Quoting 68-year-old Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the anti-Trump CNBC cable news network said Graham believes that if 76-year-old former President Donald Trump doesn’t control his personality he would lose the 2024 presidential election. “If it’ a personality contest, he’ll be in trouble,” Graham told CNBC. Trump is all about personality and cannot change his stripes at his advanced age. What Graham’s really trying to say is that the GOP isn’t any longer suitable for national elections. It’s questionable whether the Republican Party can even make gains in the Miderm election, where the ruling party usually loses seats in the House and Senate. Most forecasters see the Senate either remaining equally divided or possibly Democrats picking up another seat or two. That’s really bad news for the GOP that hoped to retake the House and Senate in the Midterm election.
Graham’s remarks are largely misinterpreted by CNBC that has nothing good to say about Trump. But with Democrats enjoying a 20% registration advantage to Republicans, it’s doubtful the 2024 election would be any different that 2020, where Democrats did a good job of demonizing Trump. With the U.S. media backing Democrats, it’s doubtful Trump could overcome the registration disadvantage, especially if election officials plan to send out universal mail-in ballots, making voting easy for Democrats. But Graham has mixed feeling about Trump, not because he’s not leaps-and-bounds better at campaigning than any Republican candidate but because the media has had it in from Trump for years. Spending five years accusing Trump of colluding with the Kremlin, Trump became the personification of evil for the media, accusing him of fascism and white supremacy.
Graham wonders how is Trump supposed to overcome all the notoriety attached to him over the last five years. With the Jan. 6 House Committee accusing Trump of organizing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and the Aug. 8 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence, the media has a new hoax against Trump, something that won’t go away anytime soon. So, no matter what Trump’s personality, too many skeletons follow Trump everywhere, especially with the anti-Trump media reporting bad new daily. “Whether you like Trump or not, he was a consequential president,” Graham said. “I think a strong American President—unpredictable—is a good thing as long as you keep it within the boundaries,” Graham said, not sure how Trump would shed all the notoriety, especially if the Justice Department charges him with crime. Graham likes Trump’s polices just not the personality.
Graham’s concerns about Trump’s personality are built off the constant media barrage that leaves Trump weakened politically. While his base is definitely intact, roughly 30% of the electorate, it’s no enough to win a general election. Trump has to appeal of independents and crossover Democrats, both essential groupa to gett an Electoral College majority on Election Day. “His problems is personal, his policies have stood the test of time but has he worn the American people out in terms of his personality?” wondered Graham. But Graham knows that it’s not Trump’s personality it’s the determined Democrat and media attacks that leave Trump vulnerable in public opinion. No president has done more damage to U.S. national security than Biden, currently battling a dangerous proxy war against the Kremlin. U.S. Russian Amb. John Sullivan, announced his retirement today.
Sullivan’s announcement came with a State Department statement that shows the reckless nature of the Biden administration. “He has served a full tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Russia, managing one of the most critical bilateral relationships in the world during unprecedented times,” said the State Department. What kind of statement is that with Biden wrecking the U.S.-Russian bilateral relations? U.S. officials received a stern warning yesterday about Biden supplying Ukraine with increasingly lethal weapons. Kremlin Spokesman Sergei Rybakov said that if the U.S. continues to supply more lethal weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin will regard the U.S. as an enemy combatant in the conflict. Rybakov said that if the Kremlin sees an existential treat to the Russian Federation, Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons. Rybakov served notice that things are getting out-of-control.
Sullivan’s departure for apparently “family reasons” cannot discount the fact that he knows that U.S.-Russian relations have never been worse under Biden. Sullivan couldn’t express directly his disgust over Biden’s policy of going to war against the Kremlin. As the State Department said, U.S.-Russian relations are of critical importance to U.S. national security. Whatever Biden’s objectives in Ukraine, he was beyond reckless trashing U.S.-Russian relations. When it comes to China, it’s not much better for Biden, especially over the tense relations with Taiwan. Graham gets it wrong that Trump has a personality issue. Trump has problem with the press that won’t go away anytime soon. No one in the mainstream press will do anything other than denigrate Trump. Biden deserves far more contempt than Trump over his reckless foreign policy starting a proxy war against the Kremlin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
