A Paucity of Political Talent

Joe Biden candidacy is starting to look like Donald Trump’s gateway, writes Holman E. Jenkins, Jr. in the WSJ.

“To be clear, no one in President Biden’s White House would ever root for Donald J. Trump,” wrote the paper’s White House correspondent Peter Baker. “But as they watched Mr. Trump romp through Iowa, they also saw something else: a pathway to a second term.”

Mr. Biden first tried a non sequitur—because he beat Mr. Trump in 2020, only he could beat Mr. Trump in 2024. This fell apart as a matter of logic and soon as a matter of evidence, when polls started showing Mr. Trump beating Mr. Biden.

Is Joe Biden Physically, Mentally Capable

There is Trump clamor from part of the electorate for his candidacy. The only clamor for a Joe Biden’s candidacy comes from Joe himself and his hangers-on, continues Mr. Jenkins.

Mr. Trump finds a way also to incorporate his conspicuous self-interest in his patter, saying his legal jeopardy is really an attack on his voters. Mr. Biden has no commensurate answer for his family’s buck-raking, except to semaphore a claim he can’t make openly about a problem he can’t admit exists: Hey, Trump is worse.

This doesn’t mean Mr. Biden isn’t still a decent bet to win. That’s how unpopular and untrusted his opponent is. So, here we are, Democrats, if you like living dangerously; if you like making sport of the election; if you seek a possible cliff-hanger in the Electoral College or even a hung election in the House if enough disgruntled voters opt for a third party.

Almost any outcome is likely to be contested; norm violations will be rampant on both sides—Mr. Biden skipping the debates, his prosecutors trying to put Mr. Trump in jail, Mr. Trump using the courtroom as his campaign stump to delegitimize the legal system.

Like Father, Like Son

Despite (Hunter Biden’s) flagrant influence peddling, tax dodging, drug abuse, gun mishandling and prostitute patronization, all recorded on his carelessly discarded laptop, Hunter isn’t the bane of his long-suffering, put-upon father. It’s Republicans for noticing Hunter’s behavior.

… starting to crystallize in the press is the off-the-record question heard from senior Democrats over the past year: If Mr. Trump is such a danger to America, democracy and apple pie, shouldn’t Mr. Biden be heeding voters, stepping aside and opening the door to a new generation of Democrats—albeit not represented by Adam Schiff, of course—with some class and decency, who can put up a better show against Mr. Trump?