F**king Mondays: Biden Back From The Dead! Trump Is Old, Netanyahu's Isolation, And Nancy Mace The Disgrace
It's that time of the week again!
Welcome to another edition of “F**king Mondays,” our weekly column to start your week off! In the roundup today:
Biden’s SOTU surprise
Pundits are quickly reversing their position on Biden’s age and ability to run for office again. Here was Ezra Klein backtracking on his lengthy plea to Biden to step aside:
If the Joe Biden who showed up to deliver the State of the Union address last week is the Joe Biden who shows up for the rest of the campaign, you’re not going to have any more of those weak-kneed pundits suggesting he’s not up to running for re-election. Here’s hoping he does.
In a post titled “Not Dead Yet,” perennial worrywart Andrew Sullivan also acknowledged Biden seemed to be…fine. He confessed that “He [Biden] will have cheered Democrats, who were beginning to shit themselves about November; he will have stopped the momentum of any possible rival in his own camp; and he was reassuringly Biden, who still has reserves of Irish charm in his role as the decent, if somewhat batty, old codger. It’s also safe to say that Katie Britt did not undercut him immediately thereafter — as the sheer scale of her cringe became an instant legend.”
I’ve long maintained that Biden’s greatest weapon is the bizarre fact that the media and his political opponents consistently underestimate him. No matter how well he does, from battering Trump in the 2020 general election to presiding over a dramatic economic turn around, he is viewed as a hopeless old man destined to lose to Donald Trump in 2024.
He isn’t, and my bet is he wont — and now some of the naysayers are beginning to believe it.
Trump the old man
Donald Trump has made a habit out of attending high profile UFC bouts after his presidency ended in 2020. He does this for a couple of reasons; firstly he’s good friends with UFC president Dana White, and secondly there is huge cross over appeal between MAGA groupies and not very bright MMA fans. Trump arrived to huge cheers from the audience in Miami on Saturday night, proving he is still a big hit with a certain sector of the population. I was struck, however, by how old and frail he is looking these days. Just take a look:
I texted a politically neutral friend of mine watching the bouts and asked if I was being hopeful and imagining things. “Yeah, he does,” my friend texted back. “Visibly older.”
I fully acknowledge President Biden looks every bit his 81 years, but the consensus up until recently is that Trump is the “young” candidate in this race. Now I’m not so sure. Coupled with his slurring of words and extreme forgetfulness, the age question might not be quite so important for Biden heading into November.
Take a look at the video and let me know in the comments section what you think.
Biden escalates feud with Netanyahu
There are growing signs that the Biden administration is working to isolate Benjamin Netanyahu and force him to make concessions when it comes to protecting civilian lives in Gaza. The Israelis have obliterated the enclave and appear to be committed to eradicating Hamas, irrespective of the toll on civilians. While the end goal is understandable, the civilian death toll in Gaza is unspeakably high and the suffering beyond comprehension. The international pressure on Israel to stop this bloodbath is reaching fever pitch, and the Biden administration appears to be responding to it.
The US is using soft power to make it clear to Netanyahu that they will exploit his political vulnerability if he continues to ignore their demands.
Firstly, Biden has openly stated that the Israeli prime minister is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel.” He also indicated in an MSNBC interview that he is prepared to go to Israel and speak before the Knesset to demand Israel cedes to US demands.
Secondly the US is building floating ports on the coast to get aid directly to Gaza — a measure taken by Biden because Israel has made it exceedingly difficult to get aid into the region. This lets Netanyahu know that if the US wants something done, it is prepared to do it without Israel’s permission.
Thirdly, the Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, recently visited Washington where he was given meetings with with Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. Even though Gantz is part of Israel’s war cabinet, Gantz’s visit was not supported by Netanyahu and he went without official diplomatic support. In international diplomacy speak, this translates to a direct “fuck you” to Netanyahu, and a message that they know his time as prime minister is almost over.
Netanyahu has been a disaster for Israel and it is high time he is forced into political exile — or jail. Anything to expedite the process is a very good thing.
Nancy Mace’s deranged defense of Donald Trump
Over the weekend, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Nancy Mace (R-SC) why she was backing Trump despite a jury finding him liable for rape against E. Jean Carroll. Her response was, well, extraordinary.
“I was raped at the age of 16. And any rape victim will tell you I’ve lived for 30 years with an incredible amount of shame over being raped,” Mace said.
“It’s a shame that you will never feel, George. And I’m not going to sit here on your show and be asked a question meant to shame me about another potential rape victim. I’m not gonna do that.”
Stephanopoulos replied that “it’s actually not about shaming you….you’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president, Donald Trump has been found liable for rape — by a jury. Donald Trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury. It has been affirmed by a judge,” he went on.
Mace responded: “It was not a criminal court, number one. Number two, I live with shame, and you are asking me a question about my political choices trying to shame me as a rape victim and I find it disgusting. And quite frankly, E. Jean Carroll’s comments when she did get the judgement, joking about what she was going to buy, it makes it harder for other women to come forward when another woman has made a mockery out of rape.”
While Mace deserves everyone’s sympathy for what she endured as a teenager, her attack on Stephanopoulos — and E Jean Carroll — is emblematic of the extreme double standards Republicans have. Mace knew she had been caught in a grotesque display of hypocrisy, so decided to attack Stephanopoulos instead. The only person shaming rape victims was Mace, who smeared E Jean Carroll for an innocuous joke she made about using the money she received from Donald Trump on “something Donald Trump hates.” What was this? According to Carroll, it could be a "fund for the women who have been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump."
The truth is that Nancy Mace supports Donald Trump because it is politically advantageous for her to do so. Mace condemned Trump after Jan. 6th, agreed that the “U.S. House of Representatives has every right to impeach the President of the United States,” and even attacked him for putting her children at risk. “Thank God I sent my kids home on Monday morning because I was worried about the rhetoric leading up to the events, and to the rally on January 6, the violence that could transpire,” she told Congress. “Not only were our lives in danger, but if my kids were here their lives would have been in danger, too. The two most precious people in my life.”
Fast forward to 2024, and Mace has forgotten all about Trump’s threat to her kids because her voters have “moved beyond January 6th.”
There is no doubt Mace loves her children and is also a genuine victim of a horrendous crime. But she is also a brazen liar with no moral compass whatsoever.
See you next week!
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Nancy Mace tried in the past to portray herself as a commonsense, independent voice. In the end, she bent her knee before Trump like every other Republican.
Ben, I suspect that the orange guy is showing up at MMA events because crowds at his campaign events don't draw the crowds that he continuously boasts about.