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There will be no column today, as I will be celebrating Labor Day by not doing any. Hope everyone else is having an equally unproductive day!
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
The White House seems to be having just a wee bit too much fun with the whole "Dark Brandon" meme. Because they actually set the stage for it last night, in Philadelphia.
For those of you who have no idea what we're talking about, from the original "Let's go Brandon!" insult (the NASCAR crowd was actually chanting something quite a bit ruder...) sprang a pushback character called "Dark Brandon." The character looks like he was created for a graphic novel, but neither the graphic novel or the character actually exist in any meaningful way, they are merely a theme. Joe Biden is transformed into "Dark Brandon," often pictured with ruby-red glowing eyes that occasionally shoot laser beams at his opponents. The whole thing is reminiscent of Dwayne Johnson's hilarious parody of a "larger, and more violent" Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live -- "The Rock Obama."
Last night, President Joe Biden gave a speech where the backdrop -- Independence Hall, in Philadelphia -- was lit with rather ominous red, white, and blue lighting, but the only patch of lighting seen in most of the video backgrounds was what can only be called blood-red.
Biden eyes did not, in actuality, glow red at any point. Nor did he fry anyone with laser-vision. But it was impossible not to make the connection, for anyone who has come across the Dark Brandon meme.
President Joe Biden came out fighting tonight, delivering a speech titled: "The Continued Battle For The Soul Of Our Nation" in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. The location, obviously, was appropriate for such a weighty subject. The speech was without doubt the most forceful address Biden has given while president, and indeed harkened back to his days on the campaign trail. This was all part of the design of it, as it was given just in advance of the traditional midterm campaign season's start, Labor Day. It was seen by most as the campaign's unofficial kickoff.
"It was seen by most"... well, that phrase has a flaw in it, because for some unfathomable reason the big three broadcast television networks refused to air it live. Biden took up only the first half-hour of primetime, but the networks still did not carry it, so most people might not have even noticed the speech was happening (it was announced only earlier this week).
But for those who did watch, Biden delivered. For the first half-minute or so Biden was very raspy and kept clearing his throat, which would have detracted from such a profound speech, but he finally did manage to get his pipes clear and from that point on spoke forcefully and with passion for the rest of the evening. He was clear, he projected his voice well for almost the entire time (instead of getting quiet or mumbly, as he is sometimes prone to do), and he certainly did not mince his words.
Don't get your hopes up -- that title does not promise I will strictly limit myself to writing only that many words today (I thought I should start with that). Instead, of course, it refers to the old saying: "A photograph is worth 1,000 words." And, if this proves to be a normal column, I'll be spending approximately the next 1,500 words explaining why.
Adages aside, you've got to admit the photograph the Department of Justice included in last night's late-night filing of their response to Trump's lawsuit (to get a special master appointed to review documents seized from his Florida golf resort) is indeed a doozy.
It shows a slew of documents spread out over the floor in a room that had been searched. This is just the contents of one box that was seized (as the "2A" label indicates), mind you.
Donald Trump's political obituary has been written so many times it is now somewhat of a running joke. "Trump Surely Must Be Toast This Time" is a headline that just keeps on giving, because each and every time the answer turns out to be: "Nope, false alarm, his followers are unfazed." This time, however, what's notable is that the "Trump's Done!" stories seem to be coming more and more from his own diehard supporters in the rightwing media echo chamber. The knee-jerk echoes are dying down, to stretch the metaphor, no matter how loudly Trump shouts.
Conservative commentators including Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Alex Jones, and Ben Shapiro have all recently espoused a similar message: it is time for Republicans to move on from Donald Trump. Jones openly backed Ron DeSantis over Trump. Coulter created the most recent buzz by writing: "You don't need to suck up to Trump anymore, talk radio hosts, TV hosts, Republicans running for office. He's done. He's over." Coulter had previously broken from Trump, but her language was pretty scathing:
Even though it is a Monday, I find myself in an optimistic mood. Maybe it's just the end of the political Silly Season, but I found myself wondering what would happen if the Democrats truly ran the tables in the midterms and wound up still in control of the House of Representatives and with at least 52 senators in the Senate (so Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin could be politely told to go fly a kite by Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democrats). What could they get done? What would their agenda look like, with a Democrat in the White House ready to sign whatever passed? I know, I know, it is still the longest of longshots -- Democrats will likely still lose the House even if they manage to expand their majority in the Senate -- but like I said, I'm feeling optimistic, so let's just assume it does somehow come to pass.
Of course, it goes without mention that the first thing they would absolutely have to accomplish would be putting a stake through the heart of the legislative filibuster. If Republicans ever gain control of both houses of Congress and the presidency, they're going to get rid of it so fast it'll make your head spin, so why not get proactive and get the Democratic agenda passed before that happens?
There's no guarantee that a broad change in the rules to jettison the filibuster would happen, of course. It might not just be Sinema and Manchin who would balk at going that far, to put it another way. The only test votes on it I recall from the current Senate were on very specific constitutional rights -- like renewing the Voting Rights Act or codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade. Some Democratic senators might acquiesce to making a new carveout in the filibuster rules when basic constitutional rights are in danger, but still be wary of removing it for all legislation. But for the sake of argument here, let's assume that they could get 51 votes to abolish the filibuster forever. What would they do next?
President Joe Biden keeps coming out with summer hit after summer hit. This week, he forgave up to $20,000 in student loan debt for 43 million Americans. That's a big win, even if some are desperately trying to convince parents across the country that it's somehow a bad thing that their son or daughter just had their student debt wiped out. Good luck with that, guys. Most Americans see this as a huge relief, even if they don't personally benefit. And most Americans see Republicans complaining about it as being seriously out of touch.
The media is going along for this ride, cheerfully pointing out the very few Democrats who spoke out against Biden's move, and repeating all of the Republican talking points about how it'll absolutely doom the economy to allow students to be free of debt earlier in life. But for once, not only Democrats but the White House itself is pushing back hard.
This year's traditional "Silly Season" in politics has been, for the most part, decidedly unsilly. First there was a burst of legislative action, followed by a few bursts of executive action, and the midterm election primaries have been a lot more interesting than usual this August. Plus, there's the Trump Circus, which always seems to be in town. All of this has added up to me not being able to write any fun Silly Season articles. Until now, that is. You have been warned.
The wind is now at the Democrats' backs. The "red wave" everyone's been predicting for November may turn out to be no more than a pinkish ripple... or perhaps it won't even occur at all. Of course, we're still more than two months away from the election, and unexpected events could intervene, but right now everything seems to be moving in the Democrats' direction.
President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress have been chalking up a lot more wins than expected, which certainly helps. From finally getting serious about climate change to lowering prescription drug prices to boosting competitiveness with China to helping veterans sickened by burn pits, Congress has been on a roll of late. Gas prices have dropped $1.20 over the course of the summer, and are continuing to fall. Inflation may have peaked. And today, Joe Biden announced that up to $20,000 in student loan debt (for students who qualified for Pell grants) will be forgiven. Biden promised a lot during his campaign, and he's now delivering on major portions of his agenda. Democrats aren't seen as powerless to get much of anything done anymore, which is a big shift in attitude from where we were at the beginning of the summer.
Democratic voters are motivated, too. Turnout has been up in key races. Rather than being lackluster, Democrats are voting in droves. The trend is the exact opposite of what was expected -- that Republicans, being the "out" party, would be far more motivated to vote. So far, that just isn't happening. The opposite is.
President Joe Biden has always been a rather reluctant reformer of higher education, which is somewhat odd considering his wife works as a community college teacher. For example, during the 2020 Democratic primary race progressives such as Bernie Sanders were arguing for tuition-free college at all state-run colleges and universities. Biden was far more restrained, and said he favored only tuition-free college for two years of community college, which would have left out state university students entirely. The tuition-free community college idea was later included in Biden's Build Back Better plan, but that was before it hit the brick wall named "Joe Manchin." The concept didn't survive in the limited Inflation Reduction Act at all. Also during the primary campaign, the progressives were pushing for either outright cancellation of all student debt or forgiving at least $50,000 of debt per student. Biden was never on board with such sweeping proposals, and countered with his own idea of perhaps forgiving $10,000 in student debt. Which is what might just get announced tomorrow.
