Is Biden a far-left Communist, or an institutionalist who made this mess? Why not both?
© Provided by Slate Donald Trump gestures at the conclusion of the final day of the Republican National Convention. SAUL LOEB/Getty Images Having offered no agenda beyond reelecting Donald Trump, the RNC threw itself into Trump week armed with a three-pronged strategy. The first required re-narrating Joe Biden, a moderate Democrat known for getting along with Republicans, as a wild-eyed Communist who dreams of tearing down American institutions. The second was even more challenging: it required stealing the case the DNC had made for Biden as the Empathy Candidate so as to make Donald Trump—the “You’re Fired” fellow—the compassionate candidate instead. To that end, speaker after speaker spoke about the caring nature Trump displays whenever he’s not in public. It was not a convincing case. (I’d expected the bulk of that humanizing testimony to come from his children, but Tiffany, Eric, and Don Jr. had nothing to say about paternal love or acts of caring. Ivanka was the sole exception.) The third and final prong tackled Trump’s racism: Trump polls poorly on his handling of race relations, so the RNC pulled a scheduled speaker who’d recently broadcast a virulently anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, and featured several speakers of color and a video of Trump with some naturalized citizens. The sincerity of the effort can be gauged by the revelation that the newly naturalized citizens were neither asked whether their images could be used at the Republican National Convention nor informed they would appear on television. They were used as props: the objective was to give safe cover to voters who might be slipping away because Trump is a racist xenophobe. See? He can be nice to immigrants of color! On camera! The larger task was to make the present crises afflicting the country someone else’s fault. Trump’s America has millions unemployed, businesses going under, a raging pandemic, wildfires in California, tropical storm Laura battering Louisiana, unchecked police brutality, debt at an all-time high, and schools all over the country opening only to close their doors days later as COVID-19 cases mount, leaving parents in the lurch, forced to somehow work full time from home while parenting full time too. Mass evictions are about to start happening. The RNC sought to make these disasters that compounded under Trump predictive of Biden’s America. In the meantime, Trump doubled down on supporting corrupt police departments while his officials openly break laws (laws that officials like Mike Pompeo have themselves enforced against underlings!) on television. This is the tacit—and yes, fascist—promise Trump makes to his supporters: the law is for others to follow and for you to flout. It’s not easy to frame someone else for the mess you made. But Trump has advantages. The big one is that his supporters love it when he lies and cheer when he cheats. This helps! Trump’s MAGA gear is famously made in China, not the States (unlike Biden’s, which comes from an American union shop). Ivanka Trump was granted five enormously valuable patents from China while she was supposed to be working for the American people. None of that matters to Trumpists: “Joe Biden’s agenda is Made in China. My agenda is MADE IN THE USA,” Trump said last night—sleepily, strangely, to applause. That two of his campaign managers have faced criminal charges—Steve Bannon most recently for defrauding Trump supporters who donated to a Build a Wall fund—is only a lib-triggering plus.
