On this benighted holiday, I’m thankful for the 80 million Americans who chose to put a mensch in the White House.
As evidenced by what we heard yesterday, the contrast with his predecessor could not be clearer. To mark the arrival of Thanksgiving, the President-elect talked honestly about us. The president-reject talked dishonestly about himself.
Let’s hear first from Joe Biden:
“We find ourselves facing a long, hard winter. We fought nearly a year-long battle with a virus that has devastated this nation. This brought us pain and loss and frustration. And has cost so many lives – 260,000 Americans and counting. It’s divided us, angered us, set us against one another. I know the country has grown weary of the fight. We need to remember we’re war with the virus, not with one another…I’m hoping the news of the vaccine will serve as an incentive to every American to take simple steps (wear a mask and socially distance) to get control of the virus. There’s real hope, tangible hope. So, hang on. Don’t let yourselves surrender to the fatigue, which I understand is real fatigue. I know we can, and we will beat this virus…I believe that this grim season of division and demonization is going to give way to a year of light and immunity. Why do I think so? Because America is a nation not of adversaries, but of neighbors….”
Now let’s hear from the turkey:
“This was an election that we won easily. We won it by a lot…So this was, very sad to say it, this election was rigged and we can’t let that happen. We can’t let it happen for our country. And this election has to be turned around, because we won Pennsylvania by a lot. And we won all of these swing states by a lot…A big win. And all of a sudden ballots were dumped all over the place, and a lot of horrible things happened…”
Biden addressed the nation from the President-elect podium. Trump phoned into a fake hearing about fake voter fraud, hosted by fake courtroom lawyer Rudy Giuliani, at a hotel near the Gettysburg battlefield. Biden called on the nation to be thankful for our democracy. Trump phoned in to sabotage it.
I will now yield the floor to Tom Ridge, the former Republican governor and first Homeland Security secretary, who tweeted: “History will record the shameful irony that a president who lied to avoid military service staged a bogus event on the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg in a brazen attempt to undermine the Republic for which scores of real patriots had fought & died to preserve since its founding.”
I can’t top Tom. Have a safe and happy holiday.
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By the way, here’s what the turkey said about the virus nine months ago today: “Within a couple of days, it’s going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”