{UAH} LOOKING FOR VIRTUES IN BOTH TRUMP AND BIDEN

Looking for virtues in both Trump and Biden

by Quin Hillyer, Commentary Writer

 October 30, 2020 04:04 AM

 

Joe Biden isn’t all bad. Neither is Donald Trump.

From the way I’ve usually (but not always) written about each of them, it might be thought that neither the Democratic nor the Republican presidential nominee has any redeeming virtues. That, of course, would not be a fair assessment, even if their vices are plentiful. Please allow, therefore, this recapitulation, from the standpoint of a Madisonian-Reaganite conservative, of Biden's strengths as he seeks the presidency and of Trump's strengths as he seeks to retain it.

Joe Biden's virtues

First, Biden may be the most resilient politician of our lifetimes. When he finds himself flat on the deck, whether due to outlandish fate or his own mistakes, he refuses to stay down. He endured his father’s job loss; he overcame a horrid childhood stutter; he did poorly in college and nearly flunked out of law school. He got caught so blatantly plagiarizing and lying that he became such a national-media laughingstock, it would have ruined most senators’ careers. He bombed out of his first presidential race and barely registered in the polls in his second one 20 years later. He almost died from a double brain aneurysm in his mid-40s. And, worse, he suffered the soul-crushing tragedies of losing his wife and infant daughter to a car crash and losing his impressive oldest son to brain cancer.

Each time, Biden got back on his feet. Each time, he persisted. It’s an important character trait. The United States can do worse than a president who never gives up.

Second, in the two-thirds (or so) of the time Biden is a nice guy (a pretty good percentage), he is truly and genuinely kind and empathetic. Oh, yes, Capitol Hill is full of stories of times Biden acted (to put it bluntly) like an arrogant, thin-skinned jerk, but even more stories exist of the “good Biden” with a big heart. Numerous people have attested to his giving his private cell number to strangers whose tales of woe attract his sympathy. His attempts to help and comfort his Republican colleague and true friend John McCain, when McCain was stricken with the same brain cancer that killed Joe’s son, were extensive and heartfelt. And so on.

Third, while Biden is not a centrist but in truth very liberal, he nonetheless is an old-fashioned liberal still within the American tradition, rather than a radical. While he is perfectly willing to steamroll over Republican opposition if he can, he also has a history of working within the system to forge compromise when compromise is better than disaster. While a serial fibber, he also is known to uphold his end of political deals if he gives his “word as a Biden.” He’s a patriot, and he really means it, even if he lives by it less often than he thinks he does, when he insists that “talking to the other side is important.”

If he gets into office, let's hope he doesn't just talk, but listens.

Donald Trump's strengths

First, Trump has kept his word to prioritize the appointment of superbly qualified, textualist judges. Few legacies could be as important for the proper maintenance of our constitutional system.

Second, Trump’s team sometimes has shown a surprisingly deft touch in the Middle East. He finished the job (competently if belatedly started by the Obama administration) of evicting ISIS from its territorial mini-caliphate. He got out of the way (thus reversing Obama-Biden policies) of what already was growing cooperation between Israel and semi-centrist Arab regimes, resulting in a string of formal peace deals. And he wisely took the opportunity to eliminate from earthly existence Iran’s terrorist in chief, Qassem Soleimani — a decision Biden weakly fretted was “a hugely escalatory move in an already dangerous region.”

Third, Trump has successfuly pursued pro-growth economic policies. His aggressive deregulatory agenda, combined with his support for and signing of Paul Ryan’s tax-cut together, deserve the lion’s share of credit for creating the best top-line economic numbers in 60 years. While presidents usually receive too much credit or blame for the state of the economy, the pre-coronavirus unemployment rate of phenomenally low 3.5% combined with virtually no inflation and near-zero interest rates was, in a word, spectacular.

Fourth, Trump’s series of executive actions related to healthcare have greatly ameliorated the harms caused by Obamacare, leading to more consumer choice and transparency and pushing premium costs lower for three straight years. Likewise, in education, his team has done well by reinstilling fairness in college disciplinary proceedings while protecting the Title IX women’s sports regime.

Fifth, Trump stands against rioters, for a strong military, against campus censorship and “political correctness,” against noxiously divisive “critical race theory,” and against taxpayer funding of abortion. (Whatever one’s position on whether abortion should be legal, it is an abomination to conscript others, taxpayers, to provide material support for something many of them consider a grave and intrinsic moral evil.)

Even if Trump is wrong or inept on numerous other policies, corrupt, immoral, and perhaps just a bad human being overall, his instincts and transactional political needs have led him and his administration to do a significant number of good things for the American people.

For conservatives, those advantages are far from inconsiderable.

EM         -> { Trump for 2020 }

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
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