Andrew L. Urban
Now that Donald Trump has declared his candidacy for the US presidency in the 2024 election, it is relevant to see how Joe Biden broke Barack Obama’s heart on the way to having secured more votes than Trump in 2020.
That was the hidden drama of the controversial 2020 election, which set the US and the world on a Trumpless path – and what that has meant.
There is an unexpected conclusion to be drawn from the results in the three states – Georgia, Nevada, Arizona – that are used as our example: taken at face value, the figures show that not only was Biden a more popular choice than Trump, he must also have been considerably more popular with voters than the much admired Obama ever was. Hmmm…really?
In 2012, Barack Obama won 1,773,827 votes in Georgia (popn 10.8 m). In 2020 Biden was credited with 2,473,633 Georgia votes, a stunning 699,806 votes more than Obama. Trump won 2,461,854, way more than enough to have beaten an Obama-level performance, and just a whisker (0.2%) short of Biden’s count.
In 2012, Obama won 531,373 votes in Nevada (popn 3.1 m), but Biden was credited with 703,486 votes, 172,113 more —improving on Obama’s performance by 32.39 percent. Trump, who got 669,890 Nevada votes, would have soundly defeated a candidate turning in an Obama-level performance.
In 2012, Obama won 1,025,232 votes in Arizona (popn 7.2 m). Biden claimed 1,672,143, a whopping 63.10 percent improvement over Obama’s votes. Trump, who won 1,661,686 votes in Arizona (a tad short of Biden’s), would have easily defeated a candidate turning in an Obama-level performance.
So apart from the fact that these voting numbers raise the question of how to explain the size of the Biden ascendancy v Obama, they also eat away at the confidence of those who think Trump has no reason to question the outcome. There is vehement condemnation of his stand on this, across the entire political spectrum. He was likewise vilified when he claimed to have been ‘bugged’ at the start of his presidency, yet it turned out to be true. He derided the Russia investigation and was again proved right. He warned (and acted) against mass illegal migration … and look now. It is against that history that his claim of election interference should be considered.
The fundamental issue concerns the major consequences of Biden’s presidency, both domestically in the US and globally. His presidency was secured with what Time magazine revealed on February 4, 2021 as ‘The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election” ‘Saving’ the election may have lost them the country…
First, it seems to be universally accepted (and not just on Trump’s say so) that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine with Trump in the White House. This would be a consequential difference to the world, not just Ukraine. Readers can develop their own scenarios as to how Trump might have stopped Vladimir Putin, but my own view is that Putin would not even contemplate an invasion with Trump as president. Why? Because he knows Trump would not tolerate it. As US intel consultant Rebekah Koffler puts it, “Trump through his assertive and shrewd anti-Russia policies demonstrated to Putin that he wouldn’t tolerate any nonsense from him.” (Koffler is the author of Putin’s Playbook.)
Second, Trump would have maintained US energy independence, whereas Biden immediately shut off the Keystone pipeline and imposed a moratorium on oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters (to appease a greens agenda), kickstarting a new phase of energy dependency, to end the fossil fuel era, leading to fuel shortages & higher prices … and inflation. Humiliating pleas for OPEC producers to increase supply followed – and were rebuffed.
Third, the Biden administration stopped the construction of the wall at the Mexico border, which Trump had started. The decision dovetails into the policy suite that allows illegal migrants to flood into the US, mostly unchecked by security protocols. Now in America, nobody is above the law … except the millions of illegal migrants, (nearly 2 million in 2021 not counting getaways, criminals and terrorists included) welcomed, fed and housed, with short and long term consequences for American society.
And there are two more years to go in the Biden presidency; buyers remorse is incurable.
Those who did not feel that the 2020 election was indeed “saved” by the massive efforts described in Time magazine, may see that effort as shoe-horning Biden into the presidency has had and will continue to have massive global consequences that cannot be characterised as beneficial for the US or the world. At what price power, then?