‘Crooked’ Hillary and ‘Sleepy’ Joe: Let’s Not Fall For This Act a Third Time

Dr Alex Vickery-Howe wonders aloud if we’re going to wake up before American democracy implodes. I’m calling it now: Democrats are idiots for turning on the incumbent and giving Donald Trump a clear path to the White House. The news that donors were willing to withhold millions of dollars was stomach turning. Of course, people [...]The post ‘Crooked’ Hillary and ‘Sleepy’ Joe: Let’s Not Fall For This Act a Third Time appeared first on New Matilda.

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wonders aloud if we’re going to wake up before American democracy implodes. I’m calling it now: Democrats are idiots for turning on the incumbent and giving Donald Trump a clear path to the White House. The news that was stomach turning.

Of course, people have the right to withhold a donation – it’s their money – but publicly knifing a president and was hardly a good look. Now, the knife has sunk, and It’s almost like the Democrats and their key supporters have somehow forgotten what’s at stake in this upcoming election. Here’s a refresher.



.. Trump’s resurgence is and may well see the end of contraception, the weaponisation of the justice department, the erosion of LGBTQI+ rights, the forced deportation of recent immigrants, an all-out assault against the American education system and the eventual installation of a Christian dictatorship.

This isn’t fantasy...

this is the stated intention of Project 2025. Despite his denials, of their work. I could describe all of this as ‘unconstitutional’, because .

.. but I’m not sure America cares about its own constitution anymore.

That went out the window when and decided they were fine with All of this, however, is what Margaret Atwood predicted when she wrote . Should we be moving it off the ‘Fiction’ shelf and replacing it with something more far-fetched, such as Lance Armstrong’s biography, or ? Trump is so busy conning others that he probably doesn’t even realise that he too is being conned, used, and played. I don’t think Donnie wants to live in a country where He was, allegedly, pretty upset that he couldn’t watch his favourite movies while he was living in the White House.

He’s going to be more upset when he clicks on Stormy Daniel’s profile and finds a frustrating ‘Error: file not found’ message. I’ve a sneaking suspicion he’ll be put out when his next illegitimate child is carried to term too. While we’re speaking about the benefits of the morning after pill.

.. I don’t care about Hunter Biden any more than I care about Eric Trump.

The desperation with which people are making this race about the children of the candidates is pitiful. Marjorie Taylor Greene has to be the low point. is a close second.

Haven’t we moved on from political dynasties? Before I deconstruct the unfolding disaster around of Biden, let me pivot to something else I’ve raised before that I really think Republicans need to consider...

You should be The collaboration between Trump and his previous Vice-Presidential stooge, Mike Pence, was bully and victim, or It was an abusive relationship that plausibly could have ended in Pence’s death. Tim Scott has a stronger personality, and he’s in Washington, so it’s odd to me that he wasn’t the clear frontrunner to stand beside Trump on the GOP ticket this time. The answer to that conundrum is probably that Scott is unwilling to be a stooge at all, and would actually challenge Trump.

I guess the party faithful couldn’t handle that. Better to install J.D.

Vance, a man who once linked Trump to both ‘Hitler’ and ‘heroin’, but whose moral code seems as changeable as When all the talk about replacing Biden in the top job – with beyond falling for the opposition’s argument – reached fever pitch among the Democrats, it was strange to me that no Republican strategist was watching and thinking that, maybe, Tim Scott could be the saner choice. Why didn’t that come up? It’s one of those peculiar quirks of partisan alchemy that the Democrats had a workable candidate they for nobody in particular, while the Republicans have a terrible candidate they still refuse to substitute for waiting in the wings. It just goes to show.

...

The right knows how to unify. The left turns on its own if the lattés aren’t the perfect temperature. If the recent electoral process in France has taught us anything it’s that and take on the far-right.

The left and the centre-left saw the existential threat and joined forces in the name of reason. I wish the same could have happened to America in 2016, when Bernie and Hillary played tug-of-war with the leftist vote. We’re seeing the same division play out in leftist circles now, and it may well lead to I admire Bernie Sanders and I admire Hillary Clinton.

They could have shared the ticket. I admire Kevin Rudd and I admire Julia Gillard. They actually share the ticket, and they still managed to knife each other until Australia was saddled with the idiocy of an Abbott government.

The left needs to learn the value of loyalty. Sure, the right is disloyal too – Turnbull crept up behind Abbott and – but they don’t tend to do it when they’re winning. The left does.

Do you know who won more votes that any presidential candidate in US history? Joe Biden. Do you know who in the August Democratic convention? Joe Biden. In of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, who do you think the people want to vote for? Steady Biden from.

.. wait for it.

.. Scranton, Pennsylvania.

.. or a new candidate picked at the whim of Hollywood powerbrokers? Nothing feeds more into the ‘coastal elite’ narrative than that.

It’s gonna be and catnip for Vance. I knew that Biden wasn’t going to make it through to Election Day when comedian said: Maher is in terms of astute philosophical observations made in jest. Once the blood hit the water, the opposition, the media, and erstwhile friends and allies, swarmed to feast on Biden’s reputation.

Where have I seen this before? Remember, Clinton was the target of a smear campaign that boiled down to a bogus FBI search, a lot of cultish hype – ‘but her emails!’ – and a schoolyard nickname: Crooked Hillary. There was also a whiff of misogyny in her constantly being linked to her husband’s infidelity, which she, more than anyone, had the right to be pissed off about. Even my own brilliant (I said brilliant.

.. .

.. please don’t fire me, sir editor couldn’t resist making a crack about Bill in relation to Hillary that none of Trump’s political rivals could get away with sleeping with a porn star and bullying her into silence.

Bill never stood against Trump, his tryst was 27 years ago, and Hillary is her husband. It must irk her no end to have to keep asserting her individual worth. But that’s the essence of playground politics.

Throw mud. Invent a nickname. Repeat until it all sticks.

Mean girls. Mean little boys. Adolescents who lack nuance, perspective, stakes, or a shred of empathy.

When Trump for his debate with Hillary to make accusations against Bill, fresh on the back of Trump’s own ‘pussy grabbing’ scandal, I laughed out loud at the transparent desperation of the tactic. It shocked me then that his manipulative crap actually resonated with people. It shocks me today that the same dirty tricks are still resonating as he throws his toddler taunts at Biden.

‘Crooked’ Hillary was a lie. We now know Trump is the criminal with a list of convictions to his name, including being found ‘Sleepy’ Joe is also a lie. Trump is exhibiting Medical professionals for years.

Did you sit through his chat with Musk? I’ve literally had more coherent conversations with residents in nursing homes. It’s the same trick: deflect your failings back on your opponent. Both and a close teacher died of dementia.

It’s important to clock the difference between normal decline – slowness, reaching for words, lethargy – which Biden absolutely 100% exhibits vs the verbal glitches Trump slips into with scary regularity. Those glitches are and a sign of dementia. You know, the clinical kind, as opposed to a pop cultural diagnosis.

For the people in my life who suffered from this disease, it was those tell-tale glitches that were the clearest sign to doctors. The same tell-tale glitches Trump is showing now. Eighteen months later and they were severely declined, didn’t know where they were, couldn’t string a sentence together and couldn’t decipher a gas bill.

It’s a distinction between a slow but normal 80-year-old and the glitching, rambling early signs of true cognitive impairment. Case in point: Biden quickly corrected himself when he accidentally introduced President Zelenskyy as ‘President Putin’ while Trump has repeatedly confused Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi without catching himself in the moment or showing the slightest that anything is amiss. And that’s before My expectation, had Biden stayed on, was that he would slow further and wouldn’t necessarily make a full term, but that the people around him would be stable and professional, and the President’s decision-making process would remain unhurried but sound until the day he left.

Trump, on the other hand, may not make it through the next few years without degenerating significantly, losing speech, losing his sense of self-awareness (if he has any now), and requiring full-time care. He’ll be like Boris Yeltsin, literally by his minders, and we all know how that chapter in history ended..

. Cognition can slip very quickly once those signs kick in and, for Trump, My teacher was working until her 80th birthday but she was in care, thinking I was an actor on tour with her, by her 82nd. My grandmother, a habitual smoker, was offended when I suggested a box of cigarettes on her bedside table belonged to her.

One day I walked into her room...

and she had no idea who I was. It is also a fact, of which I’m acutely aware, that some forms of dementia do run in families. and this, curiously, hasn’t been widely analysed by the media.

I’ve yet to see a medical professional declare that Biden is unwell in any way. Lots of unqualified journalists have suggested it. George Clooney has suggested it.

A guy at my gym has suggested it. I’m not sure how that became headline news. I’m stunned that it shattered the candidacy of an outstanding President.

Meanwhile, Trump is freewheeling about sharks, Hannibal Lecter, the ‘oranges’ of the Mueller investigation, the dangers of solar power after dark, and random thoughts that in the moment but If Biden had said half of these wacko things, he’d have been splashed all over the tabloids. Somehow, Trump sidesteps scrutiny because the press still treats him like the harmless character actor from That’s not who he is. He’s the guy who and take retribution against his enemies.

I look back respectfully on honourable Republican leaders, like the late John McCain who his political opponents shortly after his own surgery and not long before his death. Like Biden, McCain was a man of integrity. Draft dodger during the Vietnam War.

That’s not just low...

it’s slimy. It would be challenging, I’m sure, for to be confronted by someone as fundamentally unscrupulous as Trump, and I do understand why Democrats became concerned by Biden’s subdued response, but fracturing into warring pieces was not the answer. It was time to rally.

The Democrats chose to collapse. when it comes to Trump. Hillary isn’t a criminal but Trump himself is.

Biden isn’t mentally unfit, but Trump himself is. Haven’t we caught on yet? It’s the same con, the same projection, and America is about to fall for it all over again. To quote one of Trump’s own catchphrases – something I hardly ever do – there’s really only one word for this: Sad.

I wonder if the Romans were this smug when Rome fell. I’m seeing a lot of people revel in these attacks against Biden. Cenk, you’re great, but George, I’m a fan, but shouldn’t be giving anyone career advice.

four months out from a potentially catastrophic election wasn’t edgy or clever. It certainly wasn’t wise. It was very, very far from tactically sound.

I’m not an American national, so I’ll leave it for others to decide if it was ‘patriotic’...

but, from a global perspective, what we’re seeing is to a criminal. America might not make it through another Trump term. Tom Nichols summed it up: I’ll risk being laughed at for saying it earnestly: Biden is a good guy.

He is. Look into his history, look at what he has in his life, and ask yourself how a weak coward like Trump would have fared under those same circumstances. Ask yourself who has integrity, who has character, and who is a fragile man-baby pretending to be tough while shadowy figures, like Miller and Bannon, and foreign rulers, like Putin and Kim Jong Un, merrily pull his strings.

Trump is not a good guy, and he’s not even a particularly capable bad guy. He’s just an empty guy. So sad.

It disgusted me to watch Biden being assaulted by his own party and by of media hacks and “activists” who Some people are still enjoying this pile on. Well, enjoy four more years of the felon-in-chief. You won’t have anyone else to blame but your own mirrors.

There are several reasons why this strategy is suicidal: Michael Moore to demonstrate that a plant was a stronger candidate than the opposition. The same applies here. In a choice between Trump and literally anyone – or anything – you don’t vote Trump.

If anyone is still rather than kneejerk and emotional, the fact is, In everything from birth control to gun safety (admittedly two things Republicans hate) Biden has been effective. He has responded to the climate emergency with positive green initiatives that benefit rather than alienate farmers; he has given food producers a direct boost; he has relieved student debt; he has cracked down on cybercrime; he has repaired crumbling infrastructure; he has actually been tough with America’s foreign adversaries instead of just telling people he’s tough; he has strengthened the NATO alliance; he has lowered drug prices for families; and he has presided over skyrocketing employment figures. What do people want? Joe Biden’s opponent is Besides being an outlaw and a rapist, Donald Trump was a rat-shit president who bailed out the rich while stifling minimum wage growth (i.

e. directly betraying his supporters); refused to believe Covid-19 was a problem, even as record numbers of Americans lay dying (i.e.

directly betraying his supporters); and cosied up to dictators eager to exploit the US (i.e. directly betraying his supporters).

History has and there is little to redeem the Don from the ash heap of persistent failure. For his supporters, bringing him back is like cutting off your own hand to resurrect Voldemort. I don’t understand how there was even a contest.

In the blue corner: A man who overcame personal tragedy to become a strong and empathetic leader when history needed him. Biden proved himself to be intelligent, measured, hardworking and kind. He remains a stable choice, surrounded by excellent people.

His weakness – if it can be called that – was being undervalued by a nation that equates belligerence with heroism. In the red corner: A man who was given everything by his rich daddy to become a petulant, vindictive, dishonest, sleazy, stupid criminal. Trump is a textbook illustration of what happens when narcissism goes unchecked.

He’s a pathetic candidate, surrounded by nationalist extremists, proud Nazis and Christofascist thugs. Small of mind if not in stature, he only wants to get back into power to settle his grievances. He doesn’t give a damn about his flock.

If this monster returns to the Oval Office, he will decimate and humiliate his country a second time. And the Democrats who fight internally and let him waltz back in while they bitch about each other will have no right to complain on election night. They’ll have opened the door.

Both of the original candidates are probably too old for the gig. Both are older, in fact, than Both of the original candidates have some decline. Biden is slow and prone to gaffes.

Trump is a raving half-wit who is obsessed with faucets and afraid of windmills. One presided over a calm and prosperous America. The other turned his nation into a global punchline, betrayed his own base by favouring the wealthy, saluted North Korea, worshipped Russia, and pretended Covid wasn’t killing his own citizens.

One planned for the future and put initiatives into place that will continue to bear fruit and have a positive impact for decades to come. The other sticks his fingers in his ears whenever anyone mentions climate science, boasts about tax evasion, preys on the vulnerable, enjoys casual sexual assault, mocks American veterans, and if Jeffrey Epstein’s name comes up in an interview. Go figure.

One cared about voters. The other harasses poor people for donations to his personal legal fund. One respected democracy.

The other is a hypocrite and a sore loser who calls his opponents ‘snowflakes’ and then launches a coup when an election doesn’t go his way. One wanted to be president. The other wants to be dictator for life.

For reasons that history will regard as insane, America chose to axe the former...

and now the latter is laughing. There is now, of course, a new candidate in the blue corner..

.. Fresh from her strong debate performance, Vice-President Kamala Harris is of popularity, which, hopefully, extends into those crucial states I’ve mentioned above.

That is where this contest will be decided. While I’m unnerved by for the fracking industry, her militarism and her love of guns, I’m hooked on the poetry of Kamala, a seasoned prosecutor, stepping up to humble Trump, a seasoned gangster. Nevertheless, the wisdom, or otherwise, of replacing a proven winner in President Biden remains to be seen.

Further internal division will be terminal, so the Democrats better unite now and unite clearly. Regardless of who steps into his shoes and into the Rose Garden, I’m happy to go on record and say that Biden deserved better. Clooney and I can agree to disagree.

is an underrated Clooney film – most of his films are great, really – but the title feels somehow apt in the wake of this betrayal of the President by One thing we should all see now is the pattern. ‘Crooked’ Hillary. ‘Sleepy’ Joe.

It looks like they’re with Kamala, but they will...

. Next time a stupid nickname comes up in the playground, let’s not fall for it again. Ten to one it will just be another example of Donald Trump deflecting from his own inadequacy.

.