Monday, after months of self-quarantine in his basement, former Vice President Joe Biden emerged to deliver a speech in Pittsburgh. However, rather than present an image of a revitalized, coherent candidate, Biden confirmed what many in America have long-known about him – that he plays fast and loose with the facts and remains clueless about what is happening in the world outside his Washington-centric bubble.
Most telling in this regard were Biden’s repeated efforts to blame President Trump for the violence that for months has plagued cities from coast to coast and in the country’s heartland; communities that have been living for years if not decades under ineffectual Democrat Party control. Blaming Donald Trump, a Republican president, for violence in Democrat-run cities even after he has repeatedly denounced it and offered assistance to help quell it, bordered on the ludicrous, but was not the only mendacious story offered up by the former vice president on Monday.
For example, the former vice president charged that Trump deployed “secret federal troops” to protect federal property. This claim would be startling if true, but it is utterly without foundation. The Trump Administration did order federal law enforcement officers to protect federal facilities, buildings, and personnel in Portland, Oregon, for example, when they were attacked repeatedly by violent mobs. There was, however, nothing “secret” about the deployment, and there were only civilian federal law enforcement officers involved, not “federal troops.”
Considering the many research staff and speech writers available to Biden as both a former vice president and a current presidential nominee, we are left to conclude either that he knew such a statement was false, but made it anyway simply as a way to stoke anger and fear against Trump, or that he truly remains clueless about what goes on in the real world. Either scenario presents voters with a sorry choice at the top of the Democrat Party ticket.
Later in his speech, Biden played the compassion card, telling us that he has “personally spoken” with the families of both George Floyd, who died while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day, and Jacob Blake, who was shot recently by Kenosha, Wisconsin police following a domestic relations disturbance. It is highly unlikely that Biden’s discussions with these families touched on the full circumstances surrounding either incident, such as the histories of drug abuse and violence. Such details would not conveniently fit the carefully crafted exposition of compassion and concern sought to be displayed in Pittsburgh, and the stark contrast with Trump’s mean-spiritedness Biden seeks to cultivate.
Biden made a point Monday to play the Russia card against Trump, calling the president the most “subservient” ever to a Russian leader. Not surprisingly, this charge ignored the way Barack Obama in 2012 pleaded with Russia’s then-President Medvedev to afford the American leader just a little more time until after his reelection, when he could make softer deals with Russia.
Biden was at his conniving best when playing the fear card to scare seniors and Social Security recipients. He exclaimed that Trump always has planned to do away with preexisting medical condition coverage in Obamacare; when in fact Trump always has said he would protect such coverage (this fact actually was highlighted in one of the speeches delivered last week at the Republican National Convention). Biden made a similarly bogus claim when he blasted the President for planning “to defund social security.” The fact is that, even to the chagrin of many conservative Republican members of Congress, as both a candidate in 2016 and consistently since becoming president, Trump has vowed to protect the Social Security system.
Fear mongering was the constant theme throughout Biden’s presentation in Pittsburgh two days ago, and he left no fact ignored or record mischaracterized in his attempt to scare voters who might be considering voting to reelect Donald Trump.
Democrats are betting the house on Biden's “cool guy” persona, hoping it provides a smoke screen for his compulsive mendacity, gross hypocrisy, and chronic cluelessness. If Americans take this bet, they will pay a heavy price as cities burn and citizens are murdered in cold blood just for voicing political opinions. Protecting the life and property of citizens caught up in Leftist violence is going to take far more than whatever Biden offers, politically or physically.
The only thing Biden proved Monday is that we are all better off if he returns to his basement.
Bob Barr represented Georgia’s 7 District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 and was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1986 to 1990. He now serves as President of the Law Enforcement Education Foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia.