How Does Joe Biden Beat Donald Trump?
It's simple: Just tell Americans what he plans to do in his second term
I started writing a series, which I quickly stopped because no one was reading it, that reminded the world of Trump’s presidency. The idea was to show how the chaos and dysfunction had begun from day one when Trump and the White House communications director were obsessed with the crowd sizes at the inauguration.
Joe Biden didn’t so much as win the presidency in 2020 as Donald Trump lost it. The reasons why he lost are well-known, and few Americans have forgotten those reasons — recalling them often leads to the outbreak of a cold sweat and nervous laughter, as often happens when someone harkens back to a traumatic past episode. Reminding Americans of these reasons may not be the best tactic for dissuading them from considering a second Trump presidency. Let’s tell Americans what Trump plans to do in the second term. Let’s shine a light on his plans for America, democracy, and the world.
According to Michael Podhorzer, former political director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., exposing and clarifying Trump’s 2025 agenda will be crucial to Biden’s success or failure:
Donald Trump will lose the election to the extent that voters accurately understand what his plans for a second term would be. Not only are most voters now not paying attention to Trump’s legal troubles, they know next to nothing about what he’s said on the campaign trail about what he will do if elected again, let alone the very specific and chilling agenda Trump allies have assembled in the event Trump wins a second term (Trump’s MAGA Superpower).
Poll after poll shows Trump ahead of Biden in terms of popularity. There is a genuine worry that Trump will somehow pull out a victory in November. Like many, I, too, fear this possibility. I would actually say that my fear sometimes borders on debilitating panic.
The effects of a second Trump presidency would be so devastating to not only the United States but all of the democratic world. The world’s festering problems would suddenly and quickly reach a boiling point. To think this is not the case is an example of intellectual laziness or historical ignorance. A Trump victory in November is not something from which we come back.
When things get bad, the sociopath Trump demonstrates that he is incapable of doing anything productive to resolve the problems. Donald Trump doesn’t acknowledge the existence of problems at all. In his cushy world of self-worship, the only problems of any import have to do with whether or not his ratings are good or whether he is being appreciated as the best, the most genius, the most beloved.
Because Joe Biden is still trying to deal with the aftermath of the Trump presidency, he needs to focus more on countering Trump. Biden and Democrats govern and try to lead the nation through myriad problems. As we have seen, even these past couple of days regarding border security, Republicans are incapable of even passing something they all support because Trump wants them to do nothing. Any mitigation of the problems at the border could make Biden look good, and so Trump would rather have things get much worse until he can be in a position to benefit — America be damned.
Biden, however, is slowly shifting over to campaign mode. Once he does, a simple articulation of the chaos being promised by Trump could be all that is needed to wake any American foolishly considering casting a vote for Trump.
Michael Meehan, a longtime Democratic campaigner who now runs Squared Communications, a public relations, political consulting and media firm, succinctly voiced his optimism in an email:
Trump plays the grand master grievance piano like a full symphony all by himself. No one better at that game. Yet his superpower with the MAGA base is his kryptonite with the independents and reasonable Republicans. The Biden campaign will just need to keep their foot on his head while he drowns with these voters.
The biggest danger facing the Biden campaign is the possibility that Trump reins himself in. However, the chances of that happening are virtually nil (Trump’s MAGA Superpower).
There is still time left for Trump to become more Trump and for Biden and the Democrats to articulate the triumphs of what has proven to be one of the most productive presidencies in the last 70 years.