Blowout

by Jim Buckley

The Show Must Not Go On

Well, that’s settled.

President Joe Biden is not President of the United States. He is the “elected” president, of course, but his debate performance put an end to any speculation that he is “in charge,” “sharp as a tack,” or is any one of the other clichéd embodiments of mental agility put forward by Biden flacks such as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, sycophants such as Senator “Chuck” Schumer, cheerleaders like “Morning Joe” Scarborough, MSNBC talk-show host Joy Reid, the ladies of “The View” (and its audience), and enablers such as Joe  Biden’s wife, “Dr.” Jill Biden.

Who is in charge remains an open question. Any one of Biden’s handlers could be. Or they could all be. For example, Senior Advisor Mike Donilon, who served as chief strategist for this administration could be a major domo. Anita Dunn is another name that keeps popping up. She too is/was a chief strategist. Steve Ricchetti served as Chief-of-Staff for Vice-President Biden, and now serves as Counselor to the President. Annie Tomasini, Dana Remus, Julie Rodriguez, Ron Klain, and Jill Biden, along with two of her top advisers, Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon and Anthony Bernal are more influencers. All could have Joe Biden’s ear, and all could have a personal agenda that they’re pushing.

I’m not a Washington insider, but what I do know is that all the above-named – other than Jill Biden and possibly Ron Klain – are unknown to the public. And that’s not right. The public deserves to know who is really calling the shots. If the man they elected isn’t in charge, they should be informed as to who is.

As for the results of the debate, you’d have to be as cognitively impaired as Joe Biden is to believe that he “won” or came out better than Donald Trump. That over 30% of viewers say that Biden did better than Trump is unsettling.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t much of a debate.

It was a brawl.

A schoolyard brawl.

In my youth, I took part in several such incidents. They often came to body blows, but at first it was all insults and threats. That’s what we witnessed these two adult men engaging in, and it wasn’t pretty.

Not at all.

But at least it didn’t come to blows.

Biden, after a week or ten days of so-called preparation,arrived completely unprepared; he was simply dazed and confused.

On the other hand, Trump was focused and came out swinging.

The result was ugly.

Trump won hands down and maybe that’s all he had to do.

But we must ask: now what?

Here’s what:

Trump’s task now is to formulate an American Revival Plan. We don’t need to hear another of his rally speeches. Time to move on, as Bill Clinton’s team did after the Lewinski affair and his impeachment trial.

“Drill, Baby, Drill” is an effective applause line. But what does that mean?

Most of us on this side of the aisle are in favor of drilling for more energy, but we also care about the environment. That between 8,000 and 20,000 airplanes are in the air at any given hour of the day (nearly 100,000 commercial flights take place every 24 hours) spewing both unspent fuel and exhaust into the near stratospheregives us pause.

We have hybrid cars (I have one), why not hybrid airplane engines? Jet fuel to take off and land, electricity to cruise. It’s just an idea but it could help a lot. Such a plan doesn’t have to be mandated; authorizing tax credits for making the switch could accelerate the trend.

Instead of loading up with windmills that whack birds of prey, scar the landscape, and scare the whales, or solar arrays that become killing fields for insects and other creatures, the U.S. could go nuclear. Small, efficient, and virtually non-polluting nuclear power plants could satisfy U.S. needs and accomplish what doomsday alarmistsclaim they want in half the time, for a lot less money, andwithout pointless strangulation of the economy.

There are a host of positions that Donald Trump can and should expound upon, such as:

1) The precipitous drop in military enlistments. He could examine why that has happened and suggesthow to re-invigorate the program;

2) budget deficits and inflation are vexing but can be righted. Mr. Trump should enumerate a plan;

3) Immigration, both legal and illegal is a mess and needs to be addressed. What to do about the 10 to 20 million people from other countries now here is a problem. Forget about undertaking a “mass deportation” unlike anything ever seen. There’s got to be a better way.

4) Student debt. Maybe a plan to return education loans to banks and mandating that colleges and private institutions be on the hook for delinquencies, not taxpayers;

5) Failing schools. If a public school falls below an agreed-upon standard, a federal plan would allow parents whose children attend that school to take their tax money to wherever they believe their child would be better educated;

There are many more issues to be addressed that would stand in stark contrast to what Democrats do or have done and that could sway undecided voters. Trump doesn’t have to be too specific, but specific enough to draw in some of those fence-sitters who could make all the difference.

Donald Trump is America’s Showman, but we’ve seen the show. We like it, but he needs to do more if he expects to build his audience and hold it through November 5 and beyond.

President Biden’s pathetic debate performance has given President Trump that opportunity.

He should grab it.

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