The attempted assassination boosted Trump’s candidacy but it also may have saved his political opponent. Before the attack, pressure was mounting on Biden to resign and the media was ‘flooding the zone’ with stories about his mental state. After the assassination, not only does the shooting dominate the national news, but Biden has become a leading beneficiary of the new civility.
The country is much less interested in hearing what it already knows about Biden’s mental state and the shift in focus boosts Biden’s core strategy of waiting out the efforts to sideline him.
The calls for unity, and for lowering the temperature of the rhetoric, are less likely to help Trump than to help Biden. The media will likely ‘circle back’ to resume its attack on Biden while there’s still time, but the break in the narrative may prove to be daunting. And if there is to be some sort of national unity moment (which I’m skeptical of) Biden will be a prime beneficiary.
Biden has always needed Trump and the assassination attempt may have been the one thing that could save his candidacy. (Note, I’m not suggesting anything here.) Biden has already tried the ‘hard’ Get Trump play, now he’s benefiting from the unity ploy. The longer it goes on, the more likely Biden is to make a virtual vote and then a convention. And once that happens, removing him will become even harder.
{Reposted from FrontPageMag}
