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Joe BidenCongratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
 

highplainsdem

(48,718 posts)
Mon May 6, 2019, 08:45 PM May 2019

WaPo column on the strategic wisdom of Joe Biden separating Trump from the rest of the GOP

I was going to try to post something about this today, but this WaPo column published this evening says it better than I could have.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/06/joe-biden-is-wrong-about-gop-right-way/


Joe Biden stands out from other Democratic candidates not just by taking on President Trump directly but also by seeking to separate Trump from the rest of the Republican Party. The New York Times notes that on a recent swing through Iowa, Biden described the Trump administration as “an aberration” and said, “This is not the Republican Party.” He often makes references to his “Republican friends and even says that Vice President Pence and former vice president Dick Cheney — both considered boogeymen by the left — are “decent” guys. This has raised the hackles of more liberal Democrats who view Trump as the rightful and representative leader of an irredeemably evil party.

Who’s right? Biden or his critics? Let’s weigh the evidence.

Biden’s critics are right that Trump is more a symptom of Republican maladies than their cause. Though Trump is radically different from his Republican predecessors in many respects — viz., his nonstop stream of insults, his unapologetic criminality (as detailed by the Mueller report), his embrace of dictators, his opposition to free trade — in other ways, he is a chip off the old block. And not just because he is delivering on conservative judges and massive tax cuts whose benefits are tilted toward upper-income earners.

-snip-

I don’t want to push the continuities between Trump and previous Republicans too far. There are also major discontinuities. He certainly acts in ways that no previous Republican — or non-Republican — president has ever acted. But Republicans cannot plausibly dissociate him from his actions. Not when 90 percent of GOP voters support him. And not when Republican members of Congress vote with him more than 90 percent of the time.

Yet Biden is smart to pretend otherwise. To win in 2020, a Democratic nominee will need to win back voters in key Midwestern states who supported Trump in 2016. (Nationally, more than 9 percent of Obama voters cast a ballot for Trump.) Demonizing the entire Republican Party will only push these voters deeper into Trump territory — and deepen the partisan divide that is tearing our country apart. Trying to pry Trump apart from the GOP, on the other hand, can make it easier to win over the 32 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters who don’t want their party to renominate Trump. It will also make it easier after the next election to forge common ground with Republican lawmakers and try to repair the damage Trump has done.

The notion that Trump isn’t representative of the Republican Party may not be true, but it’s a useful fiction that Biden is right to embrace for the good of the Democratic Party — and the whole country.



Emphasis added.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
WaPo column on the strategic wisdom of Joe Biden separating Trump from the rest of the GOP (Original Post) highplainsdem May 2019 OP
Demonizing the entire Republican Party will only push these voters deeper elleng May 2019 #1
And, the whole Planet! Cha May 2019 #2
I said the same thing yesterday - yay me! NYMinute May 2019 #3
+1,000,000. Great post in reply to that other thread. highplainsdem May 2019 #4
Well Done, NYMinute! Cha May 2019 #5
That was a very astute reply! brer cat May 2019 #6
A laundered ruble wouldn't fit between tRump and the republican party. CentralMass May 2019 #7
Jennifer is pretty good today too. Mme. Defarge May 2019 #8
And this is why we should not push for impeachment question everything May 2019 #9
Once rump is done the repub establishment will try to erase him from history Bradshaw3 May 2019 #10
But they'll still have their lifetime appointed judges in place, which is all they ever wanted ... Hekate May 2019 #15
Yeah, we have the spiteful Stein voters to thank for that. It's true - elections have consequences Skya Rhen May 2019 #17
This message was self-deleted by its author sfwriter May 2019 #11
Interesting analyses peggysue2 May 2019 #12
Just scrolled up and saw your comment. I thought it R B Garr May 2019 #19
K! Cha May 2019 #13
kicking, since it's relevant highplainsdem May 2019 #14
KnR Hekate May 2019 #16
Ooh, great points. He's playing the long game. Not R B Garr May 2019 #18
... Scurrilous May 2019 #20
It's an interesting strategy, let's see if it works. comradebillyboy May 2019 #21
 

elleng

(130,126 posts)
1. Demonizing the entire Republican Party will only push these voters deeper
Mon May 6, 2019, 08:50 PM
May 2019

into Trump territory — and deepen the partisan divide that is tearing our country apart.

True

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

Cha

(295,899 posts)
2. And, the whole Planet!
Mon May 6, 2019, 08:52 PM
May 2019

Thank You, highplains

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

highplainsdem

(48,718 posts)
4. +1,000,000. Great post in reply to that other thread.
Mon May 6, 2019, 09:09 PM
May 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Cha

(295,899 posts)
5. Well Done, NYMinute!
Mon May 6, 2019, 09:12 PM
May 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

brer cat

(24,401 posts)
6. That was a very astute reply!
Mon May 6, 2019, 09:16 PM
May 2019

I think this is a very smart move by Biden.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

CentralMass

(15,265 posts)
7. A laundered ruble wouldn't fit between tRump and the republican party.
Mon May 6, 2019, 09:43 PM
May 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Undecided
 

Mme. Defarge

(7,981 posts)
8. Jennifer is pretty good today too.
Mon May 6, 2019, 10:43 PM
May 2019

IMO.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

question everything

(47,263 posts)
9. And this is why we should not push for impeachment
Mon May 6, 2019, 10:48 PM
May 2019

it will embolden Trump and is loyal supporters.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Bradshaw3

(7,453 posts)
10. Once rump is done the repub establishment will try to erase him from history
Mon May 6, 2019, 11:53 PM
May 2019

We hear a lot about repub congressmen telling their Dem peers what they really think of this disaster. Of course they are too cowardly to come out and say it in public. Whenever rump is gone - whatever fashion, voted out, myocardial infarction - they will toss his memory away like a used condom.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Hekate

(90,189 posts)
15. But they'll still have their lifetime appointed judges in place, which is all they ever wanted ...
Wed May 15, 2019, 12:15 AM
May 2019

...in the first place. That whole party structure has gone rotten to the core.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

Skya Rhen

(2,701 posts)
17. Yeah, we have the spiteful Stein voters to thank for that. It's true - elections have consequences
Wed May 15, 2019, 12:22 AM
May 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden

Response to highplainsdem (Original post)

 

peggysue2

(10,811 posts)
12. Interesting analyses
Tue May 7, 2019, 12:10 AM
May 2019

If accurate it means Biden is playing the long-game with a great deal of political skill and a sense of genuine duty to the country.

And Good Lord, do we ever need that!

A GO4JOE/2020!

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

R B Garr

(16,919 posts)
19. Just scrolled up and saw your comment. I thought it
Wed May 15, 2019, 12:52 AM
May 2019

sounded like the long game, too.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

highplainsdem

(48,718 posts)
14. kicking, since it's relevant
Wed May 15, 2019, 12:03 AM
May 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

R B Garr

(16,919 posts)
18. Ooh, great points. He's playing the long game. Not
Wed May 15, 2019, 12:51 AM
May 2019

completely smearing the entire GOP party.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
 

comradebillyboy

(10,119 posts)
21. It's an interesting strategy, let's see if it works.
Wed May 15, 2019, 01:34 AM
May 2019
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden
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