A Nation in Decline: What the Trump-Biden Election Fight Shows Us About America – Donald Trump is at it again.
No, I’m not talking about attacking Joe Biden and the so-called “Deep State.”
I’m referring to being visibly confused in public. In a recent speech, the forty-fifth president got a series of facts wrong.
Ordinarily, it wouldn’t matter. But the Republicans are making Joe Biden’s obvious age-related cognitive decline a centerpiece of their campaign to end Biden’s presidency in 2024.
According to Trump, Hungary borders Russia. It does not. Viktor Orban is the leader of Turkey. He is not. He is the president of Hungary. Perhaps Trump was hungry? Jeb Bush is George W. Bush. Well, maybe, from an ideological perspective. And, in Trump’s estimation Joe Biden and Barack Obama are the same person. Okay, they might not be the same person, but Biden is obviously Obama’s ideological sock puppet.
So, the mix-ups, while embarrassing and clearly indicative of a declining, aging mind, are somewhat understandable.
Nevertheless, Trump is going to have an increasingly difficult time making the case that Joe Biden is old and forgetful, because he, too, is old and forgetful.
That’s definitely not a good look for the forty-fifth president. At the same time, though, this has always been Trump’s best line of attack. The optics. Because Biden certainly does not fill one with confidence the longer that he speaks.
Two of These Things Are Unlike the Other
But, if the 2024 election does come down to Trump vs. Biden yet again, the two political parties will rally around their preferred candidates once more. All nuance will be lost in the final act of the campaign. It will be red vs. blue. And which side turns their supporters out more and cleaves enough self-described independent voters away from the other at the last minute to put them over-the-edge, electorally speaking.
But Trump’s line of attack against Biden becomes less effective the more that he slips up in public.
And the recent verbal slams that Trump experienced on the campaign trail is not the only instance of this happening. In the last few months, Trump has made similar gaffes. He even went as far as to confuse him beating Hillary Clinton in 2016 with defeating Barack Obama.
Again, since these figures are ideologically similar, one could see on some level how this isn’t wrong. But superficially, it’s completely inaccurate.
As Trump plans to hit Biden for his dizzying array of public slip-ups, how effective will it be if the Biden team is able to compile their own litany of public gaffes from the forty-fifth president?
Then again, perception is power in politics. Despite only being a few years apart from each other, and having a variety of gaffes to pick from, Biden is perceived to be a shambolic, half-man in the throes of his final death agonies physically, mentally, and politically.
Meanwhile, Trump, with his insane political rallies and high-tempo personality, is perceived as being much younger than Biden. That perception has been shaped and reinforced for years in the public’s mind. And changing that image in the minds of most voters, no matter how many gaffes that Trump makes throughout the campaign, will not dissuade people from the belief that Trump is more mentally competent than Biden.
Despite Trump’s rage-fueled politics or his verbal slams, it is likely that Trump is far more mentally together than his likely opponent, Joe Biden. And Trump’s policies, despite his abrasive personality and loose talk, were far better for America than are Biden’s.
Can We Get a DeSantis-Newsom Fight?
What would be really nice would be if both parties could abandon their obsession with corrupt, rich, old, white guys and elevate the next generation. I’m still hoping for a Ron DeSantis vs. Gavin Newsom fight in 2024. At least then we’d have two young, vigorous possible leaders who could coherently advocate for their policies and avoid the insane ad hominem attacks.
Then again, America is a declining nation with an increasingly ignorant population that tends to favor emotionalism and reality television-style personalities. Like Rome in its final days, most people in America today need their bread-and-circuses and are unable to see the obvious reality facing them: selecting either Biden or Trump as their next president will be a disaster for this country.
Electing younger leaders with clearer minds, who are focused on policies rather than personalities, will rejuvenate the United States.
Decline is a choice. And our likely selection between absent-minded, corrupt, angry geriatrics is just another example of how we’re choosing decline.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor and an energy analyst at the The-Pipeline, 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. He writes opinion pieces for this publication.
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