Notebook: Rolling the dice

EDITORIAL MUG: Larry Anderson

There has been speculation from the bleachers that Joe Biden might be replaced on the Democratic ticket for the 2024 election. The Dems’ problem is a dearth of desirable candidates who can challenge both the incumbent and Donald Trump at this juncture. Vice President Harris is wildly unpopular and California Governor Gavin Newsom has dug a hole for himself and his state. Either would be a hard sell to an impatient public looking for answers, but these two have the highest profile.

As of this writing, the Dems are rolling the dice with Biden, their confused octogenarian. This is a stretch. Currently Biden, 81, trails Donald Trump in most swing states and in most polls. Biden’s physical and mental decline is obvious, and his leadership is weak and vague.

If Biden somehow wins re-election, he would be 85 by the end of that term. No one believes his game will improve down the stretch. Voters are looking. They want results, not lectures or mumbled, warmed-over speeches.

Rebellion at the Democrats’ forthcoming convention is conceivable if Biden continues to sink and Trump continues to rise in fundraising and in polls. Biden doesn’t have the qualities to bind his party nor does he encourage loyalty from voters. Delegates may foresee electoral doom, thereby triggering on-the-floor excitement, but who would it be? A new prospect could be interesting, especially since the convention is in angry Chicago where liberal policies are finally being questioned in what has been a Democratic city for decades.

Democrats know Joe Biden is a tough sell, so they have focused on horrible, awful Donald Trump instead of offering up Biden’s accomplishments or a coherent plan for the future. There are many other factors to consider, but I think voters are weary of mindless liberal jabber and the cost demanded for it. It’s too much, but I’m not convinced Democrats are willing to adjust their thinking enough to put forward a Biden alternative.

Face it, Biden is just another boring elitist; Trump is friendly, off script, and contemptuous of the system he is determined to fix. Trump may be more repetitious than a machine gun, but at least he speaks his mind instead of dogma-laced rhetoric plastered with idealistic nonsense.

The problem for the Dems is Americans don’t like being lied to, and voters don’t like seeing a person who has had substantial success in life treated like a mutant. Trump did not collude with Russia, and he is not a dictator, a Nazi, or an extremist. Voters are starting to understand they have far more to fear from leftists engineering from within than from Trump.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, 85, a Democrat caricature, recently tried to stir anxiety with the incredible accusation of white supremacists raising an army for the purpose of taking over the government and throwing well-meaning lefties into the clink or worse. Waters’ charge extended from the so-called insurrection, but it indicates how far the left will go. Apparently, Waters doesn’t know the country has moved on from an unfortunate event.

Remember Trump was president for four years, but he did not lock up his rivals or take away their rights. That’s the work of the left as we have witnessed. Waters’ practiced paranoia is fear-mongering at its worst, but like Maxine, it’s nothing new. Ignore her hysterics.

Since Trump came on the political scene, Democrats have called him every name in the book, ridiculed him non-stop, and labeled him unfairly and inaccurately. They have framed him, impeached him twice, prosecuted him, and attacked his family. They have gagged him through a court order and tried to block his constitutional rights. Nothing has worked as planned because Trump keeps coming like a wildly-tossed typhoon headed for the shore.

Trump understands what the left is about and where their agenda is going. He is responding with his formidable presence and admirable determination. He is backed by an urgency that manifests every day Joe Biden is in office.

So I say let Democrats roll the dice with Biden. Trump will be fine. It remains to be seen if America will be fine as well.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator.