The optics alone were worth the time, effort – and money – it took to reinstall Donald Trump
“I’ve never seen him so happy”, remarked Fox News’s Jesse Waters during the opening segment of his show last Wednesday night while reviewing media footage of president-elect Donald J. Trump sitting opposite president senile Joe Biden in the Oval Office last week.
Several pictures showed Trump and Biden smiling broadly together and video taken from the occasion portrayed the bitter political rivals almost playful in their good-natured banter, the animosities of four years’ worth of strife and constant sniping during the most recent campaign temporarily pushed to the side while the well-past-retirement age politicians traded pleasantries.
The “he” Waters referred to wasn’t Trump, who looked positively thrilled while expressing perfunctory “It was a tough campaign” niceties to the current president and the horde of establishment media camera people there to record the historic bipartisan tête-à-tête. No, the “he” appearing happy beyond all measure was senile Joe Biden himself, who seemingly ditched his “Trump’s dangerous to democracy” and “Trump’s a fascist dictator” rhetoric in favor of let’s all-get-along-during-transition olive branch passing.
Yes, it’s true. The nearly 82-year-old (his birthday is tomorrow!) Delawarean is a different man recently. Gone is Biden’s former teeth gritting tension as well as his lashing out at the slightest hint of a challenge or outward signs of stress from the campaign-gone-bad. In its place was a calm and relaxed senile Joe who suddenly seemed capable of speaking in complete sentences and no longer shaking hands with phantom greeters, invisible to everyone except the Democrat himself.
Could it be that Biden’s burdens have been lifted by Trump? In an article titled “Trump triumphantly returns to White House as Biden pledges ‘smooth transition’”, Jeff Mordock and Alex Miller reported at The Washington Times:
“One week after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris decisively in the election, Mr. Biden cordially welcomed Mr. Trump to the White House. The president had condemned Mr. Trump during the campaign as an authoritarian and existential threat to democracy. ‘I look forward … to having a smooth transition. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated what you need,’ a smiling Mr. Biden said as he congratulated a man who had relentlessly attacked his mental capacity and branded his administration as a ‘disaster.’
“Mr. Trump also pledged that the transition will be ‘as smooth as it can get.’ ‘Politics is tough, and in many cases, it’s not a nice world, but it’s a nice world today,’ Mr. Trump said. They shook hands in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office.
“Mr. Biden smiled and generally appeared welcoming to the man he repeatedly said was his primary motivation for seeking the White House in 2020 and then running for reelection in 2024. Mr. Biden abandoned his bid for a second term after his disastrous June debate performance against Mr. Trump in which the president stared vacantly and struggled to finish his thoughts.”
None of it seemed to matter now, as though the previous five-plus years of revulsion didn’t mean a thing. Neither of them commented, “I was just kidding, pal”, but watching the two ancient rivals appearing plenty comfortable together surely lent the impression they’d not only buried the hatchet, but were also ready to move on from the rancor in the process.
Trump is notorious for being overtly congenial and gentlemanly in neutral public settings, only to resume his mixture of hardball politics and talent for inventing nicknames and tossing them out when he’s in front of friendly audiences. Biden, too. The old Democrat didn’t acquire a reputation as “Uncle Joe” and everyone’s best bipartisan friend in the senate for nothing.
It reminded me a little of when Sarah Palin met Biden in 2008 before their debate and the Alaska governor famously asked, “Can I call you Joe?”, an entreaty Biden appeared to appreciate for its tension-breaking plainness.
No one’s suggesting Trump and Biden have laid the groundwork for a lasting friendship a la George W. Bush and Michelle Obama, but the optics of the congenial encounter can only help temporarily place the enmity on the backburner as America moves towards the holidays and Trump continues to tap personnel for his non-traditional (to say the least) upcoming administration.
Biden saves his true torment for those who brought his reelection effort to an end
Americans weren’t privileged to what Trump and senile Joe talked about during their two hours together, though here’s guessing there was very little discussion of the recently concluded campaign or the Democrat’s true thoughts on his overly ambitious vice president’s strategy to retain the White House.
Democrats are very skilled and practiced at presenting a united front in public whereby they appear to like and support each other so as to maintain the ruse of party unity.
But Biden’s demeanor since the election – and particularly during his time with Trump himself – can’t be faked. The Delawarean is still steamed over the way he was threatened with 25th Amendment removal by some of the higher-ups in his own party a few months ago, and his go-out-of-my-way welcoming of the arch-fiend Trump, was, in my opinion, meant to get back at his intra-party tormentors.
The always egotistical Biden still believes he has political viability left in his aging brain and likely will stay angry and resentful for a long, long time – if not until his dying day. Particularly chilly is the apparent relationship between senile Joe and cackling Kamala. At the Veteran’s Day commemoration at Arlington cemetery last week, for example, both Harris and Dr. Jill flashed “if looks could kill” glances as they could barely disguise their contempt for each other.
None of this contains much relevance but it portends of trouble ahead for Democrats as the party sorts out who will fill its enormous leadership void left from the soon-to-be expired Barack Obama era.
And the hits just keep on coming for Trump’s Cabinet picks
It’s old news by now, but there’s a different kind of intra-party strife happening on the Republican side as president-elect Trump officially nominated Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for Attorney General and former Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, also last week.
It goes without further elaboration or explanation just how shocking the news that the bomb-throwing Gaetz could possibly take over for ultra-corrupt Merrick Garland in a couple months’ time at the formerly vaunted United States Justice Department.
Everyone knows Trump enjoys publicity for publicity’s sake and he’s certainly making a splash in his new administration by selecting exactly the types of potential allies who will defend Trump’s mission and his agenda to the fullest – and not care what the boobirds are squawking about on cable news shows.
There aren’t any stealth picks here. Trump is throwing the high hard fastballs right down the middle daring the weak-kneed senators from his own party to defy the will of the tens of millions of conservatives who put him in office to Make America Great Again, not make friends and sustain the Washington swamp’s cocktail party circuit.
Will it work out for Trump? Time will tell. But the new leaders in the capital deserve the benefit of the doubt until they’re proven wrong. At the very least, they’ll keep the focus on the Trump personnel and not on the Democrats’ whining and complaining about how awful the new president is.
So far, Trump deserves a huge “A” for verve and creativity.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
Kamala Harris candidacy
Donald Trump campaign
Harris Trump debates
J.D. Vance
Kamala vice president
Speaker Mike Johnson
Donald Trump assassination
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
Tim Walz