Joe Biden and the Newfangled Tradition of the Government-in-Waiting Acting as a Think Tank
[guest post by JVW]
Over at the Washington Free Beacon, Editor-in-Chief Eliana Johnson, who has already done stellar work in holding Democrats to the same standards of scrutiny to which regular media holds Republicans, has another interesting story that has thus far flown under the radar of our putrid mainstream media.
Just like John Edwards and Hillary Clinton before him, former Vice President Joe Biden has spent the years between leaving elective office and gearing up for a Presidential campaign by setting up a combination think tank and alumni club. Mrs. Clinton, of course, glommed on to her husband’s existing organization, whereas Mr. Edwards and Mr. Biden have affiliated themselves with universities, the University of North Carolina and the University of Delaware respectively. These institutes, such as they are, ostensibly serve noble public policy purposes. Here is how the Biden Institute describes its mission:
The Biden Institute, established at the University of Delaware’s Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, is a world-class intellectual center and destination for scholars, activists, policymakers, and national leaders.
Our mission at The Biden Institute: to influence, shape, and work to solve the most pressing domestic policy problems facing America. We are a research and policy center working to bring together the sharpest minds and the most powerful voices to address our nation’s toughest problems.
The Institute is focused on the issues that have animated Vice President Biden’s public career and it is rooted in two guiding principles he has long embraced: Economic opportunity and social justice. The Institute will explore, among others, such issues as: economic opportunity for the middle class, income inequality, violence against women, civil rights and LGBT rights, civil liberties and criminal justice reform, health care reform, environmental sustainability, the state of our democracy and politics, and political reform. Our approach will be dynamic – striving always to shape the conversation and serve as a leading voice in most consequential policy debates on issues facing American communities
Did anyone else notice how this mission manages to dovetail rather nicely with the agenda of the Democrat Party? Quite the coincidence, right? And just as both the Edwards and Clinton think tanks employed ex-staffers and loyalists, quietly waiting for their return to power, so too does the Biden Institute provide a paycheck for exiled Biden luminaries, as Ms. Johnson explains:
The institute has served as a landing spot for some of Biden’s former — and potentially future — White House advisers, many of whom serve on the institute’s staff and on an affiliated policy advisory board. There is Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, the institute’s vice chair, and Biden’s former senior adviser, Michael Donilon, who serves as managing director. On the policy advisory board are, among others, former Biden chief of staff Bruce Reed, former domestic and economic policy adviser Don Graves, former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, and former energy secretary Ernest Moniz.
I suppose this sort of arrangement where policy is crafted with the support of money raised from wealthy progressives and assorted business and labor interests who will want future favors from a potential Biden Administration, qualifies as much as anything could as “honest graft.” The Biden Institute, Ms. Johnson informs us, has a board of directors culled from the usual suspects such as the SEIU, the United Farm Workers, and the International Association of Fire Fighters, as well as from ex-Obama advisers such as David Plouffe who, in the words of Ms. Johnson, “could be useful to any Democratic presidential candidate.”
So what’s my beef with this arrangement? I mean, a institution with barely-concealed partisan interests operating in the open at an American public university must certainly be required to make public its finances, including its list of salaries and other payments along, naturally, with a continually-updated list of donors and the amounts that are given, right?
Well, no:
It is unusual for public universities to be exempt from Freedom of Information requests, but state legislatures in Delaware and neighboring Pennsylvania passed laws that exclude state universities from the transparency laws. Delaware state law stipulates that the “activities of the University of Delaware” are not considered public with the exception of the board of trustees and “documents relating to the expenditure of public funds.”
The Biden Institute is free to make those disclosures voluntarily, however, but has chosen not to do so. The institute did not respond to a request for comment seeking information on its donors and staff salaries. A university spokesman, Peter Bothum, responded to a request for comment sent to the Biden Institute and said simply that the university is not required to disclose the information.
In addition, Ms. Johnson reports that Mr. Biden’s senatorial papers, donated to the university in 2012, were supposed to be available to the public by the first day of this new year but have — surprise, surprise — been delayed until two years after Mr. Biden finally “retires from public life.” Meaning of course that these papers could ultimately be embargoed for the duration of a Biden Presidency, a prospect which happily appears to be fading.
So what does the candidate himself have to say about transparency? Brace yourselves:
Under [Biden’s] leadership, our system will make sure that the principles of equality, transparency, and public — not private — interest drive all government decisions.
And even better:
Today, voters have to wait until after an election to fully learn who spent money to influence their decision. Biden will propose legislation to change that, by requiring campaigns and outside entities that run ads within 60 days of an election to disclose any new contributions within 48 hours.
The same guy who doesn’t want you to know who is funding what amounts to the building of his Presidential campaign using state university resources is passing himself off as a campaign finance reformer by vowing to crack-down on the scourge of unregulated outside money. It would be funny were it not so aggravatingly typical of the biggest blowhard (Democrat division) in the race. Shame on Joe Biden for this malarky, and shame on the University of Delaware and the Blue Hen State political establishment for enabling it.
– JVW
I actually drafted this post a few days ago and have been sitting on it. Biden appears to be toast anyway, barring a miracle finish in New Hampshire. ABC News reports that he is losing support among African-Americans in South Carolina. Almost exactly four year ago I mentioned that while Hillary dominated the black vote among the older generation, Bernard Sanders did better with younger, more progressive African Americans than with their elders. That trend appears to be continuing.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 11:17 amYep.
Make America Ordered Again (f018c4) — 2/9/2020 @ 11:31 amIt doesn’t look that rare, Bush seems to have one at Southern Methodist. But it should be open to foia requests.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/9/2020 @ 11:35 amIt doesn’t look that rare, Bush seems to have one at Southern Methodist. But it should be open to foia requests.
The big difference, though, is that I seriously doubt that George W. Bush is going to run for a Senate seat in Texas, and he of course can’t run for President again.
My gripe here is that politicians who are not done with running for office, specifically the Presidency, are taking advantage of these sort of arrangements. When John Edwards’ boutique think-tank was housed at the University of North Carolina it was receiving taxpayer-subsidized office space and other amenities, even though its purpose was to lay the groundwork for an Edwards Presidential campaign. And that is what is going on with the Biden Institute as well. It’s another way for the Democrats to grab public money to subsidize their agenda. That’s only moderately disgusting, but the fact that they are then preventing the public from seeing how the Biden Institute works — who funds it and where the money goes — is an insult to the idea of transparent democracy.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 11:43 amNot to mention the fact that SMU is a private institution whereas the University of Delaware is not.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 11:44 amYep.
Make America Ordered Again (adac13) — 2/9/2020 @ 11:45 amI did a quick tour of the BI’s website and saw nothing about donors. Specifically, any page offering a link for those who want to donate.
What spurred my interest was finding this at the Jimmy Carter Center at Emory (a private university)
https://www.cartercenter.org/about/donor-privacy.html
Which has a big button saying “Donate Now”. Bident’s place seems to have neither donation page nor posted privacy policy.
kishnevi (496414) — 2/9/2020 @ 12:03 pmI did a quick tour of the BI’s website and saw nothing about donors. Specifically, any page offering a link for those who want to donate.
Wow, that’s a great observation, kish. It suggests to me that they have no interest in pursuing money from small donors because they are more than adequately funded by the secret wealthy donors, who are probably by and large banking and insurance companies who are prominent in Delaware.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 12:08 pmReading the article you linked, it looks like McCain and Dole both have (had) them at public universities. It also looks like it’s privately funded.
I guess I don’t get why, if they opened it to FOIA requests, this would be any worse than any other of the myriad of political welfare and hangers-on positions provided by lobbying organizations, corporations, think tanks, educational institutions, media, foundations, law firms, etc. As far as I can tell, they all have a plan for a soft landing.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/9/2020 @ 12:19 pmWould that anyone showed such interest in who was funding the Federalist Society.
john (cd2753) — 2/9/2020 @ 12:36 pmWell, I can hep you thar, John…
When I was in law school I was the treasurer for our chapter of the Federalist Society. Our prime expenditure was for pizza and sody watter.
It was all deep, dark and star-chamber y.
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 2/9/2020 @ 12:58 pmWould that anyone showed such interest in who was funding the Federalist Society.
If George W. Bush, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, et al. had parked their campaign braintrust in high-level positions at the Federalist Society to formulate campaign policy, and if they had also managed to grab office space on a public university campus while doing so thereby almost certainly being partially subsidized by taxpayer, then I might concede you had some sort of point and were not just engaging in a silly squirrel hunt.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 1:11 pmReading the article you linked, it looks like McCain and Dole both have (had) them at public universities. It also looks like it’s privately funded.
One more time for you, Nic, and please read this very carefully so that I don’t have to make the same damn point over and over again: both John McCain and Bob Dole started their Institutes after they were done with public life. Neither man then came back and tried for elective office. And it sounds like from reading the article that Delaware and Pennsylvania are special in that public universities are exempt from FOIA requests, so that we have no idea how that money is spent. I am guessing that this is not the case in Arizona or Kansas, where the McCain and Dole Institutes are located.
Sure, you can argue, Biden started his institute perhaps thinking that he was done from public life and wouldn’t be running for President this year, but given that he has now thrown his hat into the ring don’t you think that honesty would compel him to release the records for the Biden Institute, especially if he styles himself as a campaign finance reformer? But as I mentioned in the first paragraph of the post, the media doesn’t seem particularly interested in following-up on this matter.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 1:18 pmMcCain wasn’t gone from public life. His started in 2012. Both Arizona and Kansas require reporting, which I would agree should be done with Biden’s Institute. So, yes, I think that now that he has thrown his hat into the ring, she should release the records.
Media does not, in general, get worked up over these things. It isn’t sexy. Media is only interested in Sexy.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/9/2020 @ 1:35 pmMcCain wasn’t gone from public life. His started in 2012.
Yeah, that’s a good point. You’re right: he was still in the Senate. He was no longer a viable candidate for President at that point, obviously, but certainly not yet retired.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 1:45 pmThe institute was founded in February 2017, so it was obviously correlated with the end of Biden’s term as VP.
I don’t think this is quite as nefarious as it’s being portrayed. As someone might say, “here’s the deal”: it’s a PR/fund-raising vehicle for the University. Their main function appears to be organizing events that bring outside speakers to campus.
It’s very unlikely that the “Policy Advisory Board” is paid anything – it’s again just a PR gimmick for the university.
And you guys didn’t look hard enough for the donation page. There’s little “Give” icon in the upper-right corner of every U. Delaware page, that takes you to a donation portal.
The Biden Institute isn’t one of “our most popular funds” listed on the landing page, but it is one of the options here.
Biden himself is not currently involved with the operation of the Institute, which is part of U. Delaware, just like the History or English Departments. It’s not up to him whether to release the records and he wouldn’t have any authority to do so.
Dave (1bb933) — 2/9/2020 @ 2:25 pmhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-snl-rupaul-democratic-debates-20200209-3ngru6dczrdh7ipwv7ugw6cmh4-story.html
“Biden had more assurances, explaining that early poll numbers shouldn’t cause any fears: “Joe Biden’s gonna do what Joe Biden does best: sneak up from behind.” Sudeikis’ slang-slinging, out-of-touch Biden closed with a meandering anecdote culminating in a left-field “Cool Runnings” reference as the former vice president claimed to have given Jamaica’s first bobsled team.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/9/2020 @ 2:45 pmSo Dave, is it just a coincidence that the Biden Institute employs Slow Joe’s sister as its director? Or his senior advisor as managing director? You seem to think that this is akin to naming a school after a famous alumnus out of gratitude of respect. UDel already has the Biden School of Public Policy however, so that ought to take care of the vanity operation. It seems to me the existence of a separate Biden Institute within that school and largely staffed by family and friends should be something that the public ought to have legitimate questions about. To whom does Valerie Biden Owens report, the dean of the Biden School or the president of the university? How much is her compensation? We don’t get to know. Thanks to the state declaring the university system exempt from FOIA requests, these issues get to be hidden. No Biden Institute or, indeed, any university employee shows up on the database of state employee salaries.
And saying that Biden has no responsibilities for the operations of the Biden Institute would be like claiming that Donald Trump shouldn’t be held accountable for what went on with Trump University. That is certainly not what any of us were saying four years ago, was it?
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 3:40 pmBiden himself is not currently involved with the operation of the Institute, which is part of U. Delaware, just like the History or English Departments. It’s not up to him whether to release the records and he wouldn’t have any authority to do so.
In fact, I totally reject this argument. Biden could order that either the records be released of his name be disassociated from the university. If he really was about accountability and transparency, that seems like the kind of thing a stand-up guy would do, especially one asking us to elect him as our President.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 3:42 pmI was talking about the Presidential race last night with my 88-year-old mother. She made a very shrewd comment about Biden’s performance in the debate(s). She said he seems like he’s in a trance. I had noticed the same phenomenon, but didn’t know how to describe it. She nailed it perfectly.
norcal (a5428a) — 2/9/2020 @ 4:21 pmShe said he seems like he’s in a trance.
Well naturally he’s in a trance. He’s being kept alive by the dark power of voodoo.
Seriously though, very perceptive observation by your mom.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 4:46 pmI lived in Delaware for two years; nothing there surprises me.
New Castle County is the most segregated place I have ever seen. When a federal judge wrote a desegregation order for Wilmington/New Castle County, the good people there reacted by almost destroying the public schools, and Mr Biden was in no way opposed. Of course, ‘working class Joe’ attended tony Archmere Academy himself, a Catholic school but not affiliated with the Diocese of Wilmington, and with a tuition twice that of the parochial schools, and sent his kids there, so the desegregation order didn’t him, but the resulting devastation was so bad that anybody who can possibly afford it sends their children to private schools.
The Dana in Kentucky (bb405a) — 2/9/2020 @ 4:59 pmJust cause Trump thinks Biden is a crook doesn’t mean Biden isn’t a crook. I definitely think Biden should be much more heavily criticized over this kind of thing, and it should be seen as a major disadvantage compared with other dem candidates. It’s a real shame the democrats are struggling to produce a good candidate. Obama was quite an exception from Kerry, Gore, Hillary, etc.
Here’s what’s interesting: Sanders is also a flagrant crook and Trump’s guys don’t want to talk about it right now. Juicy scandal is merely a politics tool, not a real problem.
Dustin (5a4901) — 2/9/2020 @ 5:13 pmThe grand plagiarist has gone “Full DCSCA”:
http://slate.com/culture/2020/02/joe-biden-dog-faced-pony-soldier-john-wayne-tyrone-power.html
urbanleftbehind (092cd5) — 2/9/2020 @ 5:48 pmIf only the lying dog-faced pony soldiers kept making the minimum payments on their maxed out credit cards to get socked with 20+% financing charges and shut the f___ up while letting Biden’s pals at MBNA and their progeny encourage Americans to run their personal finances into the iceberg.
He’s done.
Bugg (ebf485) — 2/9/2020 @ 6:29 pm23. Dustin (5a4901) — 2/9/2020 @ 5:13 pm
You’re talking about Jane, his wife, who ran a college into the ground?
The possible criminality would have been lying about expected future contributions in order to get a bank loans. Go prove it that she knew she would be wrong.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/us/politics/jane-omeara-sanders-burlington-college.html
She was ousted in short order and it took some more years for the college to close. The people who suceceded her may have included crooks. She says that what she wanted to do could have worked.
I guess it could be like AIG.
Sammy Finkelman (8e96a4) — 2/9/2020 @ 6:50 pmHere’s what’s interesting: Sanders is also a flagrant crook and Trump’s guys don’t want to talk about it right now. Juicy scandal is merely a politics tool, not a real problem.
Yeah, the anti-Sanders wing of the Democrat Party is in a real conundrum. If the unload both barrels on Sanders right now — the affection for the Soviet Union, the weird rap fantasy writings from when he was in his early thirties, the three homes, his wife wrecking a college by taking out a fraudulent loan, etc. — they risk splitting the party such that Bernie Bros and Babes sit out the fall election. On the other hand, if his momentum carries to wins in New Hampshire, Nevada, and — good Lord — South Carolina then at that point it might be too late to stop him.
Funny aside: the movie Miracle about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team was just now playing on the NHL Channel. They had a discussion after the movie between Al Michaels and Bob Costas, and Costas mentioned that the reason that US-USSR game is still considered the greatest sports event in history is because unlike a Super Bowl or World Series, everyone in America was rooting for Team USA. I found myself immediately saying aloud to my TV set, “Well, everyone except for Bernie Sanders.”
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 7:41 pmWhat would you do if I voted for Biden?
Would you call me a Democrat freak?
Lend me your ears and I’ll tell you my reason,
And I’ll try to keep it low-key.
I need somebody to beat Trump.
nk (1d9030) — 2/9/2020 @ 7:49 pm(Could it be anybody?)
Anybody, just anybody, just somebody, that can beat Trump.
The possible criminality would have been lying about expected future contributions in order to get a bank loans. Go prove it that she knew she would be wrong.
The story I remember reading four years ago, Sammy, is that supposedly, according to an unnamed employee at the bank that loaned the money, the bank decided not to press charges because they would be going after the wife of a United States Senator who was already an avowed foe of their industry, and it was a local bank that would likely see the Sanders fans target the bank for harassment and boycotts. Losing a few million dollars was to them far better than tangling with an icon of the Vermont (and American) left.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 7:49 pmOf course, the fact that she was the wife of a United States Senator did not influence the money-grubbers to lend her their depositors’ taxpayer-insured money in the first place. No, sir, not at all, they definitely were not trying to buy access to a United States Senator, it was an arms-length, cool-headed business transaction.
nk (1d9030) — 2/9/2020 @ 7:54 pmI found myself immediately saying aloud to my TV set, “Well, everyone except for Bernie Sanders.
Ahaha!
Seriously, though, it’s creepy that Bernie thought so highly of the Soviet Union. Has he ever disavowed the adulation? Somebody online described Bernie as a red ant preserved in amber. Priceless.
norcal (a5428a) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:17 pmHas he ever disavowed the adulation?
Has anyone really ever pressed him on the issue? He was quite fulsome in his praise for Hugo Chavez and Venezuela in the early days of that man’s dictatorship, but of course now he dismisses Venezuela as “not real socialism” and acknowledges that he was a tyrant. Yet none of these knowledgable reporter ever think to ask him why he thought things would turn out any differently back in 2003.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:24 pmOf course, the fact that she was the wife of a United States Senator did not influence the money-grubbers to lend her their depositors’ taxpayer-insured money in the first place.
Well, they’re dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t, aren’t they? I mean if the bank had turned down Mrs. Sanders and the college they would still be facing the wrath of the Sanders left, so they really had no choice in the matter.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:25 pmSissies! They’re bankers. They’re supposed to be hated.
nk (1d9030) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:40 pmHas anyone really ever pressed him on the issue
This morning on Meet the Press Todd asked him about supporting Evo Morales. Sanders didn’t outright support him, but he complained about the coup and said nothing that could be seen as criticizing Morales. Oddly, Sanders got the country mixed up, and said Ecuador when he should have said Bolivia.
Kishnevi (e3cbf2) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:43 pmPretend it’s called the Trump Institute. See? Now it’s OK!
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:55 pmSanders didn’t outright support him, but he complained about the coup and said nothing that could be seen as criticizing Morales.
Did Sanders use the term “coup”? That is pretty startling considering that the OAS determined that Morales and his supporters had engaged in fraudulent voting, intimidation, and vote counting manipulation. I don’t suppose Chuck Todd bothered to follow-up by asking Sanders how Bolivia should have resolved the situation, but I’m sure he would have given some answer which amounted to “discuss the issue ad nauseam until everyone outside of Bolivia has forgotten about it and moved on to other issues while Morales maintains his hold on power.”
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:56 pmOne of them used the word “coup” and I am pretty sure it wasn’t Todd.
Kishnevi (e3cbf2) — 2/9/2020 @ 9:01 pm“Pretend it’s called the Trump Institute. See? Now it’s OK!”
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/9/2020 @ 8:55 pm
Or, pretend it’s called the Trump Institute. See? Now it’s on the WaPo front page!
Munroe (dd6b64) — 2/9/2020 @ 9:19 pmIt hasn’t done grifter joe much good.
asset (13edb2) — 2/10/2020 @ 12:48 amYou people will have to murder Trump to change policy.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/10/2020 @ 2:54 amManufactured outrage and empty promises is what never Trump has to offer. Canada is calling you people.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/10/2020 @ 3:22 amnk (1d9030) — 2/9/2020 @ 7:49 pm
Very good, nk.
felipe (023cc9) — 2/10/2020 @ 3:53 amWe can do it with a little help from our friends, felipe.
nk (1d9030) — 2/10/2020 @ 4:21 amvoyance discount (b2952f) — 2/10/2020 @ 4:20 am
Salutations, robot; vous verrez que tous ceux qui ont de bonne volonté sont les bienvenus ici.
felipe (023cc9) — 2/10/2020 @ 4:27 amAmen, nk.
felipe (023cc9) — 2/10/2020 @ 4:27 amBiden wanted to call the voter a….scallywag….or a ….rapscallion…..Where is my tea and my blanket, and what time does “Matlock” come on?
Bugg (47841b) — 2/10/2020 @ 5:56 amThe politcal (ruling) class. Agenda – Power.
Recall Angelo Codevilla’s piece AMERICA’S RULING CLASS – And the perils of revolution (2010) American Spectator? https://acrosssthestars.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/codevilla-americas-ruling-class-and-the-perils-of-revolution.pdf It dealt with and detailed the same theme, but with greater specifics. A very good read.
So much for Statesmen (and Stateswomen).
So much for limited government.
So much for – for the People.
Liberty & Truth require constant vigilance. GLZ.
Gary L. Zerman (a1521c) — 2/10/2020 @ 7:16 amPretend it’s called the Trump Institute. See? Now it’s OK!
Yes, double standards are a bitch, especially when employed by someone you don’t like. Maybe the better course is to have the same standards for all.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 2/10/2020 @ 7:41 amAnd every Trump apologist who’s morally offended at whatever Biden did would be outraged at all the hate for poor, innocent Donald and would be saying it’s totally irrelevant to the presidency anyway.
Yesterday a Trump defender suggested that Biden is unfit because of something done 30 year ago — but Trump apologists have routinely insisted that nothing Trump did before he began to campaign for the presidency is of any consequence at all, except that he made money and put his name on things.
For decades I’ve been critical of media double-standards. Now, a lot of people who complain about media double-standards are applying their own double-standard: No rules for Trump (i.e “let Trump be Trump!”), and strict rules for everyone else.
Someone who’s willing to criticize Trump has credibility in putting Biden under scrutiny.
Radegunda (3bc3b5) — 2/10/2020 @ 9:46 amAnyone who reflexively defends Trump and then slams others as dishonest, corrupt, mean, self-centered, arrogant, uncivil, opportunistic etc. cannot be taken seriously.
I’m more bothered by the double standards employed by people I used to like — people I thought had the integrity not to be so glaringly inconsistent in the matter of what’s unacceptable and what should get a pass.
Radegunda (3bc3b5) — 2/10/2020 @ 9:50 amWhat are the “empty promises” being made by “never Trump”?
Why is outrage “manufactured” if it’s critical of Trump — but totally righteous if it’s about someone named Biden, e.g.?
BTW, I haven’t “manufactured” any outrage over Trump, nor parroted it from anyone else. I’m genuinely disgusted by him, and by the hero-worship attached to someone who doesn’t understand the concept of risking or sacrificing something for others.
Trump doesn’t even understand something so fundamentally human as grief over the loss of a loved one, or anxiety when a loved one is in danger. He ridicules other people’s tears — but his acolytes purport to be morally offended if someone ridicules his spray-tan.
Constantly defending Trump requires hypocrisy.
Radegunda (3bc3b5) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:05 amSay it, Radegunda…!!!
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:24 amBiden has lefr New Hampshire – not even staying for primary night appearance. Of course, he wouldn’t get much television time and might get just as much in South Carolina. And maybe being shown conceding he got say only 10% or a reporter giving that low showing more time, is worse than not being shown at all.
Michael Bloomberg is leading in early returns from Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. He got 3 out of 5 votes (apparently all write-ins) two from Democrats and one from a Republican. People do that in New Hampshire. Write in a member of the opposite party. Independents can vote in either primary.
Sammy Finkelman (8e96a4) — 2/11/2020 @ 11:32 am