She seemed quite sensible. She seemed a reasonable, intelligent, sane person. Yet she had the lunacy that has infected many middle-class Americans, Canadians and Europeans like a fever for the last five years.

She glared around the little village cafe. Slammed the table with her closed fist and shouted loud enough for every else on the patio to hear, “White male ego! That is Trump’s problem. White male ego! I can smell it on him”.
Leaving aside the inherent racism – why should white male ego be worse than any other male’s ego? It was a woefully inappropriate remark to make.

The village cafe is a liberal place. Throw a stone into it and you hit three National Public Radio (NPR) listeners. The men, mostly white, wear Birkenstock sandals and have spent some parts of their lifetimes discussing Baroque string quartets, Victorian poetry or middle-English usage in J.R. Tolkien novels. The fact that she insulted these gentle, non-ego types did not seem to occur the woman.

She has the same lunacy that inspired hundreds-of-thousands of our spiritual sisters to put mock vaginas on their heads. It is the same lunacy that makes many of my journalist colleagues claim that a vote for Trump will overturn American Democracy or bring about another civil war. It is the same lunacy, on the other side of the political fence, that convinces people to think about kidnapping their politicians.

It is a civil lunacy that has been deliberately stoked by media bosses for their own profits. More of this troubling aspect in another post, but now, for the temporarily deranged woman at the cafe and for all those other people who have been suborned by the great media trickery of the last five years, here are the words that need to be said:

Joe Biden is Donald Trump with better table manners.

If you are a progressive of any kind. If you want an American president with an effective environmental policy or a public health plan then Joe Biden is going to break your heart. 

He is going to do as little campaigning as he possibly can. He will rely on the strong anti-Trump feeling (see above) among many middle-class Americans. He will get into the White House and then he will enact policies that are, for the most part, exactly the same as Donald Trump.

If this seems a shocking predication then look at Biden’s track record.

First, he is the Senator from Delaware. This is a bit like being the President of Panama. For those not aware of international money laundering and offshore illicit finance – Delaware is the U.S. State that bankers in Cayman, Panama and Singapore point to as their defense. The few financial laws in that state are opaque. The hundred-of-thousands of unnamed corporations registered in Delaware are a hotbed of fraud, tax avoidance and a lack of transparency.

(See: Delaware – a black hole in the heart of America: The US state has been named the world’s most opaque jurisdiction in a major new survey of financial secrecy – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/nov/01/delaware-leading-tax-haven)

Second, Biden was the Vice-President in an administration that infamously did not launch any criminal proceedings against anyone involved in causing the Great Recession of 2008. This was a seismic financial event that through systematic fraud and gerrymandering cost the world $19 Trillion. That no banker ever served a day in jail, may, of course, be linked to the fact that Citibank executives more or less selected the Obama-Biden Cabinet.

In the fall of 2008, just after the Bank had received billions of dollars in taxpayer’s money in a bail-out of their failing institution, the Obama-Biden transition team e-mailed Citibank asking their advice for who should be in the new cabinet. Of Citibank’s eventual suggestions – only three were not accepted by the Obama-Biden team. Perhaps it was not that surprising, for a senior member of the Obama-Biden transition team was also the son of the Citibank CEO.

(https://www.thestar.com/news/world/uselection/2016/11/07/billions-in-damage-but-no-charges-how-us-banks-pay-for-protection.html)

(https://newrepublic.com/article/137798/important-wikileaks-revelation-isnt-hillary-clinton)

(https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/8190)

Nepotism and Potential Influence Peddling

Remember the affair that kicked off last summer’s impeachment proceedings? An awful nepotism scandal that if Biden had not been the heir apparent of the Democratic Party leadership would have seen him disgraced. While he was Vice-President, his undistinguished son was flying with him on official state trips to foreign countries and then several weeks later signing multi-million dollar deals for ‘consulting’ or serving as a board of directors for foreign companies.

As quickly as you can say “suspicious financial transaction”, “alleged bribe” or “possible influence peddling”, the Biden defenders point out that it was not technically illegal (not a great defense for a political leader) and that Trump did the same thing. Yes, that’s the point. Any impartial observer hates when Trump appoints his under-talented, over-privileged children to positions of power. Why should the voters get excited to vote for his chief political rival who does the same thing?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/11/hunter-biden-democrats-joe-biden-ukraine-trump

Examine his Words

If you think looking at Biden’s past or his untalented son is unfair, then look at what he is saying now.

In the midst of the first, chaotic televised Presidential debate Biden explicitly stated that he was not going to implement the New Green Deal that the progressive wing of the Democrats have been calling for. In the midst of the personal animosity and insult calling, it was a pretty big policy announcement. Press coverage? Minor to non-existent.

Neither should Biden’s rhetoric about reforming the same financial industry that plunged America into a recession be taken seriously. That, at least, is the purport of a Washington Post article in September where in the midst of discussion of Biden’s “Flexibility” it was revealed that:

“… in private calls with Wall Street leaders, the Biden campaign made it clear those proposals (note – giving all Americans access to financial services regardless of their wealth) would not be central to Biden’s agenda.

“They basically said, ‘Listen, this is just an exercise to keep the Warren people happy, and don’t read too much into it,’ ” said one investment banker, referring to liberal supporters of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The banker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks, said that message was conveyed on multiple calls.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bidens-flexibility-on-policy-could-mean-bloody-fights-if-he-wins/2020/09/06/b8d66c3c-e622-11ea-bc79-834454439a44_story.html

This would all sound like a satirical magazine article, like The Onion’s parody of Biden going door-to-door at J.P. Morgan Bank. (https://politics.theonion.com/biden-campaigns-door-to-door-in-jpmorgan-chase-headquar-1845109310)

Except if you watch Kamala Harris being interviewed by Steven Colbert (In this bizarre time, we have to count on comedians to substitute in for accountable journalists). Colbert asked Harris about the 2019 debates where she described in near-tears Joe Biden’s stance on busing, as “personal” and “hurtful”. She laughs at that question and repeats, “It was a debate… It was a debate…” As the brilliant, independent journalist Matt Taibbi describes it, “This is real dishonesty, too. It’s a type of lie probably more destructive even than the “I never called John a loser” variety, as it strikes directly at public faith in the system.”

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/stop-calling-them-bombshells

Note – I have not gone anywhere near the troubling sexual harassment allegations around Biden. The Onion also brilliantly described the way the Democratic leadership handled those stories. “Biden Campaign Fundraising Email Reminds Donors Sexual Assault Allegations Don’t Bury Themselves” – https://www.theonion.com/biden-campaign-fundraising-email-reminds-donors-sexual-1843181076

If you are an American who reads this article, please, vote for whom you think is best, or at least, less-bad than the other candidate. If you are not an American, please, have some patience for this great nation. It is a superb country with two not very good candidates to lead it.

BTW – a disclaimer. I am not a Trump supporter. Nor am I, a Biden fan. I am one of the last of the old school journalists: a believer that media people should be independent. We should examine each case or person as dispassionately as we can.