US Election: The Alter Kocker Battle of Vanities

The 2024 US presidential election campaign has become a “Bonfire of the Vanities,” with both major candidates in it for their own personal ego trips.

The importance of this to Israel is how the Jewish state will  be supported by the US president elected.

First, there’s geriatric 81-year-old President Joe Biden, who was the main link to Trump’s 2016 White House win and his very possible win in 2024, too.

Then there’s the new 007 Donald Trump, who was given a license to kill by a recent US Supreme Court ruling that the president is immune to anything he does as official duties while in office. He has pledged to get even with people he doesn’t like because they don’t like him.

Biden’s cognitive decline has become noticeable so often major Democratic Party figures are telling him to drop out of the race. He refuses.

But, it can be argued a measure of his mental decline is his inability to see what everyone else sees and steadfastly refusing to quit the race for a younger more fit candidate.

Under normal circumstances in US politics this wouldn’t be so critical. Yet that was before Trump, a convicted criminal, alleged sexual predator, a friend of the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and a crude, rude narcissist.

It was amazing that he won the office in 2016. And not amazing that Trump lost it in 2020, something he still refuses to admit.

The fact that he’s standing again, even after being indicted in four criminal cases, convicted in one, losing a multi million dollar civil case regarding property taxation, and being impeached by the House of Representatives twice, is that much more amazing, especially with him a favorite to win.

It’s almost as astounding that Pres. Biden doesn’t seem to appreciate the stakes for the nation if he loses, especially after election experts advise he will lose.

According to Biden all that matters to him is running the best campaign he can. The fact, should he lose, the nation would be getting as president a convicted criminal totally unsuited for public office doesn’t fit into Biden’s reasoning, more evidence of his cognitive decline.

Ironically, Biden politically is proving to be Trump’s best friend. In 2016 when, as the vice president to Barack Obama’s highly rated administration, he should have stood for president, but declined for personal reasons, which paved the way for Trump’s first win.

Now, when he shouldn’t be running, and refuses to quit, may make Trump a shoo-in for a return to the White House.

The sad thing for Biden is his legacy might be ruined. He could retire now as the leader who got the nation through the pandemic and then rebuilt the economy. His support for Israel? He’s the only US president who said in public ‘I’m a Zionist.’ On the other hand,  Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, something promised for decades, but never delivered.

Instead Biden could be the man who once again gave Trump a path the presidency and leading the county into the dark territory of a Hitler admirer.

It’s almost certain Biden will face challenges at the Democrat Party convention August 19 which promises to be fractious and divisive event, a portend of the November election.

By contrast, Trump has the nomination sealed before the Republican convention begins on July 15 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin… a city Trump recently insulted calling it a horrible city.