Joe Biden is in a pickle, politically speaking.
His lead rival, Republican former President Donald J. Trump, has been indicted in four major cases, two of them federal, for a combined 91 charges and the forty-sixth president cannot talk about it.
Well, of course, he could be talking about it—any candidate worth their salt would be ripping the former president for his indictments—but if Biden does that, he’ll open himself to various counteraccusations that Biden cannot defend himself from.
That’s because, for all the indictments directed against Trump (by the Joe Biden-controlled Department of Justice, mind you), President Biden is up to his eyeballs in potential legal problems as well.
The only thing that Biden has going for him is that he’s got a “D” next to his name rather than an “R”. That’s why, despite having at least been aware of crimes similar to those that Trump stands accused of President Biden has not had to suffer under the same level of prosecution that his potential GOP rival, Trump, has had to.
Joe Biden: The Emperor is Asleep and Has No Clothes
But if the president starts making it an issue in the 2024 Presidential Campaign, it will only militate more people to Trump’s cause.
You see, Trump and his acolytes have effectively been making the case that the forty-fifth president is being prosecuted by a politicized legal system operating on behalf of Joe Biden’s candidacy.
Trump is likely right.
Sure, Trump hasn’t made his situation any better.
He often talks out-of-turn and adds fuel to the fire that his enemies have started against him.
Nevertheless, if Biden were to start piling on Trump, he knows that Trump would make political hay out of that.
The campaign would quickly become about which president was more legally liable than the other.
And Joe Biden’s likely criminality, which is barely being kept under wraps presently, as his wayward son, Hunter, feels increasing pressure from House GOP investigations as well as a DOJ tax evasion prosecution, would become a much bigger story.
That’s not to say that former President Trump isn’t making the alleged crimes of Hunter Biden and the wider Biden Family a major component of his campaign.
The forty-fifth president most certainly is. That’s to say, though, that Biden is able to skirt the issue better by not breathing more life into it. If he were to start striking Trump for his purported criminality, the media would be forced to cover the Hunter Biden story more than they have.
I would argue from the last three years that most mainstream news organizations simply refuse to cover the Hunter Biden story out of misplaced fealty to Joe Biden (because so many news people truly believe that Trump is a fascist who will bring about a fascist government if he’s reelected in 2024).
Yet, many Democratic Party consultants and voters are upset with Joe Biden (because they don’t believe there’s much to the very serious charges against Hunter Biden, and by extension, potentially against his father).
These consultants and voters do not understand how President Biden is not drawing a clear contrast between himself, a supposedly kindly, old, law-abiding grandfatherly figure versus Trump’s unpredictable, unstable, rage-filled, corrupt, crazy racist uncle persona, by highlighting Trump’s legal problems.
What they clearly don’t understand is that there are only two reasons for why Joe Biden isn’t doggedly attacking Trump for his indictments. The first is that it’s a simple political miscalculation. But that doesn’t explain enough of it away. The second is that Biden and his team are fearful of the political and legal can of worms that increased public scrutiny on Biden’s alleged criminality will have on Biden’s reelection chances.
Better to stay mum and “let the process play out” as is so often the refrain from the Washington, D.C.-types (who are so clearly biased against Trump and the Republican Party). The process, my friends, is, at the very least, being abused by the Biden Administration and Democratic Party to complicate Trump’s return path to the White House.
Why Should Joe Biden Attack Trump When the DOJ is Doing a Better Job of It?
These four cases have already drained Trump’s reelection campaign of most of the money it raised since the start of the year. Dittos for Trump’s campaign political action committee (PAC), which is begging for a $60 million refund as that’s how much of its money has been spent on Trump’s increasing legal fees.
That PAC, by the way, has barely $3 million left on hand, as of August. The DOJ is doing the work of Joe Biden’s campaign. There’s simply no reason for Biden to wade into the matter because the downsides of his own alleged criminality becoming a more prominent story far outweighs whatever benefits he gains by attacking Trump’s multiple indictments.
End the Gerontocracy: Newsom and DeSantis are Better Candidates for Their Parties
The bottom line here is that both President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are the worst possible candidates for their respective parties. While both men do have a large level of support in the Democratic and Republican Parties, respectively, neither man is qualified to run this country anymore. They are too old. Too corrupt. And far too damaged for our—or their own, for that matter—good.
There today exists candidates in both parties who would be far better for the future of their political party as well as this country, such as California’s Governor Gavin Newsom for the Democrats and Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis for the Republican Party.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert occasionally serves as a Subject Matter Expert for various organizations, including the Department of Defense. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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