Two weeks ago, Joe Biden gave his annual State of the Union Address to Congress. Republicans prayed he would show the ravages of time. Democrats hoped he would not feed the “he’s too old” narrative. The 81-year-old Biden knocked it out of the park. He spoke with vigor, force, and wit. He stayed so long after the speech shmoozing that the congressional staff was turning the lights off as he left.
Since then, Joe has jetted around the nation, selling his policies to the citizens while attending to his day job and working the phones. In the fortnight after his triumphant evening, the slim and active Biden visited all but one of the battleground states — pressing hands, kissing babies, and eating ice cream. This week alone, he has been to Arizona, Nevada, and Texas — selling the legislative triumphs that have benefited every American.
In contrast, a rapidly aging Trump, whose mental decline and butchered English have reminded many that his father died of Alzheimer’s, has holed up in Mar-a-Lago, playing golf and begging for money. He has visited one battleground state, Georgia, and given one rally in Ohio. An oratorical abattoir that was notable for his dystopian vitriol and particularly egregious failure to communicate.
Biden is not young. His speech is stilted, the vestigial legacy of a severe childhood stutter. His gait is stiff, and he wears orthopedic shoes. But he is a voracious reader, in command of policy detail and nuance, who demands his staff work as hard as he does. He keeps regular office hours, attends his daily presidential briefing, and does the homework. It is no accident that his legislative record over the first three years of his term is one of the best of any President.
And this devout Catholic religiously attends Church.
Meanwhile, the blubbery Trump weeps into his Diet Cokes and whines about the unfairness of it all — while doing little besides cake, golf, and dialing for dollars. His campaign site's “Events” page announces, “No events scheduled.” (Can you make it out at the bottom of the screenshot?) Has he forgotten there is an election on?
This lack of hustle raises the question. How much of this inactivity is due to physical decline, and how much to lack of cash? And has his futile struggle to fool a bond company into offering a $454 million surety occupied his available mental bandwidth? Who knows?
But as much as he is in a personal cash crunch, he is also in poor financial straits politically. In his latest campaign filing, Trump reported an uptick in donations in February ($10.9M) and $33.5M cash on hand. But he trails Biden badly in both metrics. Joe scored $21.3M in February donations and has $71M on hand.
When you add the national committee numbers, Biden has a cash-on-hand advantage of nearly $53M ($97.5M to $44.8M). Note: We will not know their associated super PAC funds until April. But we know Trump has been dipping into that piggy bank for attorney reimbursement.
The talking heads opine that Trump does not need to buy ads. They remind each other that the blaring media coverage is worth billions in free publicity. It is. But elections are won by registering voters, filing local election lawsuits, and getting out the vote — where is the money for that?
In the past, that would have been a prime objective of the national and state parties. But MAGA has hijacked the RNC. And Trump will divert its funds away from that mission. While compounding the problem are the civil wars fought by state GOPs, now led by incompetent zealots who are hemorrhaging cash.
Americans will elect a President this November. We can pick a mentally sharp, hard-working, church-going, and caring man who steered Americans from a global pandemic into economic health in a democratic America. A country where people have jobs, inflation is down, the stock market is up — and their rights and self-autonomy are respected. And where we remain the leader of the civilized world, with respect for science and an eye on the future.
Or they can pick a man who has no redeeming qualities. Who uses a religion he has no use for, as a club to beat down the powerless. And can any empathetic and rational person want an isolationist, white, fascist, theocratic America beholden to superstition and suspicious of science and facts — where plutocrats vacuum up the wealth?
Decent people at home and abroad hope we choose wisely.