John MacDonald: The two ways Joe Biden can't win

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

Joe Biden can’t win. In two ways.

The first one’s obvious. After yesterday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and the imagery and defiance and sheer strength Trump showed, Joe Biden can’t win this year’s presidential election.

Nor can anyone else who might replace him as the Democratic nominee between now and November’s vote.

Trump’s campaign has got money shots coming out of its ears, so to speak. With their man defiantly fist-pumping into the air - just minutes after the shooting - blood on his face, and the American flag flying high under a cloudless blue sky.

I will fight for America. And who wouldn’t believe him after seeing all that unfold yesterday at the campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Compare the imagery of Trump yesterday with the imagery of Joe Biden. It’s all over for Joe.

The other reason I say Biden can’t win, is that despite all the concern he’s been showing towards Donald Trump after the shooting yesterday, believe it or not - there are some Republicans pointing the finger at him over the shooting.

They’re saying that some of his language in a phone conversation last week with political donors puts some of the blame for what happened on him.

According to the Politico website, Joe Biden said this to his supporters on the phone call: “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

And that’s enough for Joe Biden to be getting some of the blame for the attempt to take-out the yet-to-be confirmed Republican nominee.

Although, that’s just a formality and Trump is expected to be confirmed later this week.

Here’s what Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who is in the running to be Trump’s running mate in this year’s election, has been saying.

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

So Joe Biden can’t win. He can’t win the election. And he can’t win because, here he is showing concern and support for Trump, calling for calm, and some Republicans are saying he’s partly to blame.

He’s also dreaming if he thinks that this is going to be some sort of watershed moment in American politics. A watershed moment in American society full-stop, for that matter.

I get that he has to say something. But the US President is dreaming when he says: “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”

Another thing he’s been saying since the shooting is that political violence is unheard of in America, which it's not. There’s been no shortage of reports detailing the country's history of political violence.

Joe Biden has also said: "We have to unite this country."

But how many times have you seen Joe Biden - or any other American president - say this sort of thing whenever something like this happens?

Whenever there’s a mass shooting or any other violent incident, there's always the same old rhetoric about putting an end to violence . And we know what happens. It doesn’t end.

Which is why I have very little faith in America’s capability of uniting in the way Joe Biden is calling for. Because, if you've got Republicans accusing Joe Biden of inciting the shooter, what hope for unity is there?

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