Do you think that Joe Biden should be brutally honest about the damage Trump has done to America?

[Doodley]

Much of Joe Biden's work will be repairing the damage Trump left behind. I would hate for this to be portrayed by the right as just reversing what a former president did for the hell of it. Biden needs to take credit for repairing America.

I hope that early on, his Administration lists all the damage, the damage to relationships, the ripping up of treaties, the economic inequalities, the persecution of minorities, the damage to the environment, the corruption, the loss of leadership in the world, the misinformation, etc.

I believe that not pointing the finger at Trump would be a failure to acknowledge the truth and the scale of the job Joe Biden has to face. These are extraordinary times, and doing to Trump what we did to Bush Jnr (going easy on him and ignoring his war crimes) would be a big mistake.

[Squinch]

1. That should be left to other members of his administration. He should not be negative.

[uponit7771]

4. Leveling with America on where we're at is not being negative. Its the one thing Putin's Whore would

... not do in the beginning of CV19 coming to America and got a lot of Americans killed

[Squinch]

7. I get you, but I still think after what we have had for 4 years people have PTSD. No kidding.

I believe Joe's administration will responsibly deal with what Trump has done. I think there will be prosecutions. (There better be.) I think we will be informed about the slime that has gone on for 4 years under that slob.

But I think Joe personally has to take an FDR approach to this. Everything needs to be about problem solving, and every statement needs to be couched in a "here's what we're doing to fix it and here's what you can do to help" format.

We need a leader who is relentlessly positive.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Because ignoring problems always helps them go away.

[Squinch]

35. Your comment makes it perfectly clear that you didn't read my post.

Have a lovely day.

[yellowdogintexas]

36. yes department heads or deputy cabinet members would be good

They are the ones who would prepare the data for him

Governors could present the harm done to the individual states, members of congress could use it too in their campaigns particularly if their opponent was part of the problem

A good example is Education Department using the new Secretary to illustrate the harm done to our education systems by CruellaDeVos

[Chemisse]

43. I agree. He should fix them but not rail on about how Trump did the damage in the first place.

That will be obvious, and the media will likely fill in the background info on the acts he takes.

If he accentuates it, it only stiffens the divide. The Trumpers need to be gently lulled into accepting that Biden's way is good for the country.

[ehrnst]

57. I agree. The members of his administration who deal with the specifics should comment on them

when they encounter and fix them.

[procon]

2. The media needs to investigate and report on the

Damages Trump has done to every aspect of the country as he tried to enrich himself and cling to power.

[beachbumbob]

3. He himself need to stay above it BUT ALLOW his people to speak freely, including the VP

[Talitha]

40. THIS

[uponit7771]

5. This goes without saying, America should know about the work in front of us.

[duforsure]

6. Yes, I do

And the more they keep from telling us, the more people will distrust our government, and will weaken our Democracy, which trump and Putin have taken advantage of , and used it to create divisions with. Justice too. If they let trump and all the others go unpunished , it'll undermine our sense equal justice for all, and lead to more mistrust of the the ones in power.

[doc03]

8. Yep first thing is denying Trump any national security

information and saying why.

[former9thward]

12. Past presidents don't get national security information.

They don't need it.

[doc03]

13. That was the subject this mornung on TV. The

security agencies don't want him to have access to national security information like all the other past presidents do. If they don't WTF were they talking about? They think he will give secrets to Putin and his other dictator friends

[former9thward]

22. Fine, let them go on the record.

No rumors from "sources".

[exboyfil]

14. Under special circumstances they might

Didn't Jimmy Carter lead some peace envoys for example? I suspect that required access to classified information.

Also when accessing memoirs or addressing lawsuits/criminal proceedings, classified material might also be made available. That might be the dilemma of trying Trump for anything in the foreign policy or intelligence sphere.

In Trump's case I am sure he will be cut off by Biden by pulling all clearances like Trump did with Brennan. I would hope that the administration would also offer a list of reasons why Trump would be cut off - one that could embarrass Trump.

[former9thward]

20. Yes, of course

If a current president wants to use an ex-president for some purpose then they will be given the info they need. But that is up to the current president.

[Autumn]

17. Ex presidents are entitled to classified briefings on national security. Bush the elder got them

regularly. Whenever he visited the White House he would sit in on the President's Daily Briefing.


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/when-he-leaves-office-can-ex-president-trump-be-trusted-n1248994

[former9thward]

21. How many times does an ex-president visit the WH?

They just don't stroll in. They have to be invited.

[Autumn]

23. Didn't read the article? I gave you just a couple of examples. Okay. nt

[yellowdogintexas]

37. sometimes they do especially if they are being sent to represent us

in an international situation
A good example is President Carter and election monitoring in foreign nations

[Doc_Love_Butter]

9. Yes

What we know now is only the tip of the iceberg. Keep digging and make it public.

[gopiscrap]

55. welcome to DU

[jaysunb]

10. A Kerner/Warren type Commission need to be set up.

Let them present all the all the facts and go from there.

[Firestorm49]

11. I think Biden should let his Justice Dept. handle the afterbirth of the Trump administration.

Biden should instruct the independent Justice Dept. to be as aggressive against Trump as was Barr while acting non-independently. We now need to let the country know in no uncertain terms that Democrats can be just as aggressive in our pursuit of corruption as Trump and his minions were in promoting corruption.

Let Biden do his job in rebuilding the damage to our reputation. Let the Justice Dept. carry one big stick. America needs to see first hand that crime has its consequences. That in itself would go a long way to restore the confidence and comfort that is so badly needed once the idiot is out of office.

[Demsrule86]

15. No. We need optimism desperately.

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. IMO, he should remain above the fray...

And hire vicious bulldogs to get the work done. There is no need to tell anything but the truth. He can stay positive.

While "henchmen" has a negative connotation, if I am honest, it's what I wish he would unleash on the evil we have deposed.

[Baitball Blogger]

18. Hell yes. Our country is divided and lopsided because

Only the Republicans are getting their message out, we need balance in this country.

[mucifer]

19. I don't have high hopes. Iran Contra comes to mind. All the hopes about W. They always look the

other way at the former administration's atrocities. It's American as apple pie.

[Progressive Jones]

24. Yes. I repeat, yes!

[Rice4VP]

26. Yes. Obama had an interview with Charlemagne The God

and the rest of The Breakfast Club and he plainly said that Trump didn’t do anything. He never passed any life changing bills or legislation. The only thing that he did was give tax cuts to billionaires and do executive orders to break stuff

[NCDem47]

27. Mr. President-Elect has gone all in to be a uniter, not a divider.

I second the comments above that Biden will stay above the fray on Trump. He must project forward thinking and action---and that doesn't include Dumpster occupying any of his head space.

Now, others going after Trump? Yes. Sic 'em.

[zipplewrath]

28. Not exactly

We don't need a repeat of Trump's plan of "what ever Obama did, destroy it". I like his expression of "build back better". Whatever is wrong, and for whatever reason, fix it. Let the pundits argue about how it got to be wrong in the first place. Remember, 73+ million people voted for the jerk and if Biden wants to "bring us together", he can't be constantly saying "Look at the mess you created that I have to clean up". When I was a senior manager, the other managers would often want to do the whole "blame game" after a major or minor disaster. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of hindsight to figure out how it happened and how to prevent it from happening again. But at some point it just becomes a witch hunt. If one truly believes in the "team" concept, then finding blame is often a case of finding the person that we all ignored while they made a mistake. Are we to blame or them? It is the old corny expression that when one is pointing a finger, there are three more fingers pointing back at you. When success was achieved and awards were being handed out, it often was realized that the "disaster" while significant, wasn't the worst thing by far. More often than not, the disaster ended up being the event that made us ALL realize that we had to pay more attention.

Joe asked for the job. He needs to do the job. He doesn't need to complain about hard it is because of his predecessor. Success will expose the failures of the previous occupant.

[treestar]

31. Yes, we can take the credit for him

There is a cartoon with a messed up Oval Office and Biden standing there with a broom. Biden doesn't need to do that himself as Dump would.

[gulliver]

33. This

[KY_EnviroGuy]

29. Yes, but also with a "how we're going to fix it" spin. The media will not do it.

The American people need to be told the truth in order to counter-balance the massive volume of lies. Some of the best examples are lies about migrants and refugees and the huge dishonesty about their 2017 tax bill.

Truth is sorely need to restore America's confidence in Government. Do it for our youth.

These truths can be metered out with time after a period of much needed healing......


KY.........

[treestar]

30. Yet another Joe Biden should he or shouldn't he thread

I think we need to let him exercise some of his judgment. He'll have national security briefings with things that can't be known generally, yet are poised to judge him on how he deals with it as if we knew that too. I'm not saying blind following, but let him decide what can be talked about in public.

It would be Trumpish to think in terms of who gets credit. Biden is the type to give the voters the credit.

[Blue Owl]

32. Trump has been brutally dishonest

So the opposite of that can be nothing but brutal honesty...

[Volaris]

34. Yes I do. A lot if these drooling fools that voted for him will not accept that they made a mistake,

Unless people start going to prison.
That's about the only thing that will get their attention at this point.

[kacekwl]

38. Yes, trump

and the Republican reptiles who assisted him. Time to stomp them out once and for all.

[jaxexpat]

39. The home run that Putin hit continues to orbit the planet.

[SheltieLover]

41. Absofuckingloutely!

I love truth. Let people SEE WHAT REPUKES ENABLED!

[llashram]

42. YES

[Kid Berwyn]

44. Tell the Truth and let the Dumpsters spend time explaining.

For a change and for Change.

[JCMach1]

45. No... We don't need American Carnage speech 2.0

We need HOPEtm

[KPN]

46. The damage is self evident to anyone who cares. Those that

don’t either actively don’t care (they support the perceived goals behind the damage), or they are too busy or simply too detached to care. Biden being brutally honest about the damage tRumpism has caused won’t change any of that. I’m sure his administration will deal with the damage in a well-conceived fashion without beating drums to stir up supporters or detractors.

We may not like that in which case we can do the dirty work of being brutally honest. “We” includes the media, academia, elected officials and anyone else who needs to rail or put our opponents in their place. The President himself doing that would only be counterproductive in my view.

[tavernier]

47. When your renter is evicted and you see that he has trashed the property,

you dig in and clean it up. The other owners know that it has been destroyed. They don’t expect long talks on who, what, where or why. They already know that. They expect you to clean it up. That’s why they hired you. The better job you do, the better the chance your cleaning service will be hired back.

But that doesn’t mean that your workers shouldn’t take pictures of the damage and present evidence to the building legal team. Your owners will expect the renter to be responsible for damage and destruction or theft.

[malaise]

48. YES! YES! YES!

Rec

[scarytomcat]

49. Yes. Pres Biden should explain why he is changing stuff

at the time he changes it
maybe after awhile republics will get the message that they where not getting all the information accurately about the subject

[superpatriotman]

50. If it's in the head

It's better said.

[DFW]

51. Absolutely. And he should not mince words--once in office. BUT.....

He should leave the hatchet work to others. That's what we have a Justice Department for, that's why commissions are set up. And concentrate on obvious stuff, things for which convictions should be slam dunks, or close to it. Get convictions before they can say "it has been two years, it's a witch hunt."

Use executive orders to the maximum he can, because you know Moscow Mitch will try to stymie him where he can, even if it's for dog catcher in Bozeman. Otherwise, stay above the fay, say "I have more important things to do."

Act presidential. It will be SUCH a contrast!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

52. Of course, by way of Press Sec and other members of the team.

[Bobstandard]

53. Yes. Otherwise he normalizes it.

He should use his pulpit to remind Americans just how terrible Trump was. He should do so incessantly. Doing otherwise, moving on without repeated comment, just let’s Trump off the hook.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

54. Yes go into detail of why and what and who and when

Hold fireside chats to educate the public.

[mtnsnake]

56. Yes. Biden should go on the air & stand in front of a big blackboard like Ross Perot did

and with chalk in hand make a list of all the atrocities done by Trump.