the election filed on behalf of Trump, failed in court or were tossed out. Trump had been convinced, falsely, by his lawyers and consultants that the vice president had the constitutional authority to prevent the certification of the electoral votes due to potential voter fraud. Pence could decertify those votes he disagreed with and send them back to the states. Friendly state legislatures would then send back to Congress a new slate of electors in favor of Donald Trump, giving him the electoral victory. Mike Pence was under tremendous pressure by the President and his lawyers and consultants, to enact the plan to decertify the election. For his part, Mike Pence consulted Congressional colleagues, constitutional experts, and a former vice president on the matter. Pence was rightly convinced that he had no constitutional authority to do anything other than to count the electoral votes already certified by the individual states. Critics of Mike Pence said that he was just doing his job. Sure, but if Pence had gone along with the President and failed to do his job, this country would have been thrown into a constitutional crisis which would have caused irreparable harm to our democracy. Mike Pence also paid a big personal price for defying President Trump. He damaged his standing with the Republican base, and his prospects for the White House have vanished.  Donald Trump could not have hoped for a more loyal vice president than Mike Pence, and what does he get as a reward? He is thrown under the bus by Donald Trump who turns him into the villain of the Republican Party. This episode shows the true character of Donald Trump. He demands loyalty from others, but he gives none in return. Contrast this to the character of Mike Pence who refused to be evacuated from the Capitol on January 6th as Trump loyalists stormed the building shouting “Hang Mike Pence”. Mike Pence did not leave the Capitol until Joe Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election. That was an historic moment for our country, and if not for Mike Pence this country would never be the same.  The Most Important Story You Might Have Missed: The Associated Press conducted an exhaustive review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-arizona-donald-trump-voter-registration-tucson-c64bba90b8c074bf8bdfd2c751b6b0f2. The review took place over several months, involving over 300 local election offices in the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of the 25.5 million ballots cast for president in these states, less than 475 proved to be fraudulent. Even if all 475 of these votes were removed from Joe Biden’s tally, it would have had zero impact on the outcome of the election. Every one of those fraudulent votes was cast by an individual acting alone. There was no collusion to rig the election and no wide-spread voter fraud. Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” is just that; a big lie.  There were a lot of big stories that I didn’t comment on, such as voting rights, abortion, and Joe Manchin’s clash with the President. But these stories will be with us in the new year, and there will be plenty of time to comment on them as they continue to develop. Most of the big news out of 2021 didn’t have much in the “feel good” department. Many of us have COVID fatigue, so it’s easy to overlook the good that occurred. The pandemic will end, and most of us will get through it unscathed, although not unchanged. If nothing else, we will learn to appreciate what is truly important: family, friends and good health.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021. What's in the Plan, and Where is the Money Coming From?3/20/2021  On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill is intended to speed up the U.S.’s recovery from the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount of money in this plan is huge, and that was intentional. Joe Biden was the point man for President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan in 2009 to help lift the country out of the “Great Recession”. But in retrospect, many economists feel that the stimulus was too small, resulting in a slow and sluggish economic recovery. President Biden does not want to repeat that mistake. The amount of money in this act is massive, but is it all needed, and where will the money come from to pay for it?  What’s in the American Rescue Plan Act: The act contains over 600 pages of legislation that very few law makers have read, much less fully comprehended. The entire act can be found at the following link for your reading pleasure: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text#toc-HF220ECA2BFFA40A1BE08D043923EEE1F. The American Rescue Plan builds upon the two previous COVID relief bills: the $2.2 trillion “Cares Act” signed into law in March of 2020, and the $900 billion coronavirus response and relief appropriations, part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act”, signed into law in January of this year. Here is a summary of the major spending provisions in the new $1.9 trillion rescue plan: 
 Where Will the $1.9 Trillion Come From: The U.S. has already accumulated a budget deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2021, of just over one trillion dollars, https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/deficit-tracker/ . This means that the U.S. Treasury cannot fund the $1.9 trillion from current or near-term revenues. So how about the money the government has stockpiled for a rainy day? There isn’t any. In fact, the U.S. is sitting on a national debt of over $23 trillion. So, the government’s options are to increase revenues (taxes), sell off assets, borrow the money, or a combination of these. Which option do you think the government will take? You’re right! The government will just borrow more money. The $1.9 trillion will come from the sale of U.S. government bonds by the Treasury. This is a huge amount of bond sales and it has the potential of siphoning money away from other bond markets essential for funding corporations, local governments and municipalities. Typically, this would result in a bond issuer increasing the yield on the bond to entice buyers. This could trigger higher interest rates and slow the economy. But the Federal Reserve is committed to preventing that from happening. The Fed has recently stated that it will continue to purchase as many bonds as necessary to keep interest rates low, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/powell-signals-federal-reserve-will-keep-aiding-economy-with-bond-buying.  How the U.S. will pay off its mounting debt, and whether or not all the new spending will lead to inflation, are real concerns. These are big issues, and there is no clear consensus among economists. The Federal Reserve will be monitoring the situation closely. Hopefully there will be a nice boost to the GDP without overheating the economy. We don't want the Fed to put the breaks on by increasing interest rates before the unemployment rate is back to pre-pandemic levels.  What I Like About the Rescue Plan:
 What I Don’t Like About the Rescue Plan: The rescue plan is being sold to the American people as essential in order to boost the economy damaged by the pandemic, and to provide financial support to individuals and families who have lost jobs or who have suffered financially as a result of the pandemic. I cannot support any provision in this plan that does not promote these objectives. If I had to guess I would say that only about one half of the spending in the plan supports these objectives. Here are some of my specific objections to the rescue plan:
 The American Rescue Plan of 2021 is very popular with the American people. This is not surprising since the vast majority of them will receive direct cash payments. For those individuals who have lost their jobs or have experienced financial hardships as a result of the pandemic, I am all in favor of the cash payments. These people need the money and will spend it, unlike many higher income families who won’t. President Biden wanted the amount of money in the rescue plan to be huge, and he did not disappoint. But much of this money is poorly targeted, and in my opinion, not needed to get the economy rolling again. The economy is already picking up as more people become vaccinated, the shutdowns end, and kids get back to school. Let’s just hope that the economy doesn’t overheat with all the excess stimulus, causing the Federal Reserve to put on the breaks before those sectors damaged by the pandemic have recovered. I hope that President Biden and his advisors know what they are doing.  Otherwise we could end up here:  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: [email protected].
Thanks, Armchair American  For all intents and purposes the 2020 presidential election is finally over. The Electoral College met on December 14th in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and cast their electoral votes. The Electoral College has spoken and the winner of the 2020 presidential election is (drum roll please), Joe Biden! It was a very contentious election, and President Trump and his allies have tried every legal maneuver possible to have the election results overturned. But the numbers don’t lie. Here is the election scorecard, which even the most hardened partisan cannot overlook: 2020 Presidential Election Score Card Votes/Challenges Trump Biden Popular Vote 74,223,753 (46.9%) 81,283,495 (51.4%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recounts in Wisconsin and Georgia √ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lower Courts Lawsuits (50+) √ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supreme Court Rulings (2) √ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Electoral College Votes 232 306 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Winner √ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even before all of the votes from the November 3rd election were tallied, the President’s campaign and his allies, began filing over 50 lawsuits in various jurisdictions. The lawsuits contested the election outcome due to alleged fraud or voting irregularities. Some of these lawsuits are still pending, but the majority were thrown out or decided in Joe Biden’s favor due to lack of evidence. The first Supreme Court challenge, to reverse the election results in Pennsylvania, was denied due to lack of merit. The second Supreme Court challenge, filed by the Texan Attorney General, was denied due to lack of standing (he didn’t have the legal right to sue other states over their election laws). Much to the chagrin of President Trump, the separation of powers is still working. Here is a reference to all of the legal challenges: https://www.9and10news.com/2020/12/10/status-of-election-related-legal-challenges/. The partial recount in Wisconsin and the full hand recount in Georgia, both went in Joe Biden’s favor.  On the floor of the Senate today, Leader Mitch McConnel acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College. He went on to congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris on their victory. On January 6, 2021 Congress will meet in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winner of the presidential election. For the sake of the country, let’s hope that Donald Trump and his millions of admirers accept the outcome of the election so that we can work together on the challenges ahead.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. President-elect Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris will become the first woman Vice President in our history! Donald Trump’s campaign played to voters’ fears, while Joe Biden’s campaign appealed to voters’ hopes. At a time when this country is more politically divided than ever, who do you think has a better chance of uniting us? The Republican Party should be proud of how close the race was, and the seats that they picked up in Congress. But they need to get behind a leader who brings out the best in Americans, not the worst. A leader who can rise above petty politics, who sees America as one people, and works to unite rather than divide. As predicted, the coronavirus did not mysteriously disappear on November 4th, and the stock market did not crash. Joe Biden is a decent and honest man. Let’s all get behind Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and help to confront the formidable challenges ahead. God Bless America.   President Trump and the Republican Party are doing their best to label Joe Biden as a socialist. This has become a prominent message coming out of the Trump campaign. Donald Trump has called Joe Biden a “Trojan horse for socialism”, and Biden’s “socialist agenda” was the republican’s favorite boogeyman at last summer’s convention. So, is Joe Biden intent upon unleashing a socialist agenda, bringing down capitalism and altering the American way of life? It all depends on your definition of socialism. Let’s take a closer look at socialism and whether or not Joe Biden’s agenda fits the definition.  Socialism: Various forms of socialism have been around for centuries. Socialism as it is now understood, emerged in response to the extreme economic and social changes experienced by the working class during the Industrial Revolution. Wealth disparities grew and working conditions deteriorated during this period.
Socialism is an economic and political system based on public ownership of the means of production, which includes the machinery, tools, factories, and natural resources to produce the goods required by society.(https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialism.asp). Under socialism, individuals can still own property, but industrial production, natural resources, and infrastructure are communally owned and managed by a democratically elected government (the exception being communist countries that have authoritarian central governments). Any surplus or profit from these communally owned resources benefit the citizens. In a pure socialist system, all property is communally owned, a strong central government controls the economic production of goods and services, and provides citizens with their basic necessities including food, housing, medical care and education. The government essentially redistributes wealth and narrows the gap between rich and poor. There are no modern-day countries that have a pure socialist system. Cuba and China have strong elements of socialist market economies. These are actually mixed economies, where private enterprise and free markets are contributing more each year to the overall economic output. In China, privately owned companies generate from 33% to 70% of the GDP. In Cuba approximately 20% of the workforce is engaged in private enterprise. China is thriving principally because of its embrace of capitalism and the development of a market-based economy. Countries such as Venezuela and North Korea, which cling to their stringent socialist models, are economic failures and their citizens are suffering mightily. Most countries have mixed economies which contain some degree of capitalism and a number of socialist policies. The United States has a capitalist economy, controlled by government regulation, and backed up by entitlement programs. Free public education, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are all considered socialist programs. When enacted, these programs were considered very controversial, and there was concern that they would lead the country down the road to socialism. But can you imagine doing away with these programs today?
Social Democracy: Many consider Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to be socialist countries, but they are not. They are social democracies. Social democracies have free market economies paired with high taxes to support generous government entitlement programs. Individuals and corporations own a significant portion of the capital and means of production. Democratically elected governments redistribute wealth through high levels of taxation and strict regulations on labor and capital. In return for high taxes, most citizens are entitled to free education (through university), universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, subsidized housing (in some cases) and generous pensions. This system works well in the Scandinavian countries because there is a high level of trust in the government and government institutions. Distrust of the government in the United States is high, and therefore most citizens take a dim view of high taxes and wealth redistribution.  Joe Biden’s Policy Proposals: I view Joe Biden as a moderate democrat. In an effort to unify the party he has had to move further to the left to appease some of the progressives (Bernie Sanders). Some of Biden’s policy proposals call for big spending. So does that make him a socialist? Not according to the previous discussion on socialism. Let’s examine some of Joe Biden’s proposals that the republicans claim will lead us down the road to socialism:
A comprehensive list of all of Joe Biden’s policy proposals can be viewed at his website: (https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/#).  Many of Joe Biden’s policy proposals look like big government tax and spend programs. But on closer inspection they are really long overdue investments in America. Both political parties have argued that a big infrastructure bill is needed. I can think of no greater investment in our future than in education. Giving people the tools that they need to work and thrive makes them less dependent on the government, not more. In my view, smart investments in people, infrastructure, and American jobs, will pay dividends well into the future. Spending on small businesses, private sector jobs, green technology, and required infrastructure upgrades, is anything but socialism.  Make no mistake, it doesn’t matter which political party is in office, government spending is massive and it will only get larger. The political parties just have different priorities for that spending. Even during a roaring economy, annual budget deficits under Donald Trump reached one trillion dollars, and that was prior to the start of the pandemic. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2020/02/01/trumps-deficits-are-racing-past-obamas/#380f76348199). At least Joe Biden is prepared to increase taxes to pay for his budget priorities. The republicans fool themselves into thinking that tax cuts will “starve the beast” and force lower government spending. In reality, the deficits and debt march steadily higher. High budget deficits to support low taxes might be an effective reelection strategy, but it is a disastrous long-term strategy. The president has already passed trillions of dollars in legislation to get the crippled economy going again, and he will pass legislation to spend trillions more in the coming weeks. That doesn’t sound like a laissez-faire, free market economy to me. So be careful who you label “socialist” Mr. President.  Joe Biden’s overall policy package is not socialist. It calls for a lot of government spending, but it is mostly offset by eliminating President Trump’s tax reductions of 2017. Many socialist democracies around the world are thriving because they have found a balance between high taxes and the services that the citizens want. This country wants the benefits of a social democracy but is unwilling to pay for them. At least the democrats are more honest about it than are the republicans. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: [email protected]. Thanks, Armchair American  The Democratic and Republican Presidential Conventions are now over and the sprint to the November 3rd election begins. As painful as it was, I watched all four nights of each convention and have some opinions on what I saw. With the country still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, it was the best opportunity for each candidate to make their pitch to a mass audience. Watching the conventions one after the other had me wondering whether the two parties were talking about the same America. The portrait of America painted by each candidate and their place in it, could not have been more different. It can best be described by that keen chronicler of the human condition Charles Dickens, “It was best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…..” The firework displays have ended and the fact checks have all been made. Now we will take a look at the value of conventions, the highlights from the eight nights, and examine whether or not each candidate accomplished what they set out to achieve. Since 1832 every major political party has held a national convention to nominate its presidential candidate. Primary elections did not exist until the 20th century, so the main purpose of the convention was to select the party’s candidate for president. FDR was the first president to accept the nomination in person at the 1932 Democratic Convention. It wasn’t until 1972 that primary elections determined who each party’s candidate for president would be. Today, the conventions are mainly celebratory events and the nomination of the party’s candidate for president is a mere formality. Party business is conducted during the convention, but what the public sees on TV is a celebration of the party faithful and a major promotion of the nominee. Due to coronavirus pandemic, both conventions were delayed by about one month and for the most part they were conducted remotely. This race is going to be a lot closer than the polls and talking heads currently predict. Biden should comfortably win the popular vote, but I think the Electoral College will determine who the next president will be. Therefore, the swing states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will be receiving a lot of attention by the candidates. Even before the conventions, most voters had already decided who they will vote for in November. About 13% of the voters are still up for grabs, and it is this group that the candidates will hope to sway through their convention messaging. This post will focus on the Democratic Convention and the next on the Republican Convention.  Democratic National Convention: The convention took place on August 17-20, and officially took place at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee. While the convention was choreographed from Milwaukee, it was mostly held remotely from various venues across the country. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris gave their acceptance speeches remotely from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. The overall theme for the convention was “Uniting America”.  Biden’s Goals for the Convention:
So began four days of personalizing Joe Biden and slamming Donald Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic and his divisive policies. A major objective of the first day of the convention was to unify the party. All of the major candidates who had run against Biden in the primaries were featured. Bernie Sanders gave a forceful endorsement of Biden and urged his supporters to rally behind Biden to “remove the most dangerous president in history”. Several Republicans spoke in favor of Joe Biden, most notably former Ohio Governor John Kasich who said that Donald Trump had betrayed the principles of the Republican Party.  Kristin Urquiza gave a moving tribute to her father Mark, who had died from COVID-19. Her father was a Trump supporter who had listened to the president downplay the virus. In one of the best lines of the night, Kristin said of her father, “His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life”.  The best speech of the night was delivered by Michelle Obama who gave a scathing assessment of Donald Trump. She said that rather than providing steadiness, the president only delivered chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy. She continued, “Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.” Highlights from Day Two: The program was emceed by actress Tracee Ellis Ross and the theme was “Leadership Matters”. Joe Biden was nominated by Jacquelyn Asbie, a security guard who Biden had met in an elevator. It was a nice touch highlighting Biden’s connection with regular people and his common decency. Acording to Asbie, “In the short time that I spent time with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me, that he really cared, that my life meant something to him”. The nomination was seconded by Delaware Senator Chris Coons and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester.  The highlight of the evening for me was the “Roll Call Across America”. The prerecorded roll call took us to all 57 states and territories as we watched each officially cast their votes to nominate Joe Biden. It was a visual journey across the country showcasing the nation’s geographic diversity, natural beauty, historic sites, cultural traditions, and its people. Featured speakers included Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill Clinton, Caroline Kennedy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer, Colin Powell and Jill Biden. A few notable lines from Clinton’s speech were: “Joe helped bring us back from a recession before and he can do it again”, and “Trump would blame, bully and belittle, and Biden would build back better”. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a republican, further bolstered Biden’s bipartisan credentials and his leadership capabilities. According to Powell, “On day one Joe Biden will restore American leadership”. A film narrated by Cindy McCain showed the friendship between her husband, the late GOP Senator John McCain, and Joe Biden. The film highlighted Biden’s humanity and his ability to work across the aisle.  The final speaker of the night was Biden’s wife Jill. She gave her speech live from a classroom at Brandywine High School in Wilmington, Delaware where she taught English in the 1990s. She took us through Joe’s life and the tragedies which shaped him. It was a passionate and personal account of Joe Biden that many have not seen. According to Jill, “Joe knows how to make a broken nation whole, because he has done the same in his own life through several tragedies”. It was a warm and effective speech. Highlights from Day Three: The program was emceed by actress Kerry Washington and the theme was “A More Perfect Union” (Sub-Themes: “A More Perfect Society” and “A More Perfect Economy”). Kamala Harris was nominated as Vice President which she formally accepted. Of the many speakers on this day the most notable were Gabby Giffords, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and Barack Obama. Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona Representative, was severely injured when she was shot several times in 2011. She gave a brave and powerful address on her struggles to recover from her injuries and on her ongoing fight against gun violence. Hillary Clinton urged everyone to vote and to convince everyone you know to vote for Joe Biden. “We need numbers so overwhelming Trump can’t sneak or steal his way to victory. Vote like our lives and livelihoods are on the line, because they are”. Barack Obama made perhaps the best speech of the convention. It was the most passionate that I have ever seen him. His condemnation of Trump was blistering and downright visceral. Some of the highlights from the speech include: “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t”. “This administration has shown that it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win”. “He’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves”. Phew! Take that Donald.  Kamala Harris formerly accepted the nomination for Vice President and gave her acceptance speech live from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. In one notable line she said, “There is no vaccine for racism. We have got to do the work”. After her speech she was greeted onstage by her husband Douglas Emhoff and Joe and Jill Biden. Highlights from Day Four: The program was emceed by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the theme was “America’s Promise”. I thought that Louis-Dreyfus’ attempts at comedy mostly missed the mark, and seemed out of place. This was another night to beat up on Trump and to show the empathetic and generous side of Joe Biden. Of the many speakers, the most notable were Andrew Young, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bloomberg, Ashley Biden, Hunter Biden, Ed Good, Brayden Harrington and Joe Biden. A tribute video to Biden’s son Beau was very moving, but I thought a little overdone and unnecessary. A video of Joe Biden’s granddaughters discussing their grandfather was very effective. The final video sequence of the evening leading up to Joe Biden’s acceptance speech was from Stephen Curry and his young family. It was odd, out of place, and left me scratching my head. Some of the most memorable moments of the evening included remarks from Ed Good, a 95-year-old veteran of WWII and Korea. He is former Trump voter and member of the NRA and said, “I think Trump has been the worst president we’ve ever had, so I’ll be glad to see him go”. Michael Bloomberg delivered the most scathing critique of Donald Trump. Said Bloomberg, “When confronted with the biggest calamity any president has faced in the modern era, Donald Trump spent the year downplaying the threat, ignoring science, and recommending quack cures, which let COVID-19 spread much faster than it should’ve, leaving hundreds of thousands needlessly sick or dead. He has failed the American people catastrophically”. He finished by saying “I’m not asking you to vote against Trump because he’s a bad guy. I’m urging you to vote against him because he’s done a bad job”. One of the most poignant talks came from 13 -year-old Brayden Harrington. Brayden stutters, an affliction that Joe Biden has overcome. They met during the primaries and Biden had related to him about his own struggles. Biden shared with Brayden some strategies on how he might overcome his stutter. According to Brayden, “I’m just a regular kid, and in a short amount of time, Joe Biden made me more confident about something that’s bothered me my whole life. Joe Biden cared”. Brayden showed incredible courage to share his story with a national audience, and it really highlighted the character of Joe Biden.  Joe Biden delivered his acceptance speech live from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. The speech highlighted Donald Trump’s shortcomings but never mentioned him by name. He noted that “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They are on the ballot”. Biden outlined his vision for America without getting too specific. He portrayed himself as the best candidate to combat overlapping economic and healthcare crises, and promised to “draw on the best of us, not the worst and be an ally of the light, not the darkness”. It was not an Obama speech, but it was delivered with energy, it was coherent, thoughtful, and generally upbeat. Therefore it was a success. After the speech Joe Biden was joined onstage by his wife Jill and Kamala Harris and her husband, all wearing face masks. The evening and the convention ended with a firework display outside of the Chase Center. They were joined by a number of people outside of the center, who had been invited to watch the festivities from the comfort of their own vehicles.  Did Biden Achieve his Convention Goals?
Overall, I thought that the Democrats used the virtual format to their advantage. It allowed for a variety of voices to be heard. I particularly liked hearing from ordinary Americans rather than from convention delegates hyped up on free booze, carbs and groupthink. The combination of prerecorded videos, music, and speeches worked well. I didn’t like the fact that the emcess were Hollywood actresses. It took away from the message and the Democrats missed a great opportunity to feature some up and coming stars in their own ranks. I also didn’t like all the attention showered on Beau Biden. It came across as a canonization. I feel sorry for Biden’s other kids who have to live in the shadow of St. Beau. I get that Biden has experienced and overcome hardships in his life, but this was overdone. Now it is time for the Biden campaign to kick it into high gear, get out on the road, and counter the alternative facts coming out of the Republican convention. I will devote the next post to the Republican Convention. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: [email protected]. Thanks, Armchair American |
AuthorThe Armchair American. 
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