The latest initial exchange between NY Times columnists Gail Collins and Bret Stephens, always a good read.
G.C.: "Bret, which do you think is more of a threat to Trump’s political future, the classified document drama at Mar-a-Lago or the legal challenge to his businesses in New York?"
B.S.: "Gail, I suspect the most serious threats to Trump’s future, political or otherwise, are Big Macs and KFC buckets. Otherwise, I fear the various efforts to put the 45th president out of business or in prison make it considerably more likely that he’ll wind up in the White House as the 47th president."
Stephens's crack about Trump and Big Macs as threats and Trump and federal indictments as electoral bonuses is no joke. (I did joke about a Trump/cheeseburger eulogy on Twitter once, and got banned for a week — perhaps for good reason; mine was more solemn prayer than a comic one-liner.) Because ...
A Washington Post-ABC News poll (A+) released yesterday found that in a rematch between the honorable, sitting president of the United States and a known swindler, tax cheat and head of a crime family, the mobster is 2 points ahead, 48-46.
Within the margin of error, sure, but there can be no comfort taken from a presidential dead heat between a national security-threatening gangster and an honest, competent, intelligent chief executive. And then add this to that: Just wait until Jerome Powell drags the country into a deep, 2023/24 recession — then see what happens to President Biden's numbers.
There is one hope, however. According to the WaPo-ABC survey, 56% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents want someone other than Biden in 2024. In the 18-39 age group, 75% prefer a Democratic alternative. And if Powell accomplishes the economic devastation he is so ardently striving for, Biden will be more than happy to start packing while booking a train ticket to Delaware. So yes, at least some hope could come from this mysterious stranger, possibly one who could distance him- 0r herself from what is unfairly perceived as an unsuccessful Biden administration.
On that other planet, 47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said a Trump redux is desirable, while another unearthly multitude of 46% said they'd prefer someone else— but not really something else; pretty much just any evil clown, whether a DeSantis or Cruz or only God knows what. In brief, no matter who the Republican nominee, Trumpism will be at the top of the luney-orbiting ticket.
Again, I wish to be clear. With affection and admiration (notwithstanding some of his Ukraine decisions), I believe Biden has earned his place as the Democratic nominee. But I love the winning of elections — the entire point of a political party, which can do nothing principled until it's in power. Hence I'd have to go to the November dance not with my old comfortable shoe, but with a mistress.