Joe Biden Wants To Make Donald Trump Deplorable Again

[highplainsdem]

From BuzzFeed:


https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/henrygomez/joe-biden-2020-trump-hillary-clinton

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Joe Biden is running for president with a strategy that failed Hillary Clinton in 2016: taking on Donald Trump as a morally unfit president who sympathizes with bigots and racists.

-snip-

After her loss, Democrats across the party, including Biden, dwelled on a perception that she focused too much on Trump’s character and aligning him with the alt-right, at the expense of a sharper economic message that would have better fit the climate. Biden’s early stump speech hits on several themes. In between talking about the soul of the nation and unity, he spends considerable time on the “dignity of work” and how to rebuild the middle class.

The events in Charlottesville, of course, combined with the response from a president who has employed nationalists like Steve Bannon, rendered much of what Clinton said true. And Biden, a 76-year-old former vice president who is uniquely positioned to adopt a posture as the adult in a field of 21 candidates, is moving ahead confidently with an anti-Trump focus in a primary where voters are most concerned about nominating the person most qualified to defeat the president.

-snip-

All of this is early evidence that the message could resonate for him in a way it didn’t for Clinton. Democrats have varying theories as to why, and some boil down to a simple judgment: It was the singer, not the song.

“I’m not interested in talking about Hillary Clinton,” said Teri Goodman, a Democratic activist and longtime Biden ally in Dubuque, Iowa, who cringed when asked about Biden’s similar theme after his event there Tuesday evening.

-snip-

“I’ve had two people — and I think this is interesting — come up to me and say that for the first time since the election of the current president, they feel safe,” she said. “They didn’t realize how stressful it’s been to witness him day after day spewing hatred … and encouraging people who would divide us as a country.” Biden, she added, is “reassuring people that we’re still OK, that we can be OK again.”

-snip-

The article goes on to quote Ted Kaufman, who's been a friend of advisor of Biden's for a long time and who succeeded him in the Senate, esplaining why Biden is using this strategy:

“Joe Biden has what I call a mirror test. Can he look himself in the mirror each day? Charlottesville galvanized for him what’s at stake in this country and the damage that current president is doing to our values and the fabric of the nation. His parents instilled in him that when you see an abuse of power, you stand up and combat it. That’s motivated him his entire life. That’s why he’s running for president, and frankly that’s what drives him.”

[IronLionZion]

1. Joe said similar things in 2016

saying Trump appeals to the worst in people and promised to take him to the back of the gym and beat him up.

[Autumn]

2. He "Wants To Make Donald Trump Deplorable Again"? When has Trump not been fucking deplorable?

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. First thing I thought before I even clicked on the post.

I guess he'll also make Cheney a not-decent guy again.

If Joe gets the nomination, I hope he wakes up and realizes that republicons in office now are despicable evil self-serving scumbags. They need to be ruthlessly dealt with as such.

[abqtommy]

3. I'm offended by the comment "after her loss" in reference to Hillary Clinton,

concerning the 2016 election. She won the popular vote by 3 million votes and "lost" due to a corrupt process. I have no respect for writers at BuzzFeed and other venues who casually use language that is at odds with reality and I wonder whose agenda they're serving. It certainly doesn't appear to be
The Constitution or the American people.

[highplainsdem]

4. It WAS an electoral college loss. That journalist couldn't have written "after her victory."

I hate the EC, too, but we're stuck with it for the foreseeable future, and even if we have a greater popular-vote victory next year, it won't count as a real victory unless we win the EC.

[FoxNewsSucks]

5. And that's partly why they keep getting away with it,

instead of reminding the public EVERY time the topic comes up that a flawed system was exploited to STEAL an election from the actual winner, the thief is treated as legitimate.

[abqtommy]

8. The "journalist" could have written "after her popular vote victory".

Why didn't he/she do that? My point is that the EC vote was manipulated and corrupted and I'm offended every time I see that information omitted in these types of posts. It was NOT a loss for HRC, it was Grand Theft Trump and your use of language indicates that this is not a concern for you.
So are you really named Ivan or Boris? 'Fess up...

[JI7]

6. if a Democrat had won the electoral but lost the popular they would never stop mentioning it

[peggysue2]

9. This is the money quote:

“Joe Biden has what I call a mirror test. Can he look himself in the mirror each day? Charlottesville galvanized for him what’s at stake in this country and the damage that current president is doing to our values and the fabric of the nation. His parents instilled in him that when you see an abuse of power, you stand up and combat it. That’s motivated him his entire life. That’s why he’s running for president, and frankly that’s what drives him.”


Why individuals seek positions of power is an important question. I recall Poppy Bush being asked and responding with unfiltered candor:

Because it's the Big Enchilada.

That really turned me off because it reduced the presidency to a gold ring, a box to check off on your Bucket List. This election is different as Joe Biden has pointed out multiple times. We need someone with both the skillset and laser focus to restore and repair the damage Donald Trump and his destroyers have wreaked while pushing forward Democratic principles and policies. We've all seen the bully flailing and sweating, causing maximum damage and suffering. Biden can bring this sucker down, make him a pathetic clown again.

AGO4JOE2020

[Cha]

10. Hillary and so many of us knew but

we didn't have all the proof that we have now. It would be crazy not to go after trump for all the heinous shite he throws at America and the killing done in his name.

Joe Biden has what I call a mirror test. Can he look himself in the mirror each day? Charlottesville galvanized for him what’s at stake in this country and the damage that current president is doing to our values and the fabric of the nation. His parents instilled in him that when you see an abuse of power, you stand up and combat it. That’s motivated him his entire life. That’s why he’s running for president, and frankly that’s what drives him.

Mahalo, highplainsdem

[Scurrilous]

11. K&R

[2020Junker]

12. Always attack the candidate - not the voters

Of course, attacking Trump as a racist bigot who is morally unfit to hold office is a commentary on those who voted for him. But keeping the focus on the man and not going after his voters is the smart political choice.

When Clinton referred to voters directly as deplorables, I cringed and thought, "Ah shit, here it comes." And it did. It riles people up. It was such an unneeded misstep that galvanized people who were on the precipice of galvanizing. Emotionally satisfying? Sure, but dumb.

Biden's is a smart strategy, so kudos to him.