Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Friday, May 15, 2020

Tara Reade Is The Tip Of The Spear

I addressed my reservations about Tara Reade's accusations before.  I thought her original claim that Biden made her uncomfortable was plausible, but her accusation of assault did not seem plausible.  Sexual predation is a character trait, not a one time thing.  There are always more accusations once the dam breaks.  The dam never broke with Biden.

Jon Chait has laid out recent reporting that continues to draw serious questions about Reade and her accusations. No one else has come forward; Reade is not a reliable narrator.

Of course, the actual truth of Reade's allegations are ultimately irrelevant.  Whenever a story about Biden goes on Twitter, the comments are full of assertions that Biden is a rapist.  The 20 some allegations of sexual assault against Trump are irrelevant.  Biden is the rapist is the theme that anti-Biden forces will use through November.  Count on Burisma and "unmasking" and every other ridiculous smear possible to be levelled against Biden.

All things being equal, Biden will win comfortably.  Unemployment will be - AT BEST - around 15% on election day. Covid-19 will be killing people every day in November. Trump is deeply unpopular with the public at large. 

Trump won in 2016 because his opponent was equally unpopular and Russia and James Comey tilted the scale just enough to sketch out a close win in the "Blue Wall" of PA, MI and WI. Trump's only hope is to make Biden as unpopular as Clinton was, but he won't have misogyny working in his favor and "What do you have to lose?" has been definitively answered. 

This is going to be a nasty, nasty election. 

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