Soon after Joe Biden officially entered the Dem race for president, an interviewer asked him his theme, making reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” complete with MAGA hats. His response was, “make America moral again.” It was stunning to hear a decades-long swamp creature employ the word “moral” in any way, shape or form.
The acronym becomes MAMA, which is appropriate for those who feel the government should tell each of us how to live, how to eat, and what car to drive. I imagine their hat would be a blue Easter bonnet “with all the frills upon it.”
He elaborated with the word “dignity” which struck an equally discordant note coming from the king of gaffes. More amazing, he sprung to the top of the leader board among other Dem wannabes, by a wide margin.
Anybody But Trump?
Winner of the Dem scrum will face off against incumbent Trump whose accomplishments are known only to those with security clearances or news junkies like me. This is one the mass media has not leaked to anyone. In case it matters to you, when you choose whom to vote for, President Trump has achieved economic numbers that the last administration said were impossible to ever achieve again. That includes minority unemployment numbers at a record low, underscoring the lie of those who say what he has done only benefits the one percent.
He has asserted American interests in the world to the benefit of our security, as well as jobs with rising incomes. There is a list of President trump’s promises made/promises kept legacy.
So why would anyone hesitate to pull the lever for Donald J. Trump in 2020? To begin to figure that one out, flip through the news channels at the same hour of the same day and then determine which universe you belong in. There is your answer to the first question, but let’s look beyond the human frailties of news reporting.
Righteous Politics
“The Righteous Mind, Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion” by Jonathan Haidt digs below the surface of prejudice and bias. He makes some insightful observations about liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, and the motivating factors driving each side.
He graphically illustrates and compares the moral matrices that influence liberal and conservative opinions. Thickness of the line discloses relative importance.
When you are discussing political things with a friend and they don’t agree with you on “such an obvious point” (in your mind), don’t just write them off as stubborn or stupid. Instead, look for areas of agreement. (Wonder if that would work for Congress?) Haidt points out that our moral matrix comes without DNA.
Not Your Grandfather’s Politics
When Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton took the big stage, any congeniality in political debate disappeared in favor of bare-knuckle confrontation. For reasons one can only speculate, malice replaced Marquess of Queensbury when opposing viewpoints stepped into the ring to duke it out.
A New York Times article on Friday reported that the “FBI sent an investigator posing as a research assistant to meet with then-Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos in 2016.” To be clear, an administration in power employed federal government resources to spy on an opposing political campaign.
Attorney General Bill Barr, already committed to investigation of the origins of the Mueller mess, has this added to his plate. Employing government spycraft to undermine political opposition makes Watergate look like a jaywalking offense.
Do you suppose that’s what Biden had in mind with “Make America Moral Again”? I can’t wait to see the MAMA hats.
