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The biggest difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden are things Trump supporters freely admit, things like: Donald Trump says he still believes that he won the 2020 election. The violent attack on the Capitol by his insurrectionist supporters was not a threat to anyone including Vice President Pence. The Capitol attackers hugged and kissed the police and are Patriots deserving pardons. Putin, an internationally charged war criminal, was "savvy and a genius" to invade Ukraine. Classified documents belonged to Trump when he left office. As President, Trump could do whatever he wanted.
Trump holds his base in his spell. Some Trump followers support him because they accept these kinds of super-impositions on reality as undeniably true, though they're just products of Trump's stream of consciousness.. Others, while pretending to believe, really don't any longer, but affirm these distortions as a stamp of loyalty to remain in good standing among Trump's loyalists. Political opponents of Trump outright reject "alternative facts" like these as demonstrably false.
By desperately clinging to delusions as facts, Donald Trump demonstrates he has a poor grip on reality. Because he he has been incapable of making decisions in anyone's interest but his own for as long as anyone can remember, it is clear he lost his moral compass decades ago.
And Joe Biden… well he is old, fell off a bike, and stutters. Nevertheless, he still knows up from down, right from wrong, and together with every woman who ever lived, understands whether the sexual assault by "stars" on women "for millions of years" is fortunate or unfortunate.
More than 70% of Americans think President Biden is too old to serve another term. Who knows? Maybe they are right. At age 80, he is already the oldest president in history. If Trump is re-elected, he will assume that distinction. No doubt Joe Biden's gait is sometimes unsteady. Like many others with the disorder of residual stuttering (for example Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill, Elvis Presley, Wilt Chamberlain, Tiger Woods, Marilyn Monroe -- I don't recall any complaints about her diction), and many others. Even though he knows exactly what he wants to say, pundits reading from teleprompters unceasingly remind us that, when talking spontaneously, he has trouble speaking in a normal flow because of stammering blocks.
Based on the assumption that the past is the best, if not the infallible predictor of the future, it is revealing to focus on some key past policies and accomplishments of Biden and Trump while in office.
GLOBAL WARMING: Biden promotes clean energy as the fuel of the future. Trump champions fossil fuel as the fuel of the future.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Overall, neither got the job done. Without comprehensive immigration reform, neither successfully implemented a policy that defines the number and types of immigrants and asylum seekers we will allow into our country in ways that meet our needs but do not exceed our resources.
PANDEMIC: Trump spearheaded the Warp Speed" discovery of a silver bullet vaccine. Biden ensured its widespread availability. Early on, Trump downplayed the pandemic's deadliness and sidelined the scientists. He was slow to develop tests for covid and failed to use other available tests when our first tests were found to be flawed. Trump failed to use sensible adequate tracing, isolating and quarantines. and mistakenly decentralized the entire effort. Half-way through, Joe Biden called the pandemic over when it wasn't. Under both Biden and Trump, guidance about masks was confusing.
ENDANGERING OUR EXISTENCE AS A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC: Joe Biden condemns the insurrectionists who tried to block the transfer of power to the legitimate winner of a constitutionally conducted election. Donald Trump continues to encourage, defend and lionize their efforts to undermine our nation's institutions and norms.
MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY: Once Joe Biden was in office, all of his budgets have protected the integrity of America's social safety net, including Social Security and Medicare. As president, Donald Trump proposed massive cuts to Medicare in his 2019 budget, and his 2020 budget proposed more than a $1 trillion cut in Medicare and a $26 billion cut in Social Security. Now while campaigning, Donald Trump vows he will continue his unwavering support for Social Security and Medicare.
TAXES: Joe Biden's tax policies favor those making less than $400K a year. Donald Trump's tax policy favor those making more than $400k a year, especially the top 1 percent.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Joe Biden signed the biggest infrastructure bill in history into law with bipartisan support though the Senate was controlled by Republicans. Donald Trump promised an infrastructure bill practically every week of his four years in office and never even proposed one for consideration. "Infrastructure week" became a joke.
HEALTHCARE: As Vice President, Joe Biden spearheaded the passage of the Affordable Care Act when the Senate was under Republican control. As president, Donald Trump promised to replace it with something better. He failed to do so even with a Republican House and Senate.
PROTECTION OF OUR DEMOCRACY'S INSTITUTIONS: Joe Biden respects and has strengthened our democratic institutions. Donald Trump has demonized them as the "deep-state and the "swamp" and politicized government agencies like the Justice Department, the CIA and the Defense Department.
UKRAINE: Joe Biden forcefully condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine; Joe Biden has led NATO's support and massive military assistance of Ukraine's heroic defense of its homeland. Donald Trump undermined Ukraine by publicly taking Russia's side when Putin invaded Ukraine.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Joe Biden's policies and diplomacy have strengthened NATO and established a strong U. S.-Pacific Island Partnership. Donald Trump's have weakened them during his time in office through an "America First" policy that effectively morphed into an "America Alone" posture. Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreementand from the Nuclear Forces Treaty Agreement with Russia. the Trump admires the world's most heinous butchers: Kim, XI and Putin. It's no wonder that in 2020, Pew Research found that Trump went from a 64% positive international reliability rating for Obama to a 29% rating. According to Pew in 2022, Biden's international reliability rating was 79%.
DEFAULTING ON OUR DEBT: Joe Biden thinks failing to raise the debt limit is unthinkable, unconstitutional, self-destructive and insane. It will cause cascading financial chaos on each of us, our nation and the world's economy. Donald Trump has blithely advised: "Republicans should not make a deal on the debt ceiling unless they get everything they want (Including the 'kitchen sink')."
"Compare me to the alternative, not to the Almighty, says Joe Biden." Compared to Donald Trump, for me, it's Biden hands down, by a mile, and going away. Biden represents feats over tweets,, calm normality over frenzied chaos, wisdom over off- the-cuff expedience, orderliness over helter skelter, a desire for unity over fervid mobocracy, a democratic Republic over one-man-rule, quiet achievement over frenetic showmanship, "we over me," reality over a reality show, the United States over Hungary, a qualified old man over over a rank incompetent and unqualified old man.
Tim Mannello is a retired healthcare executive and management consultant residing in Williamsport.