by Elpidio Estioko
While former President Donald Trump is solidifying his efforts on his way to the White House, President Joe Biden is regrouping and doing damage control to continue his re-election bid.
Okay, is there any indication that Trump can’t be stopped from going back to the White House?
Latest developments show that he is speeding up his momentum to his second term as president, although he is a convicted felon and was indicted twice, as he is outsprinting Biden in the presidential race!
The first early presidential debate between Trump and Biden led to his superb debate performance while Biden to his dismal failure to capitalize on Trump’s more than 35 lies and other issues throughout the debate.
Many consider these as signs of old age (Biden is now 81 years old) that Biden can no longer function to be the president as shown in the debate. He had all the chances of rebutting and countering Trump’s lies but he was not able to do so.
Most viewers and voters say Biden failed and Trump won in said debate. With that, Trump gained more campaign money after the debate while Biden had to retreat to Camp David with his family and trusted allies to assess his chances of moving on as the Democratic Party standard bearer.
Another debacle is the Supreme Court ruling recently (6-3) that Trump has criminal immunity for official acts. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, in her dissenting opinion:
“The Court gives former President Donald Trump all the immunity he asked for and more. Today’s decision to grant former presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institutions of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and the system of government, that no man is above the law. Because of our Constitution does not shield a former president from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.”
She was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Sotomayor added in her dissent: “The president is now a king above the law… with fear of our democracy…”
According to CNN, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson each took the rare step of reading provocative dissenting statements recently.
The outrageous decision is a big win for Trump which may lead to delays and possible immunity for Trump in the January 6th trial.
Since it is a limited decision, not conclusive, the immunity case of Trump will be going back to the lower court that will determine which were Trump’s decisions were official (which will be covered by the Supreme Court decisions) and which ones were personal which were not covered by the SC decision.
This process will go a long way in that it may not be decided before the November general election.
Justice Sotomayor was right! Trump got what he wanted in his immunity case–delay, delay, delay!
That’s what Trump wanted, to delay decisions before the election so that when he wins, he can pardon himself or go for revenge, which he promised to do.
The question now is: “Can Biden come back and regain stature as the logical candidate that can beat Trump?”
The Democratic Party and Biden’s family are doing a lot of damage control to save Biden’s candidacy. Will they succeed?
As I See It, they may succeed!
What they need to do is hammer on Biden’s plans for the American people on the critical issues on immigration, the economy, health issues, birth control, peace and order, safety, homelessness, and other issues of national importance.
The people need to know what he plans to do for the welfare of the American people. He was not able to do this during the debate but he now has all the chance of making people know of his plans.
They need to saturate the airwaves with positive TV ads, a multitude of testimonials, energized door-to-door campaigning, more community reachouts, town hall meetings, and the like.
If there will be another debate, this time he must make sure that he will dominate over Trump. This is the penultimate way of doing it.
Yes, he has limited time to do it but he must do it within that limited period with precision and clarity.
He needs to double time and race against the clock because if he will be able to do these, it will prove that he is still capable of leading the nation, that his age is not a problem, and that he is strong and determined to continue as president of the United States of America.
Because of the growing clamor of Democrats for him to step down, he needs to convince his party mates that he is still capable of doing his job as president for the next four years.
He might have performed very well in the last three and a half years as president, which he is hammering on in his speeches, but what his party and the American people need to know is that his age is not a problem and can still deliver results despite it.
This is what matters – the present and the future — not the past!
That way, the issue of old age will no longer be an issue. It will be wiped out by results, by solid performance, and by his positive vision for America!
Can he do it? If he can put into practice and translate what a famous basketball coach I know has been saying: “One step backward, two steps forward,” then he will be able to save his candidacy!
He made a backward step by not doing well in the debate but needs to take two steps forward to solidify and strengthen his chances of winning over Trump. The forward steps must be solid and convincing!
America will be watching!
ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist here in the US. He just published his book Unlocking the chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream which is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris Publishing. For feedbacks, comments… please email author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com.
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