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Saturday, April 27, 2024
March 1, 2024
Raheem J. Kassam
Analysis
Politics

KASSAM: What a ‘Week From Hell’ for the Democrats!

It’s virtually impossible to feel “fully informed” at the moment amidst the plethora of court cases, set-piece events, international affairs, domestic dead-ends, conferences, crime waves, book releases, podcast clips, and so on. You have to pick your lane (and your news source) and stay true to it.

Folks like me try to consume just about everything out there (currently reading four books, listening to multiple podcasts, traveling to about eight places in the next month, etc.) to keep you best informed.

But I have noticed that for even the biggest of news days, there appears to be a time lag on the news hitting. Take yesterday as a prime example. To watch the evening news shows or read this morning’s newsletters, you wouldn’t have thought it was a day of note at all. Wrong. This was an appalling week for Democrats, punctuated by three key events:

THE SPLIT SCREEN FROM HELL.

Biden’s trip to the border yesterday could only have been worse if a) Joe Biden had been set upon by a pack of wild coyotes (human or animal), or indeed if said pack had assailed Trump during his own, concurrent visit, at which point he single-handedly beat them to a bloody pulp with his bare fists in front of the nation’s media. A flash of freshly tattooed “VOTE TRUMP” knuckles to the cameras, and there may as well be no election in November. But shy of that fever dream, Biden had about as bad a day as you can imagine.

First, they sent him to the silliest place to visit – Brownsville – where there’s nothing to see and almost no one to talk to. Good thing though, because Biden was caught on camera once again doing his best Roomba impression, hobbling along while local cops effectively called him a chicken for refusing to visit somewhere like Eagle Pass. Which is precisely what Donald Trump did, even sitting down for an hour, at the border, with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Those are optics.

Add to that the extraordinary scenes of Trump standing at the fence waving at what I can only assume were migrants on the other side – who were still chanting “Trump!” by the way – and the Battle for the Border 2024 Election Edition wasn’t even close. Total Trump victory.

THE SECDEF FROM HELL.

Lloyd Austin’s appearance in front of the House Armed Services Committee couldn’t have been worse for the Biden government, with special praise for GOP Reps. Pat Fallon and Nancy Mace for skewering Austin on being AWOL over New Year.

Everyone feels bad for the guy, what with the cancer and all. But what the Republicans in Congress yesterday showed is that a) That’s no reason to imperil the nation’s security and b) Austin repeatedly turned down the opportunities to inform the relevant people around him to ensure a safe transfer of his powers.

“Did you tell your staff when you received the diagnosis?” asked Mace, to which Austin responded, “I did not,” going on to admit that he neither told his staff he needed surgery nor that he was going into hospital and would be unable to perform his duties as Secretary of Defense.”

“I have admitted that I didn’t get this right,” Austin went on, with Mace accusing him of being “AWOL” and demanding accountability for effectively leaving the world’s most fierce fighting force – the U.S. military – without leadership.

Very, very hard to watch if you’re an American. Even harder to watch if you’re a Democrat.

THE LAPTOP FROM HELL.

Ahhhh, Hunter. The grift that keeps on giving.

I’m old enough to remember running around D.C., paranoid as all hell (I won’t even tell you the lengths I went to for protection), carrying one of the first copies of Hunter Biden’s hard drive around, and pouring over it for scoops.

Fast forward four years, and somehow, some people are still in denial over its authenticity, even though Hunter’s own deposition from this week, as well as the behavior of his legal counsel for years now, indicates that everything honestly reported from his hard drive is 100% real. And speaking of percentages, what got really real yesterday was the now infamous “10% for the big guy” line that emerged from Hunter’s hard drive all those years ago.

Remember being told there was no hard drive? No China deals? No “big guy” at all? Heck, I’m surprised they didn’t try to pretend Hunter himself wasn’t a figment of our imaginations.

And yet, this week, Hunter Biden got caught admitting that the “big guy” reference was indeed a sobriquet for his crooked father. Remember him? Sleepy Joe? The one who apparently can’t stand trial for his crimes because he’s too old and doddery, but he should definitely be allowed to have his hand on the nuclear button? Yeah, that big guy.

Now that I think about it, the “big guy” even sounds like a moniker you give your aging dog, who shuffles into the room confused as all hell but still semi-cheery from his cocktail of drugs.

“You ok there, big guy? Yes, you are a big guy! You are the biggest guy around!”