"Progressive" Democrats claim that President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on Jan. 20, has a mandate to enact a Left Wing policy agenda that would cut police budgets, open our borders to everyone, and implement a Green New Deal that would eliminate fossil fuels and bankrupt the U.S. Treasury. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The truth is that many voters didn't so much vote for former Vice President Biden as they voted against President Trump, a rude, crude bully who suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which he's displaying by claiming that Biden "stole" the election and refusing to concede to the obvious winner. Trump earned an Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, but he's a loser this year. And once again, he lost the popular vote.
As the Wall Street Journal opined, "Democrats didn't win this election as much as Mr. Trump lost it. ... He ran for reelection in scattershot fashion, with no consistent message (and) in the end he lacked the political skill to persuade a majority that his disruption was worth the cost of political divisions and the risks of a second term. Character does count in a president." Amen!
The Journal went on to say that "Biden has a mandate to end the pandemic and heal partisan divisions," but "lacks a mandate for the policies he promised his party's Left." Whew, what a relief! My hope is that Republicans will retain control of the Senate, where they can block failed and/or dangerous socialist policies. Remember that "democratic socialist" Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost to Biden in the primaries, isn't a Democrat; he's a Socialist.
"In the fine print of the Biden - Sanders unity document, you will find the most radical progressive agenda in decades," the Journal continued, an agenda that was enthusiastically endorsed by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, of California, the most progressive senator in Washington. And that's why I hope Georgia elects two Republican senators on Jan. 5. It's called checks and balances, which our Founding Fathers wisely wrote into the Constitution.
Another troubling aspect of the 2020 presidential election is that the mainstream media completely abandoned any pretense of fair and balanced news coverage. The once-respected New York Times and Washington Post, now owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, campaigned hard for Biden as did the main broadcast TV networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC. In fact, some of their political coverage looked and sounded like Biden campaign rallies as they tossed softball questions at a sometimes befuddled candidate. Perhaps that's why Biden, 78 next Friday, continues to read speeches and statements off Teleprompters instead of spontaneously answering questions from the media.
An example of mainstream media partisanship was that over-hyped New York Times "Anonymous" article trashing President Trump not long after he took office. The Times billed "Anonymous" as a high-ranking Trump administration official, but he turned out to be Miles Taylor, an obscure mid-level Homeland Security Department official who had little, if any, contact with the president or the White House.
And then there was the cowardly, gutless mainstream media decision not to cover the story about Biden's neer-do-well son, Hunter, who made millions of dollars from corrupt companies and individuals in China, Russia and Ukraine while his father was one of President Obama's top foreign policy advisers. "Joe Biden did nothing wrong," the media said. "Let's move on," and they did, but Republicans will continue to investigate, as they should.
Correction: Last Saturday I said Peggy Noonan wrote speeches for President George W. Bush, but she didn't. She wrote speeches for President Reagan. I regret the error.
Guy W. Farmer is the Appeal's senior political columnist.
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