Trump shooting exposes disingenuous GOP

Well, that didn't take long.

Mere minutes after the horrible assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Georgia's Republican Representative Mike Collins posted this despicable accusation on X: Joe Biden sent the orders.

To recap: an elected government official just accused the President of the United States of ordering the assassination of a political rival.

Agents surround Trump after his being shot

Fortunately, Trump is relatively okay (full disclosure: I am adamant in the belief that Donald Trump has been destructive to this country, but there is NO excuse for this terrible act; political voices should only be silenced via the ballot box).

Biden had carelessly stated, to be sure, after his debate debacle, that he needed to focus on Trump, to, metaphorically, "put Trump in a bullseye."

But Biden did not order such a despicable act (nor did Biden ever specify to "fight like hell" after telling his supporters to come to a specific time or place because it "will be wild").

Interestingly enough, however, ordering the assassination of a political rival, was EXACTLY what Trump's legal team argued a President would have the right to do under the broad umbrella of presidential immunity.

The GOP has rightly decried this political violence and called for "unity." 

This is the same political party that celebrates the January 6 carnage in which Trump's GOP supporters--whom they now call patriots--stormed the US Capitol, injured Capitol police and chanted to hang Trump's own GOP Vice President.

By the way, not only DIDN'T Trump denounce the violence (in his name) against Capitol police and the ransacking of our country's Capitol (nor did he once call to check on his VP Pence), Trump, instead, told these political thugs he "loved" them and that these perpetrators of grotesque political violence were "very special."

And Trump was the same guy who spread rumors and mocked the vicious, politically-motivated attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who yesterday tweeted about the Trump shooting: "...political violence of any kind has no place in our society. I thank God that former President Trump is safe"). 

Come to think of it, Trump was the same guy (along with his political party) who defended a "Trump train" of Texas supporters in pick-up trucks who surrounded a Biden campaign bus, ostensibly trying to force it off the road.

So, yeah, you can--and SHOULD--decry political violence and call for unity. 

And you can do that with certainty and with clarity. And without the slightest sense of irony.

Unless you're Trump's GOP.

Biden's story (and campaign) keeps crumbling

President Biden's team is in crisis/spin mode, scrambling to keep Biden's campaign alive as his poll numbers drop.

And it's not going well.

As you may have seen (or certainly heard about), Biden's debate--arguably the biggest night of his life-- was a disaster. He was wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and couldn't regularly respond to Donald Trump or the moderators with coherent, salient arguments (I wrote about it here).

"Oh, he had a cold," said the Biden campaign.

And then more excuses.

Biden attributed his horrible performance to jet lag from his G7 European trip--from which he had returned TWELVE days prior and then spent almost a week at Camp David.

His White House staff said Biden had just prepped too much.

His wife, Jill, offered that her husband "didn't feel great" for the debate.

And none of it explains anything, really.

Biden's debate performance was pitiable, to be honest--with the US President appearing as a dazed and confused elderly man. It was sad to watch (and scary, too, if one stops to consider that this man is responsible for things like the nuclear codes).

Amazingly, however, he followed his feeble debate performance the next day with a cogent and rousing speech in North Carolina. 

So, what gives?

As former House Speaker (and staunch Biden supporter) Nancy Pelosi wondered regarding Biden's tremendous debate stumble, "I think it's a legitimate question...is it an episode or is this a condition?"

Of course, the White House isn't offering any clarity on that question.

Just yesterday, the White House Press Secretary said Biden hadn't had any medical exams since his last one in February.

Now, word comes out that Biden actually did see a doctor after the debate. 

The White House explained it away by saying it was only a "brief check," not a physical.

But this lack of transparency and the ever-evolving stories coming out point to one thing as Biden's team is in crisis mode: this IS a crisis.

And should it ever come to a split-second decision--maybe regarding a nuclear launch or an insidious cyber-attack on our infrastructure or thwarting an attempted coup--who is making that decision to protect our country, a clear-headed President or the elderly man at the debate who froze like a deer in the headlights?

And if you have to even ask that question, it's clear.

Joe Biden has to step aside.

And no spin can disguise that.