Far too often, politics has been about the players and not the larger game.
That is painfully clear in this year’s presidential election. An intense spotlight is being focused on Joe Biden’s dismal debate performance and his physical stamina while virtually ignoring his record and that of his opponent.
Donald Trump got a virtual free pass on the debate despite his gusher of lies, racism, accusations and stumbles. That is not unexpected since that’s his usual behavior and the moderators and media seemed afraid or not to care.
I’m not saying it is wrong to raise questions about whether Biden’s age is an impairment. Both candidates are the oldest ever to run for president. Both of them in fact are the oldest two ever elected to the job.
It might be in the national interest to subject both men to cognitive and physical exams by respected and unbiased professionals not of their own choosing with the results made public.
But until then, it is time for the media to examine itself and its double standard. The laser-like focus has been on Biden’s physicality, with almost nothing being said about Trump’s mental fitness.
Trump may see the media as his permanent enemy but in reality they are his greatest ally. He is a skilled performer and his rage and rants at his rallies have been rewarded with more airtime and ink than his opponents, and with minimal scrutiny. He’s been more entertaining than any of his opponents, Republican and Democratic, and that attracts the viewers and advertisers.
Biden has been facing intense pressure to drop out after the debate, but not Trump for his lie-infested performance or his 34 felony convictions. One big difference is that Trump’s followers really don’t care, while Biden’s do.
Lately, Trump has shown a tendency to freeze up, have memory lapses, go off on narcissistic tangents, garble incoherently or appear confused, as when he identified a photo of a woman accusing him of sexual assault as his second wife.
The media gave Trump a free pass
REPUBLICANS HAVE been content to let the opposition battle with itself while ignoring Trump’s policies and views – views Biden rightfully calls threats to American democracy.
As one political pro told me, the difference between the two parties is Republicans are scared of a vengeful Trump, who has hounded his opponents out of office, while Democrats are not afraid of Biden, as the current brouhaha over his age shows.
Don’t put all the blame on the candidates, though. The media focuses more on the mechanics of campaigns than the policies of the candidates. Trump is entertaining, a perpetual click bait and ratings booster; Biden is boring. Biden fumbled, Trump was glib, lying and unresponsive, but so what, he was interesting.
CNN, host of the damaging debate, blew it. Trump makes no secret of his disdain for the network, which was so delighted to get him on their screens that they gave him 90 minutes of prime time to do his act virtually uninterrupted. The narrators were like numb fixtures, offering no tough questions he couldn’t dodge, no follow-ups and no fact checking. He got away with murder – murdering facts, truth and reality – and was allowed to escape fact-free.
Democrats went into shock after watching Biden while Trump and the Republicans resisted flooding the air with victory whoops. They know better than to interfere when your enemy is self-destructing. Besides, Trump is said to believe Biden would be the easiest Democrat to beat.
THE MEDIA and voters should also be asking tough questions of Trump, not letting him dodge and bully.
The former president has been largely inaccessible to real reporters. He prefers sycophantic pseudo-interviews with the obsequious boosters like Sean Hannity and the Fox/Newsmax crowd. Aside from a lengthy interview with Time magazine, he’s been able to get away with avoiding answering probing questions, follow-ups and real time fact checking.
Here are some questions Trump should be asked:
• Who won the 2020 election? Why do you keep claiming that you won the 2020 elections when recounts and audits in the key states and 60 court cases ruled against you, and even your former attorneys-general and the Republican leaders of the Senate and House publicly stated that Biden won?
• You’ve called for “termination” of parts of the Constitution. Be specific.
• What did you do, or intend to do, with all those classified documents you took home?
• If you never had sex with the porno star, why did you pay her $130,000 not to talk about it instead of suing her for libel?
• The Supreme Court ruled largely in your favor on presidential immunity. Does that mean President Biden now has all those powers you were speaking of? Is he free to take home all his documents, including highly classified papers, when he leaves office? You’ve said you want to have him investigated: If he has the immunity you claim, does that mean you can’t touch them?
• Are you ready to raise the level of income, currently $168,600, on which people pay Social Security payroll tax, to keep it solvent rather than cut benefits or raise the age of eligibility?
• You’ve said you can free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich because of your good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Why wait until you’re elected when you can do it now and reap international praise?
• You said Hamas wouldn’t have attacked Israel if you’d been president. What can you do to end the war that President Biden has not? Just how would you get Hamas to give up the hostages and end its terrorist goals and activities?
• Would you put any limitations on weapons sent to Israel? What about a mutual defense treaty with Israel?
• As president, you recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the annexation of the Golan Heights. Would you recognize Israeli annexation of the West Bank? Gaza?
• You have spoken of rounding up undocumented migrants and putting them in detention camps prior to mass deportations. What is your plan for countries that refuse to let them return?
• You have spoken about putting Liz Cheney before a military tribunal. Who else and on what charges? You’ve accused Gen. Mark Milley, your chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of a “treasonous act” punishable by death. What do you intend to do about that?
• You’re calling for President Biden to take a mental acuity test. Would you take the same one administered by neutral experts and make it public?
• You’ve accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the Department of Justice and the FBI by prosecuting you and your supporters. How does that differ from what you have in mind when you talk about investigating the Biden family, the January 6 committee and others in the current administration?
• You’ve said Iran is building a “large scale” nuclear weapons arsenal. What do you intend to do about that?
SADLY FOR the country, these and all other questions will go unanswered. Trump won’t subject himself to tough interviews because he feels he has nothing to gain and everything to lose. His supporters – his cult – love his defiance and don’t care about his sins, and even exult them. Nor does the Republican Party, a wholly-owned MAGA subsidiary, care.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former American Israel Public Affairs Committee legislative director.