Trump vs. Biden: A Character Study

 

I’m going to ignore policies in this post. By now, I think we know where each candidate stands on particular issues. I want to focus on their character. The media constantly tells me how Trump is an awful, malignant human being, and that alone should disqualify him for office. I’m then told that Biden is the polar opposite of Trump, and would return prestige and decency to the Oval Office. I don’t agree with this at all. Here’s why:

Work ethic: Donald Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Point against him, but that’s out of his control. He could have lived off of his inheritance for the rest of his life, but he chose to work in a highly competitive industry. I think that says something about character. Joe Biden has been in politics for his entire life. He dabbled in law briefly but otherwise doesn’t have any private sector experience. Thirty years old and he’s going to tell the rest of the world what to do.

Inappropriateness: There are several videos and images of Biden acting strange around women, sometimes underage women. He has been quite liberal with his hands and you can see how uncomfortable these women (and girls) are in the various Biden memes that are out there. Trump almost had his 2016 campaign tanked when the tape came out of him stating that women liked when he “grabbed them by the p***y.” He was making a crude statement, in private, about hypergamy. That’s not the same thing as rape. I do not think Biden is a rapist. But I’ve heard excuses for the way he gropes women such as “that’s just the way men of his generation act.” I ‘ve never seen Trump do anything like that and Trump is almost the same age as Biden.

Ambitions: 2020 will be Biden’s third attempt at the presidency. He campaigned for it as far back as 1987. Trump ran as a Reform Party candidate in 2000 but did not get involved in politics again until his 2016 run. Both men crave power. But with Trump, I believe he ran for president because he accomplished everything else he could in life. I think he saw America heading in the wrong direction and genuinely wanted to get it back on the right course. With Biden, the presidency is a lifelong obsession. I’m not really sure what his ideas on America are because he’s a squishy politician who has flip-flopped on issues for half a century.

Integrity: Plagiarism got Joe Biden into trouble when he was a law student at Syracuse University. He plagiarized papers and ranked 76th out of 85th, and later claimed he was in the top half of his class. His political biography is also riddled with tall tales and fibs, but I’ll cut him some slack on that one because all political bios are trash. Trump “gamed the system” to avoid paying taxes, legally. I find it hard to be upset with someone who figured out (well, who’s accountants figured out) how to keep his own money.

Infidelity: Trump is on his third marriage and has a long history of being unfaithful. Biden may have been involved with his current wife while she was still married to another man. I’ll give the moral victory to Biden on this one.

How they treat others: Biden really set the stage for the “there is no low that is too low” tactics that were used in the Kavanaugh hearings. He was absolutely vicious towards Judge Bork and Judge Thomas in their senate hearings. Biden also used his political power to slander a private citizen. Curtis Dunn was the truck driver who accidentally hit and killed Biden’s first wife and daughter, but was ruled not at fault. Biden later claimed that Dunn was drunk at the wheel, which was ruled out of the police report. Even worse, Biden did this years after Dunn had passed away, so Dunn could not defend his reputation. Cowardly, evil behavior. Trump has mocked reporters for asking dumb questions and has hurled thousands of insults at his political opposition on Twitter. I’m of the opinion that in most of these cases, his opposition had it coming.

I keep hearing how Biden is a gentle soul who will get the country back on a moral path. I keep hearing how his compassion and kindness are without peer. But I’m not seeing it. It’s obvious to me who has the better character.

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  1. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I have written about Trump’s failings at length, and do not need to repeat it here. https://ricochet.com/611684/archives/why-trump-is-disqualified/

    However, I think that this video about Biden speaks highly of his character.

    Because it’s less than half of the full story about Biden?

    I understand your point. But will you grant me that Biden’s support of stutterers is at least a small point in his favor?

    So small as to be irrelevant/insignificant.

    He might – just might – impress me, a LITTLE, if he dropped out of “public service” to really support stutterers.

    But of course he’s incapable of that. Joe Biden apparently believes he is indispensable to the country, even to the world. Which is why he got into “public service” as early as he was legally able to, and has stayed there for the majority of his entire time on the planet. Despite lack of any real “contributions” in that area. He would have accomplished more by just tutoring stutterers one-on-one. Problem is, nobody becomes a multi-millionaire doing that.

    According to the clip in Comment 12 Biden does just that. He says that he works with 25 stutterers, by telling them what he did and encouraging them. This is a good thing.

    Not the same thing. But, it might count for more – or at least something – if it wasn’t offset by so much awfulness.

    That’s fair. Thank you for acknowledging that Biden has done good in one small area.

    Which, just for starters, is not nearly enough to compensate for Biden’s repeated claims over years/decades that a “drunk driver” killed his daughter and first wife.

    And so much more…

    A lot of terrible people have had one or a few “good points.”

    So f’ing what?

    Biden “helping stutterers” doesn’t even begin to move the needle in the “not awful” direction. A lot of people can do – and have done – that, without all of Biden’s…. “baggage.”

    These are actual quotes of a conversation between two WWII survivors (I swear it):

    Franz Liebekind: You know, not many people knew it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer.

    Max: Really, I never dreamed that…

    Franz Liebekind: That is because that you were taken in by that verdammte Allied Conservative propaganda! But nobody ever said a bad word about Winston Churchill Trump, did they? No!

    I thought about going the “Hitler was kind to children and animals…” route, but I figured I’d let someone else “go there.”

    I thought it was apropos.

    • #31
  2. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Well at least he’s no longer in the senate.  If he can – god willing – be defeated in November, maybe he’ll disappear from “public life” completely.

    • #32
  3. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Well at least he’s no longer in the senate. If he can – god willing – be defeated in November, maybe he’ll disappear from “public life” completely.

    Once he is of no use to whoever is running him, he will be abandoned. I don’t like to think about him being on his own. He has been a loathsome person throughout his public life, but that’s in the past now. 

    • #33
  4. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Well at least he’s no longer in the senate. If he can – god willing – be defeated in November, maybe he’ll disappear from “public life” completely.

    Once he is of no use to whoever is running him, he will be abandoned. I don’t like to think about him being on his own. He has been a loathsome person throughout his public life, but that’s in the past now.

    Let’s hope.

    • #34
  5. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Ansonia (View Comment):
    It’s this: Trump is saying, in a just-between-us-males way, that there’s a certain type of woman who will put up with almost any kind of lewd-slob behavior from men as long as those men are rich and famous.

    Nope.  In reply to Billy Bush egging him on, Trump makes a hyperbolic and shocking statement for humor.  Hyperbole, satire, and sarcasm are all used in humor.  None of them should be taken literally. 

    • #35
  6. ElizabethVaughn Inactive
    ElizabethVaughn
    @ElizabethVaughn

    I think the biggest difference between the two is that President Trump truly loves America. His patriotism and reverence for our founders and the Constitution cannot be faked. 

    Yes, he’s a man who craves power, but he had power, prestige, money and fame long before he ran for the presidency. He saw the dangerous path the country is on and hoped to change it.

    Biden is in politics for the power, prestige, money and fame. He has no deep, abiding love for America. He will take any position if he stands to gain any of the above for himself or his family. 

    • #36
  7. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Ansonia (View Comment):
    It’s this: Trump is saying, in a just-between-us-males way, that there’s a certain type of woman who will put up with almost any kind of lewd-slob behavior from men as long as those men are rich and famous.

    Nope. In reply to Billy Bush egging him on, Trump makes a hyperbolic and shocking statement for humor. Hyperbole, satire, and sarcasm are all used in humor. None of them should be taken literally.

    Exactly. I think it is Alinsky’s 4th rule, using our morality against us. Trump didn’t say that in front of me or other women so I use Alinsky’s rule back on them pointing that out and that they are the ones using pottie language in front of me and should apologize to me. They usually double down with a few f bombs.

    • #37
  8. Ansonia Member
    Ansonia
    @Ansonia

    Re comment # 35

    Yes. Trump was expressing a cynical outlook  humorously through a hyperbolic and shocking statement.

    • #38
  9. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    Ansonia (View Comment):

    Re comment # 35

    Yes. Trump was expressing a cynical outlook humorously through a hyperbolic and shocking statement.

    I am surprised Democrats keep bringing up that comment. In the last four years, the only one who grabbed * was a female Democrat from California who resigned in disgrace. Trump always dresses and carries himself in public as if he is auditioning for the role of Mr. Darcy. As for as his verbal sparring, Adams and Jefferson are yawning in their graves.

    • #39
  10. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    EHerring (View Comment):
    I am surprised Democrats keep bringing up that comment. In the last four years, the only one who grabbed * was a female Democrat from California who resigned in disgrace.

    Well her, plus no mention that the Democratic nominee for President is accused of doing this very thing in the 90’s. It is so scandalous that 60 Minutes is forced to cover it – but only for their viewers in Australia (about as far removed from the actual viewers this tale might influence as you can possibly get on planet Earth.)

    • #40
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