Wake up, Republicans, the Dark Is Rising
How do you tell when you’re entering a Dark Age?
It has become increasingly clear that President Biden will not be the Democrat nominee for president. The Republican Party and Donald Trump need to adjust their strategy now to prepare for a race against a different Democrat candidate.
Republicans have for many months pointed, with glee, to the increasingly obvious debilities of Biden. He stumbles. He falls while climbing the stairs to Air Force One. He wanders off as if in a dream. He slurs his words. He mumbles. He whispers. He has (how to put this delicately?) plumbing accidents. He looks frail. He is frail. Age does that—not to everyone; some people die full of life. Joe Biden will not be one of them.
There is no shame in getting old. But there is shame in pretending not to be old when being old compromises ability and obligation.
Biden is a shameful figure. He lacks the ability to be president but clings to the position anyway. Maybe it’s about power. Maybe it’s about pride. Maybe he’s too far gone to know he’s too far gone. History will not be kind to him, nor to those who prop him up like a Raggedy Andy doll.
But neither will history be kind to the Republicans who ignore the painfully obvious warning signs of Biden’s imminent collapse into undeniable incompetence.
Doctors will tell you that people suffering from mental decline—and not just those with name-brand, diagnosed diseases—don’t fail ever-gradually to the end. The descent is not a straight line. The decline may be gradual in the beginning, but then it drops off precipitously. People fail the same way, per Ernest Hemingway, one goes broke: gradually and then suddenly.
Of that day and hour when Biden fails completely, no one knows. But come it will, and this column predicts it will certainly come before the election and probably before the Democrat convention, which means the Democrats will anoint another candidate.
But who will it be?
Whom will the Democrats pick to run against Donald Trump? That’s one question. Another is: will it matter? A generic Democrat can probably beat Trump. Gretchen Whitmer, the Democrat governor of Michigan—does it get any more generic than that?—can probably beat him. As can some faceless Democrat Senator.
Ah, you say, but what about Kamala (“Giggles”) Harris? Yes, it’s nice to have a black woman on the ticket—but it’s nicer still to have a winning ticket. If she won’t go quietly—and she will—the Dems can always sic Alvin Bragg on her. She spent years in local California politics, and her closets must be full of skeletons. And if they’re not, well—be creative, damn it! Invent a host of indiscretions, tie them together with a parking ticket, and voila! You’ll have 34 charges to bring against her. You don’t think she’ll go quietly? Please. She’ll go quietly—especially if they offer a plum first. She may be [insert your favorite pejorative adjective here], but she’s not stupid enough to cause trouble. She’ll go. Oh yes, she’ll go.
What are the chances the Republicans could nominate someone other than Trump? Zero. They are stuck with Trump. He ain’t goin’ nowhere.
But Trump’s no fool. And he has discipline. That discipline was on display last week when he went to Capitol Hill and met with Republicans. He was focused on mending whatever fences needed mending and doubly focused on the message Republicans have to deliver in the coming campaign. It was almost as if he had changed his spots. He talked about the future and never mentioned the past. That’s a good beginning.
Can he keep that up? Can he become the non-Trump candidate? If he cannot, he will lose.
But he will have to do more; he will have to do something he has not done: spend some of his own money. And he should pick Governor Doug Burgum (R-ND) to be his running mate. Burgum’s a billionaire too. Between the two of them, they could outspend the Democrats two to one. Maybe five to one.
Will money alone do the trick? Of course not. But money is the bread of politics. And whereas man cannot campaign with money alone, he cannot campaign without it.
A long time ago, Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL) remarked, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
In 2020, the Trump and Biden campaigns and outside groups spent some real money—about $2.74 billion. The candidates’ campaigns alone spent about $1.7 billion; with Biden spending about $1.01 billion, Trump only $710 million. Biden spent about $1.50 for each $1.00 spent by Trump.
If Trump’s going to beat a Gretchen Whitmer, he’s going to have to spend a lot more than he did in 2020. Is he willing to do that? Who knows?
Trump’s negative campaign should focus on the Democrats’ programs and ideas, not on Biden.
His positive campaign should focus on building a New America: where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish—and they can only flourish when government is limited . . . and, probably, where faith in God is widespread. Explaining that to Americans, 8 percent of whom have limited English proficiency, will be a challenge.
If Trump loses, we’re in for a long, dark winter of discontent. And who can tell when—if ever—we’ll wake up to a new spring?
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