SUBSCRIBERS

Patriotic grift

The writer clarifies the fundamental difference between today’s Democrats and Republicans

    • Ohio Senator JD Vance, who once feared that Donald Trump might be "America's Hitler", is now all-in with the former president.
    • Ohio Senator JD Vance, who once feared that Donald Trump might be "America's Hitler", is now all-in with the former president. PHOTO: AFP
    Published Thu, Jul 25, 2024 · 04:15 PM

    US PRESIDENT Joe Biden has declined the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. He has done so despite being “the best president of my lifetime”, as the economist Noah Smith put it, and because he concluded that his vice-president, Kamala Harris, would be a good president, too.

    I agree with Smith and hope someday to write a commentary about how great Biden’s presidency has been. For now, however, I will focus on someone else who is old and visibly failing, and whose vice-presidential running mate would have a much better chance of governing effectively. Of course, I am referring to Donald Trump, who should follow Biden’s example by declining the Republican Party’s nomination and endorsing his running mate, JD Vance.

    In this context, the American press corps now faces a test of its own. Will it relentlessly press the “Is he competent?” question, as it did with Biden? Or will it continue its standard operating procedure of interviewing ill-informed, easily grifted people in diners, covering Mar-a-Lago court intrigues, and saying as little as possible about the damage that another Trump presidency would do to the United States and the world? We will see.

    Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services