Historian: Joe Biden’s Toughest Opponent Is Joe Biden
It would probably be a lot easier for Joe Biden if he were a Republican, . After all, “one of the signal features” of the 2016 primary campaign was “the capacity of GOP voters to sweep aside Donald Trump’s past, both his words and deeds.” Unfortunately for Biden, “it’s not at all clear that Democrats, especially this year, view the past with such forbearance.” Today’s Democrats have “hard questions to ask” about some of his past positions and actions. Biden has tried contrition, but “the most direct and the most difficult” approach would be to “try to show voters what was happening years, even decades ago, that explains [his] actions.” Yet it probably “asks too much of voters to put themselves into a past that is utterly alien to them.”
Foreign desk: Trump Tries ‘Strategic Patience’ in Korea
The Trump administration is holding firm to its all-or-nothing bid for a grand bargain with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — a position “a form of strategic patience, to give Kim one last chance to make the right decision.” Strategic patience, of course, is “a loaded term,” because that’s how Team Trump “derisively refers to the Obama administration’s North Korea policy — no real negotiations and no intentional escalation.” At the recent Hanoi summit, Trump offered Kim his “big deal”: total denuclearization in return for economic normalization. Kim instead opted for a “small deal”: “limited denuclearization in exchange for broad sanctions relief.” So Trump walked, and now we’re in stalemate (though without nuclear or missile testing by Pyongyang). Eventually, though, Trump’s strategic patience will run out.
From the left: Why 2020 Democrats Smell Blood
The story of the Democratic presidential primary so far has been “the historic size of the field, which will end up in the mid-20s before all is said and done,” . That reflects how all the other candidates view Joe Biden: “a paper tiger, whose fall will make the nomination anyone’s for the taking.” Contrast this with 2016, when only two Democrats took on Hillary Clinton because she was considered “inevitable.” Moreover, the field’s “bet on Biden’s fallibility is now shared among the punditry too. Everything Biden does will be interpreted through the same knowing lens that he’s out of his element and it’s a pity no one was able to dissuade him from launching this last, egotistical crusade.”
From the right: The Personal Cost of the Russia Probe
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation may be over, but the after-effects live on, . One such effect: “the reluctance of some important figures in the 2016 campaign to speak out, for fear of continued legal entanglements.” Figures like J.D. Gordon, the Trump campaign’s director of national security. He was “never accused of any wrongdoing,” but was central to an ongoing story, debunked in Mueller’s report, claiming the Trump campaign gutted the GOP platform’s anti-Russia stance on Ukraine. Called to testify before three congressional committees plus Mueller, Gordon each time “had to hire a lawyer,” with five-figure bills. And his communications business “took a big hit.” Now he’s still leery of speaking publicly, fearing yet more subpoenas from congressional Democrats over the now-discredited story.
Catholic critic: Hungary’s Hopeful Demographic Lesson
“Many liberal democracies are facing a social crisis today because their governments pursued policies which undermined the family,” But Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been bucking the trend, with rising marriage rates, declining divorce and abortion numbers and a birth rate that is “at its highest in 20 years.” This month, the Hungarian Parliament enacted a sweeping new pro-natal law that includes mortgage reductions for second and third children. Plus, “effective in 2020, mothers with four or more children will enjoy a lifetime personal-tax exemption.” Pecknold argues: “Hungary is proving that pro-family policies are better for nations than those policies which deracinate and diminish the family.”
— Compiled by Eric Fettmann and Sohrab Ahmari