Joe Biden would be Trump's worst nightmare
What Republicans who remain in at least minimal contact with reality think seems to be another matter, though. They fear Biden- and are counting on him losing the nomination because he's not extreme enough.
Yes, Biden is gaffe-prone. And yes, he's facing a sort of scandal over his hugginess, which a handful of women have interpreted as sexual harassment. The trouble is that he's huggy and touchy with everybody, regardless of gender. It's his style and the way politicians of his generation often acted, and everybody knows it. Even the left seems, for the most part, to recognize that there's no sexual content here; that it's just Joe being Joe. As a result, the accusations are unlikely to have much of an impact on his likely candidacy (he reportedly will announce on Wednesday).
The comments of those in the Trump camp reported in the article are interesting. True, Joe is no moderate- except in the context of the crazy contemporary Democratic party. But whoever that Trumper is who suggested that he's too "socialist" to win is as lacking in perspective as Mr. Trump is when he calls Biden a "low-IQ individual." Donald Trump is going to have a very difficult time selling the notion that he's more moderate than anybody.
It's true that there's no "moderate lane" in the Democratic party- as if Joe Biden were a real, honest-to-goodness moderate in any case- but there doesn't have to be. It's certainly true that Biden is a relic of the party's past, and that the Democratic party as a whole- almost as an entirety- is now far to his left. But if those in the Trump camp are counting on that to deny him the 2020 nomination, they are probably discounting the determination of Democrats to deny him a second term.
Donald Trump is Joe Biden's... well, trump card, so to speak. Whenever the hearts of primary voters start longing for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or one of the other leftists who would actually be more to their taste, it won't be long before they see Mr. Trump's smiling image on the TV and ask themselves whether the difference between Biden and a candidate more to their liking would be worth risking a second term for Trump. And unless the Democratic primary voters are even more ideologically extreme and obsessed than I think they are- and I think they're plenty ideologically extreme and obsessed- beating Trump is going to be their first concern and policy considerations will be a distant second.
Not sure what the person who thought Kamala Harris would be even more formidable was thinking. True, she'd carry California. But any Democrat will do that. She's articulate and attractive, perhaps more so than others. But she's pretty "out there" in terms of ideology. Mr. Trump himself is known to put far more stock in a candidate's intrinsic attractiveness than in other factors- one of the craziest things about his victory in 2016 is that he didn't bother to build a traditional "ground game" for Election Day, relying instead on his own intrinsic awesomeness- and it's possible that those close to him share the delusion that personality outweighs not only nuts-and-bolts but also policy. And who knows? Maybe Sen. Harris would do better than other far left Democrats who are seeking the nomination. But not better than Joe Biden.
The thing is, Joe Biden is a familiar face with whom voters would be comfortable. And that's Donald Trump's worst nightmare. Whatever one might say about Donald Trump, he is not noted for his ability to make people comfortable.
When all is said and done, Biden's tendency to stick his foot in his mouth by accident and Mr. Trump's inclination to say outrageous things on purpose will probably cancel each other out. I cannot think of another Republican for whom Joe Biden would be nearly as formidable an opponent as he would be for Donald Trump simply because having Trump as his opponent essentially takes all the predictable Biden gaffes out of the equation. Donald Trump himself is the ultimate gaffe, and I simply don't believe that Mr. Trump has it in him to be disciplined enough not to make himself look like a bigger clown than even Joe Biden at his worst.
Oh, but there's more. Much more. There's an even bigger reason why Donald Trump should fear Joe Biden: nobody expects Biden to color between the lines. Everybody knows that Joe Biden is flamboyant, and over-the-top, and off-the-wall. As a result, Biden can get away with calling a spade a spade in a way that no other Democrat could- or would even try.
A Trump-Biden race would embarrass us all. It would be a matter of two grade-school kids trading juvenile insults and generally wrestling in the mud. It would be as undignified as anything you can imagine- and it would be hilarious!
But above all, it would be a kind of campaign that could easily cause Donald Trump to implode. If there is one thing a narcissist cannot stand, it's not to be taken seriously- to be laughed at, to be mocked, to be treated as trivial. The reason is quite simple: deep down, a narcissist is macho because he desperately fears that he's weak. He insists so strongly on being "the best" at everything because he's terrified that he's actually second-rate. He crows so loudly about his competence because he so deeply doubts it.
He struts and postures not because he has such a strong ego, but precisely because he has such a weak one. Donald Trump does not lash out at every criticism or imagined slight or even disagreement because he's comfortable in his own skin. While his supporters can't seem to grasp this, Donald Trump is probably the biggest "snowflake" in America! He isn't strong; he's weak- and at some level, he knows it.
He knows it, and he fears it. And so, he has a compulsion to destroy anyone who brings him face-to-face with the mirror. He is mean. He is vicious. He is nasty. And the more his ego is threatened the meaner and the more vicious and the nastier he will become.
The narcissist's Achilles heel is that he takes himself so seriously. But Joe Biden doesn't take himself seriously at all. A Trump-Biden race would be a mutual barrage of insults. Biden's would be self-confident, good-natured- and trivializing. Mr. Trump's, on the other hand, would be defensive, angry, and mean-spirited- and all the more so as Biden's jabs hit home.
What other Democrat in the race could tell the President of the United States "Grow up, Donald-" and get away with it? Even worse, what other Democrat could, in the very same interview- call the man whose most basic instinct is to viciously attack anyone who disagrees with him "a good man?"
Judy Woodruff asked Biden in that interview whether he'd like to debate Trump. Biden replied that no, he wished that they were still in high school so that he could "take him in back of the gym" and beat him up. Sure enough, Mr. Trump took the bait and responded with macho posturing about how he'd mess Biden up if he tried. A smarter man would have tried to make Biden look bad for saying such a thing. But Mr. Trump couldn't help himself. His masculinity had been challenged, and he had to defend it.
Biden's jibes would not only be very close to home, but they would call attention to exactly what needs to be challenged about Donald Trump. He is immature. He is nasty. He is dishonest. He is a bully who is never quite as happy as when he's beating up somebody smaller than he is.
But Joe Biden isn't smaller than he is- and he can take Trump's punches, and roll with them. Trump, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to take Biden's. He would simply get nastier and nastier, more and more personal- and in so doing, reveal himself for what he is in terms that even his most dedicated supporters would have to strain themselves to deny or rationalize away.
And Joe Biden would just laugh and roll with the punches, and keep jabbing with ever-increasing effect while Mr. Trump kept throwing roundhouse blow after roundhouse blow, and falling flat on his face.
If one were to design a candidate to run against Donald Trump, it would be Joe Biden. He is temperamentally the ideal nominee for the Democrats in 2020.
And this "low IQ individual" has one final advantage over Mr. Trump: Joe Biden is a great deal smarter than he is.
Mr. Trump would never know what hit him, and would never even be able to figure it out.
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