There are times when declining mental acuity can come in very handy.
Say you’re Joe Biden and your handlers tell you it’s time to blast President Trump for his response to the China Flu. So, you issue a statement covered by Fox News that blasts the president, "'[Trump] neglected, minimized and lied about this virus’ while ignoring warnings from the country’s top public health and intelligence officials on the threat it posed to the United States."
This is delivered in all sincerity because Biden evidently can’t remember that he earlier blasted Trump for closing our borders to all flights from China. When that happened in January, Biden said Trump was essentially a xenophobic racist. Going from “racist” to passive in a matter of weeks doesn’t create any cognitive or veracity difficulties for Joe.
Now Biden is planning on holding a series of briefings on the China Flu in an effort to make him seem relevant.
Gropey Joe evidently doesn’t realize the China Flu is almost all upside for his campaign. The quarantines and shutdowns give Biden a perfect excuse for not being seen in public. This greatly reduces his chances of saying something stupid or doing something stupid that will hurt his presidential campaign this fall.
August or September is plenty of time for Joe to reemerge from campaign quarantine and begin his general election presidential effort. He already has plenty of name identification. He can use the downtime to look bipartisan by urging Americans to work together to fight the Kung Flu. Off camera he can work on memory drills and practice not walking out of the shot when he is back on camera in the fall.
In fact, for Joe, the only real downside to the China Flu is the virus is probably what’s keeping Bernie in the race. Why should Sanders drop out when there is a chance the disease might knock Biden out of the race and let Sanders win the nomination regardless of the number of delegates Biden won?
Laying low is an impossibility for someone with an ego as large as Biden’s, so the China Flu Forum will begin this week. Or maybe the title will be the "Mysterious Virus from Nowhere Briefing."
We aren’t the only observers who think it’s a risky move.
Fox notes, "Biden's move to essentially hold his own briefings amid the coronavirus pandemic is unusual, considering they are sure to offer a starkly different message than the daily briefings out of the White House during a time of national emergency."
"Starkly different" is putting it mildly. But knowing Joe, it could be starkly entertaining, too.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.