The motivation for the attempted assassination is obvious to me. Joe Biden said Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy. I have been saying someone with a rifle will attempt to kill Trump. The 20-year-old man who tried to assassinate was responding to the fear Joe Biden has generated.
These are quotes from Joe Biden.
“Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally, literally a threat to everything America stands for.”
Next week, for the third time in eight years, Donald Trump will be nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate for president of the United States. A once great political party now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic, a man whose values, temperament, ideas and language are directly opposed to so much of what has made this country great.
It is a chilling choice against this national moment. For more than two decades, large majorities of Americans have said they are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and the post-Covid era of stubborn inflation, high interest rates, social division and political stagnation has left many voters even more frustrated and despondent.
The Republican Party once pursued electoral power in service to solutions for such problems, to building “the shining city on a hill,” as Ronald Reagan liked to say. Its vision of the United States — embodied in principled public servants like George H.W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney — was rooted in the values of freedom, sacrifice, individual responsibility and the common good. The party’s conception of those values was reflected in its longstanding conservative policy agenda, and today many Republicans set aside their concerns about Mr. Trump because of his positions on immigration, trade and taxes. But the stakes of this election are not fundamentally about policy disagreements. The stakes are more foundational: what qualities matter most in America’s president and commander in chief.
Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the country’s future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him.
He is, quite simply, unfit to lead.
The Democrats are rightly engaged in their own debate about whether President Biden is the right person to carry the party’s nomination into the election, given widespread concerns among voters about his age-related fitness. This debate is so intense because of legitimate concerns that Mr. Trump may present a danger to the country, its strength, security and national character — and that a compelling Democratic alternative is the only thing that would prevent his return to power. It is a national tragedy that the Republicans have failed to have a similar debate about the manifest moral and temperamental unfitness of their standard-bearer, instead setting aside their longstanding values, closing ranks and choosing to overlook what those who worked most closely with the former president have described as his systematic dishonesty, corruption, cruelty and incompetence.
That task now falls to the American people. We urge voters to see the dangers of a second Trump term clearly and to reject it. The stakes and significance of the presidency demand a person who has essential qualities and values to earn our trust, and on each one, Donald Trump fails.
Asking the country to trust Joe Biden is no longer a credible option. He should release the delegates and run in an open convention writes Graeme Wood in The Atlantic
Does Joe Biden really understand the stakes? All the polling shows Trump leading by an ever growing margin. Donald Trump and his campaign is all but praying Joe Biden doesn’t drop out. Maybe someone else can’t win but clearly Biden is unlikely to win.
In a 10-minute TV appearance on “Morning Joe” at 7:40 a.m., Nancy Pelosi — who has a decades-long relationship with the president and still commands the deep respect of her colleagues — left her mark on the biggest political crisis facing the Democratic Party in years.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” Pelosi said. “He is beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.”
In those few sentences on a program Biden is known to watch, Pelosi didn’t directly call for Biden to step aside. But she did significantly reframe a delicate but urgent conversation taking place among Capitol Hill lawmakers, Democratic donors, party strategists and voters after Biden’s faltering debate performance two weeks ago raised questions about whether he can beat Donald Trump and serve another term as president.
Now is the time for Biden to resign not as a defeated candidate but as a powerful president who knows when father time has said it is time to end your political life.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A new state license plate design refers to Pennsylvania’s critical role in establishing the United States’ independence from England and features the phrase “Let Freedom Ring.”
The red, white, and blue plate design announced this week includes an image of Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell. The design already appears on eight signs that welcome motorists where highways cross various state lines — with 29 more planned for the coming months.
“Let Freedom Ring” is a phrase in the early 19th century song “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.”
The Liberty Bell, inscribed with a Bible verse exhorting people to “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto all the Inhabitants thereof,” was in use in Philadelphia before the American Revolution. It became a rallying point for those fighting to abolish slavery in the United States and for supporters of giving women the right to vote and of civil rights.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose name is on the highway signs, said the license plates and welcome signs are being introduced ahead of the country’s 250th birthday celebration in 2026.
The welcome signs are at borders with Maryland on U.S. Route 15 near Gettysburg and Interstate 70 in Fulton County; with New Jersey on Interstate 295 in Bucks County and Interstate 80 in Monroe County; with Ohio on Interstate 90 in Erie County; and with New York on Route 449 in Potter County, Interstate 81 in Susquehanna County and Route 1015 in Tioga County.
Those interested in the new plates can sign up to be notified when they will available early next year.
“President Joe Biden told Democratic governors during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday that part of his plan going forward is to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so that he can get more sleep, according to three sources briefed on his comments.”
“The remarks, first reported by The New York Times, came as the 81-year-old Biden sought to reassure a group of more than 20 state leaders about his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump in November and govern effectively for another four years.”
The problem for Biden should be obvious to anyone reading news reports. At times the president is sharp minded and at other times he appears to be lost.
The answer to the question should be obvious. “I’d tell him that after a life of service, he can pass the torch with pride, with dignity, and with grace. Someone probably should have done this months ago, out of love or duty, and out of the concern that Biden’s health is likely to get worse in coming years.” wrote Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times.
A decent interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC won’t change the fact that Biden is too old for another four years as president.
If I were a relative or close confidant of President Biden, I’m pretty sure I’d give him a hug, thank him for his service, and tell him to seriously consider walking away.
I’d tell him that after a life of service, he can pass the torch with pride, with dignity, and with grace.
Someone probably should have done this months ago, out of love or duty, and out of the concern that Biden’s health is likely to get worse in coming years.
But we’re not very good at this sort of thing — at summoning the courage it takes to confront a loved one or a boss who’s in decline and being totally honest about it. To be courteous but firm. I had trouble telling my own father it was time to give up driving. He resisted, unaware of or unwilling to accept the reality of his obvious shakiness behind the wheel, and unwilling to surrender his keys or his pride.
By many accounts, people close to Biden have been aware of a decline but have not pressed him to step aside. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that in “the weeks and months” before last Thursday’s presidential debate, “several current and former officials and others who encountered him behind closed doors noticed that he increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.” There are also reports that people are encouraging him to keep going.
There are some analogies to California‘s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died last year at the age of 90 after more than 30 years in office. If there was any inner-circle effort to persuade her to leave the Senate due to her obvious cognitive and physical decline, that effort failed. She died in office after announcing she would not run again.
In some cases, stepping aside is the right thing to do.
This might sound odd to those who’ve followed my Golden State column over the last 28 months. One of my driving principles has been to stand firm against the notion that we’re incapable of contributing as we age, or that our value diminishes.
In recent columns, I’ve been pointing out, with the help of experts, that you can’t diagnose dementia from afar, though many people have tried to do so in Biden’s case, especially after his debate performance.
I’ve also written that whatever the cause of his foggy gaze and occasional meandering phrase (the medical possibilities are numerous), Biden seemed lost and unsteady. He may still have some gas in the tank, but time is working against him. A year from now, or two, or three or four, how will he be?
The world population is aging rapidly, and more people are staying on the job longer — and while the benefits are many, the risks are real. Bodies and minds break down. It’s OK, when they do, to punch out and move on.
Since the debate, I’ve been thinking about something USC gerontology professor Caroline Cicero said to me last year, when I wrote about whether Biden or Feinstein should step aside.
“I’m very concerned about ageism in the workplace, but I’m also concerned about people who think they have to work forever,” said Cicero. “Giving people permission to retire is something I think we need to do.”
She picked up on that line of thinking this week.
“In recent decades, society has told us that we can have it all. In a battle against ageism, we tell people they can work as long as they want,” she said. “In a battle to prove ourselves, we tell ourselves we can beat normal slowdowns that come with the passage of time.”
But most of us can’t.
Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, each north of 80, are still holding a tune, and Warren Buffett, at 93, seems to be doing OK. But that’s the thing about aging, as I‘ve said before: You can be old at 60 and young at 85.
Biden has obvious strengths, chief among them experience, wisdom, decency, civility and the empathy that comes with crushing loss. It may be that those in his inner circle, knowing what he’s made of, can’t bring themselves to question his strength and resolve, even in the face of obvious decline. Sure, his family knows him better than we do, but maybe they can’t see what we see from afar.
Some of you might be wondering, right about now, that if I’m all about frank discussions on knowing when it’s time to go, then how come I’m not bringing the Trump family into this.
I would, but their task is even harder than the Biden family’s. What would be the point of saying to a convicted felon who continues to insist he won the 2020 election, “Hey Pop, the fact-checkers are still recovering from the workout you gave them in the last debate”? It takes a bit of humility to see the truth about yourself, and when you begin listing the qualities that define Donald Trump, humility and truth do not make the cut.
iden may be having trouble seeing himself as anything other than what he is now — a public servant at the top of the flow chart. You can’t be president of the United States without a healthy ego, and in jobs that people are passionate about — that become their very identity — they often can’t imagine what or who else they could be in retirement, provided they can afford to retire, which many cannot.
These people may not be able to imagine that anyone waiting in the wings is as up to the task as they are, and perhaps that’s part of Biden’s calculation. If he takes the next exit, who would take his place? And is there enough time for Vice President Kamala Harris or any of the other potential last-minute candidates to find traction?
It never should have come to this.
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes to mind as Exhibit A for lessons on the price of stubbornly holding on. She refused to surrender her position as her health faded, and women’s reproductive rights suffered a blow as a result.
“I see it with entrepreneurs who created a business and have hard time letting go,” said Helen Dennis, who started a support group called Renewment — combining the words “renewal” and “retirement” — 25 years ago for successful women who had trouble imagining the next versions of themselves. The group now includes “teachers, nurses, doctors, several attorneys,” all of them leaning on each other as they learn “how to navigate the next chapter.”
Work is not life, and life is not work, USC’s Cicero once said to me. That must be a foreign concept to a sitting president, but I’m thinking of former President Jimmy Carter as one of the best examples of those who have found ways to contribute after leaving office. He took up a hammer and went to work for Habitat for Humanity — and he won the Nobel Peace Prize for working on peaceful solutions to world conflicts.
“People often fear retirement because they don’t want to be labeled as old, invisible or unimportant,” Cicero said. And many of those who are “addicted to routine don’t know how they will spend their time without the rigors of a work schedule,” she added — but that “does not mean they need to keep working to have a satisfying later life.”
Biden, after his debate stumble, was quickly back on the stump, telling supporters that when you’re knocked down, you get back up and keep fighting.
But Father Time, as they say, is the one who’s undefeated.
I’d remind Biden that the country and the world have problems neither he nor Trump can fix, and that if he’s reelected he will be subjected to four more years of unrelenting judgments about his fitness to hold office.
I’d tell him that, at 81, when you’re knocked down, you’ve earned a rest.
It is time for President Joe Biden to step aside now so that the Democratic Party can select a candidate that can win in November.
On CNN ‘That was painful’: Van Jones reacts to Biden’s debate performance. Joe Biden’s scratchy voice at the start of the debate made me think this man is not well. Sadly Joe Biden came across as an old man who means well but as an old man who cannot communicate clearly and perhaps can’t think clearly.
When then-special counsel Robert Hur released his February report on President Biden’s handling of classified material, Hur assessed that a jury wouldn’t be likely to convict Mr. Biden because he’d be seen as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That single line in the 345-page report delighted Republicans and infuriated the president and his allies, even though Hur cleared the president of criminal wrongdoing.
Democrats are despairing over President Joe Biden’s debate performance Thursday night, a showing so halting some even privately raised questions about whether he should remain the party’s nominee.
Biden appeared onstage with a soft, halting voice and an open-mouthed, staring look. He struggled to finish thoughts at points, and ceded ground on issues like abortion where Democrats have an edge.
It took just minutes for Democrats to realize how bad it was becoming.
“Biden looks and sounds terrible. He’s incoherent,” one Democrat who spent time working in the Biden administration said.
“Horrific,” said another Democratic operative.
And one Democrat who’s worked on campaigns up and down the ballot said simply: “We are f***ed.”
The looming question as the debate came to a close was almost existential: Should someone else top the Democratic ticket?
“It’s hard to argue that Biden should be our nominee,” said an operative who’s worked on campaigns at all levels for over a decade.
This debate was historic for many reasons, but not least because it is taking place before each man is formally nominated at their respective conventions. The Democratic National Convention is set to convene August 19 in Chicago.
Democrats have spent much of the past year handwringing about Biden’s chances of beating Trump in an election many view as an existential one that will decide the very survival of American democracy. But Biden himself was determined to be the one to take on Trump, at one point even saying directly: “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running.”
No serious Democratic challengers stepped up to run against Biden, and at this point in the campaign he’d have to decide to step aside if Democrats were to pick another nominee. If Biden did withdraw, the Democratic nomination would be decided on the floor.
Democrats were even talking about who it might be instead: “If I was Gavin (Newsom) or Gretchen (Whitmer), I’d be making calls tonight,” one said.
It’s time for President Joe Biden to move to Leisure World.
There are two issues that are upper most in my mind right now and will motivate my choice of president in November. Guns and abortion rights. This abridged article I have taken from the Associated Press today highlights America’s out of control right to own a gun.
BY JOHN SEEWER AND SHARON JOHNSON Updated 9:18 AM PDT, June 24, 2024
The first weekend of summer brought a tragic yet familiar pattern for American cities wracked by gun violence as mass shootings left dozens dead or wounded at a party in Alabama, an entertainment district in Ohio and a grocery in Arkansas.
It was the second straight weekend that saw an outbreak of mass shootings across the U.S., prompting mayors in places marred by the violence to plead for help.
In Michigan, a deputy was fatally shot while pursuing a suspected stolen vehicle in what the county sheriff described as an ambush. A Philadelphia police officer was critically wounded Saturday after pulling over a car with four people.
Police in Montgomery, Alabama, said hundreds of rounds were fired at a crowded party early Sunday, leaving nine people wounded. Interim Police Chief John Hall said investigators recovered more than 350 different spent shell casings.
Gunfire also broke out early Sunday on the main street of a popular restaurant and entertainment district near downtown Columbus, Ohio.
One person was killed and seven were injured in Dayton, Ohio, after a shooting early Monday in a neighborhood where a large crowd had gathered, police said. Six people were wounded early Sunday at a park in Rochester, New York, after police said at least one person started shooting into a crowd.
Isn’t it nice when your father is president of the United States? The White House is not ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden, the president’s son who was convicted on three federal gun crimes and is set to be sentenced by a judge in the coming months.
Politically a commutation would confirm the idea that people in high places or friends of people with right connections are treated differently than the rest of the population. In the case of Hunter Biden a commutation would affirm Donald Trump’s contentions that his conviction was politically motivated. A rigged trial is what Trump will likely say again and again.
Since Joe Biden puts family above everything else this could lead to his decision to not run for re-election.
Coast Contact 