SIMPLE AND SAD — SO SAY “JUST TRUST JOE”

People have asked me repeatedly what I would say, if I were Biden, about Donald Trump.

It’s an interesting question, because the answer for me (and I suspect others, as well), is somewhat different from what I, myself, think regularly. I tend to rip into Trump’s most recent outrageous nonsense.

 Today, if I were Biden, I would only say something like this:

I feel really sorry for that poor guy Trump. It doesn’t take a doctor to realize he is basically a very sick man. His extreme narcissism means Trump has no real understanding of or control over how he behaves. My mother taught me to have sympathy for people suffering from mental illness, and my faith taught me to treat everyone with compassion. So, I feel sorry for Trump. Yet, I feel even sorrier for ALL Americans, who have had to live through his nightmare with him.

Instead, I want to talk about your health, jobs, peace in the world, how being an American makes you feel proud, and my pride in the prospect of becoming President of all Americans, whether you vote for me or not.

Have I gone soft?

I do not see it as soft. Rather, I see it as realistic. Biden should be asking people to vote for him, not against Trump.

When I was in college I spent a couple of months working in Boston Psychiatric Hospital. At first most of the people I saw seemed perfectly normal; later, I would see the same people acting weirdly. I asked the doctors how that was possible. The answer was simple: everyone lives on a continuum that embraces all sorts of different behavior. The difference between ‘normal’ and ‘sick’ is more about how often and much a single person’s behavior veers from the ‘normal’ range of that continuum to abnormal…

Trump, in the context of my hospital experience, was/is simply just another person who was in and out of appearances of normality. We all would have been better off if Trump had never run for office. Those people back in Boston were apparently in the hospital for a reason.

At this point there is not much benefit in retelling the American people what they already know about Trump.

Telling Trump’s believers “the facts” is unlikely to change their minds. And, his haters already know.

There will be plenty of people going on an attack against the sick Trump to remind the American people of our collective problems.

So, I think the best way today to get back on track is for us to simply accept that the 2016 election was a big, sad mistake and to look forward to 2020 as the chance to restore America to its historic role as a Just, United, Sympathetic and Trusted country. Those are the words that that I think best describe Biden.

“JUST TRUST JOE” says it all.  Biden should talk about himself, his experience and his plans for the American people.  He should not waste his time on anti-Trump rhetoric.

Leave that to others (I’ll certainly do my part!).

Just Trust Joe.