Behind closed doors, Senators and congressmen are freaking out. They believe their party’s presidential nominee is fatally compromised. But few of them are willing to speak out. Those that do, say they hope the candidate will change and start acting differently. But most realize there is little that can be done to force the nominee out, so they stay silent and hope for the best.
On the surface, the similarities between the Democratic Party’s situation with President Joe Biden and the Republican Party’s situation with former President Donald Trump seem quite similar. Party elites are unhappy with their presidential candidate, but they have little power to force a change, and by using what little power they have, they would almost certainly end up hurting their party’s chances of winning in the fall.
But that is where the similarities end. Drilling just a little bit deeper, we see the differences between the Republican Trump dilemma in 2016 and the Democratic Biden dilemma in 2024 are fundamental.
In 2016, Republican elites thought Trump was a buffoon, far too vulgar and unrefined for the highest office. And they were right in the sense that Trump was far different than most Republicans in Washington, D.C.
But Trump never tried to hide these qualities from Republican primary voters. Quite the opposite, he reveled in them. And Republican primary voters, not all of them — but enough to win the nomination, loved Trump for it. They liked that Trump made the lives of other elected Republicans miserable.
Biden’s case is the reverse. Democratic primary voters have been telling pollsters for years that they thought Biden was too old to be president. So Biden, his aides, elected Democrats, and their allies in the media tried to cover it up. When Biden would slip or fall, or talk to dead people, or freeze, or forget the names of his own Cabinet, Democrats and the media would not only ignore it, they would bully and attack anyone who dared to say the emperor had no clothes.
Now, all of a sudden, after the first debate, the lie that Biden, his aides, elected Democrats, and their media allies have been telling for years has been exposed. And the voters are not happy.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
That is what makes Trump 2016 and Biden 2024 so fundamentally different. Republican elites were freaking out because Trump was exactly who he said he was. Democratic elites are freaking out because Biden’s lie has been revealed.
Maybe Biden, unlike Trump, will suddenly change and become younger. But just like Trump is still the cad he always was, I wouldn’t bet on it.