House Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (S.C.) told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that he's "very concerned" about black voters showing up for Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election. Coming from Clyburn, it's a substantial admission — an admission that should be taken seriously by the White House.
Or should it?
Tapper began the "State of the Union" segment by referencing former President Barack Obama's recent private lunch with Biden, where Tapper said Obama expressed concern about how Biden is managing his reelection bid, including how the embattled president is struggling to solidify the black vote.
Saying Clyburn was "instrumental in Biden getting the [2020] nomination," along with black voters in general, Tapper asked the veteran congressman how worried he is about black voters showing up for Biden in November.
Clyburn was measured in his response, but his message was clear — and delusional.
Well, I'm not worried — I'm very concerned — I have sat down with President Biden ... and I've told him what my concerns are. I have no problem with the Biden administration and what it has done. My problem is we have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done.
In other words, Clyburn is parroting the White House line, which goes something like this: "We've done an awesome job! If you people can't see that, that's on you!" He continued:
If you took a simple little thing [like] student debt relief, he promised to relieve student debt, and he has done that. But one part of his promise he was not able to keep because six Republicans ... the United States Supreme Court, six to three vote, stopped him from doing so. But, he sought another way, and he has given $132 billion to 3.4 million people in student loan debt. Nobody writes about that. Nobody talks about that.
I'm still hearing from people as recent [sic] as yesterday that he did not keep his promise on student loan debt relief — and he has. Eighty percent of what he said he would do he has done and is continuing to do it, and people don't focus on that. They only focus on the 20 percent affected by the court decision rather than what he did to get beyond the court's decision.
Hold the bus. Are you thinking the same thing that I am? That James Clyburn is just as "out to lunch" as is Joe Biden? Does Biden's fellow octogenarian actually believe that the embattled president is hemorrhaging black voters because of student debt relief?
Moreover, we've been over so-called student debt "forgiveness" a million times. Transferring billions of dollars of contractual debt to hardworking U.S. taxpayers who didn't sign contracts to borrow the money isn't exactly a strong campaign point, Mr. Clyburn.
Clyburn continued, moving to the judiciary:
He's done the same thing when it comes to the judiciary. ... He said, if given the opportunity, he would put an African American woman on the Supreme Court. He has done that. But he went even further and put a South Carolina African American woman on the second highest court in the land. ... He has appointed more African American women to the courts of appeal than all previous presidents combined. And that is a fact. [...]
He has reduced the cost of medical care. ... So this president is keeping his promises, but people keep focusing on the one or two things he did not get accomplished. No, we did not do what we wanted to do with the John Lewis Voter Education Advancement Act.
And that's a wrap. It should be noted that Jake Tapper sat like a deaf, dumb, and blind mute through Clyburn's ridiculously irrelevant diatribe.
Translation: DEI appointments — and symbolism over substance.
Perhaps if Tapper wasn't a Democrat shill, he would've stopped Clyburn several times and asked a few journalistic questions like:
What about prices at the grocery store?
What about rampant violent crime in large cities?
What about the evergrowing surge of "migrants" crossing the southern border?
What about those "migrants" now being bussed to sanctuary cities?
What about the out-of-control transport of deadly fentanyl crossing the southern borders?
But, no — Tapper just sat there like a deaf and dumb mute.
Yeah, try to control your shock and amazement.
The Bottom Line
While some Democrat lawmakers are reportedly scared to death of a Biden nomination — behind closed doors, at least — it's obvious that the party's movers and shakers are still clinging to the out-of-touch White House Line. Again: "We're doing an awesome job! It's the voters' fault if they don't see that!"
But here's the thing: Regardless of whose fault it is, my Democrat friends, votes are votes — regardless of how and why they're cast. And as long as Joe Biden and his disingenuous White House, along with party hacks like James Clyburn, keep trying to peddle this silly shtick, the better the prospects for the Republican Party in November.