I must admit, I was almost as perplexed as the Democrat Party operatives were in struggling over whether they should continue supporting Joe Biden despite the debate disaster or to urge him to step aside for a younger candidate to defeat the would-be dictator—then Joe did what now seems to have been inevitable. Since the debate, Joe seemed more like his normal self, gaffs and all. But the debate failure was subject to widespread confirmation bias (which only grew, feeding on itself as more politicos called for him to withdraw). Even longtime supporters/friends and donors, like George Clooney, acknowledged that they had seen growing evidence of decline. That was just one among other key forces completely out of Biden’s control, but would have had disastrous effects on his electoral chances.
Cognitive Acuity and Winning the Presidency
In relation to Joe Biden’s occasional gaffs, particularly since the fateful debate disaster, the term cognitive acuity has been tossed around rather loosely. Now, most know that Joe has stuttered most of his life, and conquered most of it a long time ago. Nevertheless, his verbal stumbles have increased in recent years. So have mine.
Yet, the evidence was, if anything, mixed. His unscripted discussion of complex foreign policy matters at a news conference was itself complex and subtle, demonstrating a high level of analytical competence. The Donald has never been so precise or clear about anything, ever—except in expressing his many hatreds. But fighting for the presidency involves so much more than verbal competence or probable job performance.
It is all about persuasion and contagion. It became ever more obvious to Democrats that the fight for supremacy over Trump was not only about debating the issues. To prosecute the fight against the nation’s demonstrated worst-ever former president would require a far more aggressive style than is natural to Joe Biden. Trump’s strategy is to put his opponent on the defensive by promoting outrageous lies. It is always harder to prove a negative than to make the accusation. He is nasty, vindictive, and cruel—without bounds.
That is how Trump has beaten down those to whom he owed money, getting himself out of contracts by offering to pay a pittance instead of what he owed, daring his victims to sue him when they knew he could out-spend them in court. He did much the same to every Republican in primary elections, focusing on verbal abuse, never actual political issues, about which he simply lies out of both habit and ignorance of the facts. The cowardly likes of Marco Rubio, then came to lick his boots, once he had gained control of the Republican Party with MAGA Madness.
If he were able to do that in the race for the presidency and his opponent were unable to come back more forcefully, exposing Trump’s pathological persona, he would win. Many Democrats knew that Joe Biden was untrained for that kind of combat. It was not about ‘cognitive acuity,’ it was about personality and rhetorical style—everyone knows, Joe is a nice guy who has a lifetime of experience at productive compromise, not combat.
Sociopathy, Narcissism, and Unbounded Evil
Narcissists are known for their skills at appearing normal in their relations with others, even though they have no moral center and operate on pure manipulation. They practice the appearance of being empathetic. The nation’s economic losers among the lost white middleclass and rural victims of the corporate state were ripe victims of that manipulation and demagoguery.
Combined with extreme anti-social personality traits, which psychologists call psychopathy and sociologists call sociopathy, the recipe produces a toxic mix of unbounded ruthlessness, behind a mask of naïve innocence. Demanding loyalty from others and offering but never returning any loyalty to those he exploits, the narcissistic sociopath uses people like toilet paper.
What has always seemed strange to me is the ability to produce that loyalty in others while giving none back. Trump has left a trail of loyal victims, many prosecuted and/or convicted of the criminal behavior he insisted on as proof of loyalty to his personal power-seeking. Take a look at any dictator in history, from Hitler or Mussolini, to Viktor Orbán and even Putin today.
The strange thing to me is how they all express a form of charisma that generates unyielding loyalty among a significant sector of the population they wish to rule. They are all obsessed with personal power; public policy for them is always transactional—a mere venue for seeking and adding to their power.
How can a democratic movement or the Democratic Party fight this kind of tyranny seeker? Only, it seems, by fighting irrational vindictive abusiveness with more powerful and aggressively persuasive and emotionally strong prosecutory speech. Enter the accomplished prosecutor…
The Prosecutor and the Weird Felon
The meme, ‘the prosecutor and the felon’ has surged since Kamala Harris’ first campaign speech, along with many small donations from former non-voters. Kamala Harris is known for her success as a prosecutor of not only common criminals but also corporate lawbreakers. The weird part came only once the weird psychology of J.D. Vance became known. But it certainly applies equally to his new master, who hopes to gain large donations from the weird Silicone Valley billionaire and former donor, Peter Theil., who had given up on Trump in 2016.
If we see Donald Trump for the criminal that he is—oh so skilled at hiring lawyers that can utilize the procedural protections that the legal system offers the accused, to endlessly delay and manipulate courtroom processes—then the meme makes sense. The big difference, however, is that a political campaign is not limited by the formalisms of the courtroom.
On the one hand, the weird felon who is running for president, is not constrained by courtroom decorum; he can be as nasty, abusive, and outrageous as he wants. (That may ultimately backfire and lead to his downfall; we shall see.) On the other hand, the practiced prosecutor seeking the presidency can apply those prosecutorial skills and experience to framing all the corruption, malfeasance, and autocratic attempts of the weird felon in a way that makes all the felonious behavior and related dangers become clear to the electorate.
If ever there were an election that required an aggressive prosecutorial approach to ‘making the case’ against a downright evil opponent, it is now. I am sure that even for those Democrats who have not thought it through exactly in this way, they know instinctively that having a candidate that can powerfully prosecute the case against Donald Trump is exactly what they need. A strong voice as her V.P. running mate would add to her strength, unlike the weird negative effect Vance brings to the MAGA Mania founded Trump campaign. That new, fresh prosecutorial power is the source, I believe, of the remarkable surge of support for Kamala Harris as soon as Joe Biden stepped down and anointed Kamala as his chosen successor on the campaign trail. I also suspect that Joe knew, painful as it was to release the reigns, that replacing himself with the consummate prosecutor is exactly what the nation needs, far more important to him than personal ambition for one more term.
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 