When confronted with a venomous snake bite, the victim must act quickly before the reptile’s poison leads to irreparable harm. The same advice should be applied to how Democratic presidential candidates respond to Donald Trump. In fact, they should be the first to mercilessly bite him where it hurts.
However, the repetition of weak counterpunches from Democrats like Joe Biden continue to astonish and frustrate voters who crave a candidate with a fighting spirit. The opinions expressed here apply to all Democrats running in 2020. But for the sake of focus, let’s dive right into the back and forth between Trump and Biden.
Trump, who lives in a glass house, is somehow successfully throwing stones at Joe Biden. At the heart of his accusations is the notion that Biden used his political influence to secure lucrative deals for his son Hunter, including his $50,000-a-month board position at Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
While multiple investigations and reports indicate that the Bidens did nothing illegal, it’s also true that Hunter Biden’s position at a foreign gas company — along with the ridiculously high pay he received — doesn’t look good. Trump understands this, and he also knows that Americans cringe at any mention of political corruption by self-dealing politicians.
To be sure, Trump is latching onto accusations of corruption against the Bidens, and even claims that he’s just trying to “drain the swamp,” as a way to deflect from his own serious legal issues, including asking a foreign leader to meddle in the presidential election.
But until recently, Biden’s response has been almost no response at all. Initially he chose the “when they go low, we go high” route, which clearly did nothing to salvage Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Then he put out a mildly fiery speech in Reno, Nevada, followed by an op-ed in the Washington Post.
It’s still not good enough. Playing defense in this election is a devastatingly weak move. Democratic candidates need to call out Trump’s own abuses of power for self-enrichment purposes. And since Trump has made clear that he will relentlessly go after family, it only makes sense to draw attention to the overwhelming nepotism in the White House.
The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who has no experience in politics or policy, currently serves as his senior adviser. Late last year, China — a country that is currently undergoing trade negotiations with Trump — gave her preliminary approval for 16 trademarks she had requested. Why? Could it be that her father’s political power swayed the decision?
The there’s Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who also serves as a senior advisor to the president. While his very unearned existence in the White House demonstrates that Trump is guilty of the same claims he makes about Biden, it’s also worth noting that the Kushner family tried to cash in on their newly gained political power the second Trump took office. Kushner Companies used the EB-5 visa program to seduce foreigners to invest in their U.S.-based real estate.
In China, Kushner Companies presented a brochure that read, “Invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States.” The abuse of power was so brazen that it led to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Then, of course, you have Donald Trump himself, who encourages foreign leaders to book rooms at his properties, and constantly advertises his resorts while suggesting that political events like the G7 take place in them.
Let’s also not forget how Trump specifically wrote his 2017 tax cut proposal in a way that would benefit himself and his family the most. Aside from the obvious tax cuts the Trump family would enjoy, he also included goodies for the rich who want to permanently defer their capital gains taxes in exchange for real estate investments.
Trump’s administration is dripping with criminality, corruption, nepotism and self-enrichment. The only problem is that Democratic candidates refuse to strike back. Every time he hits them, they should hit him twice as hard. If you can’t land devastating counter-strikes against the most corrupt president we have ever had, then you probably shouldn’t be in this race.
Ana Kasparian is a host and executive producer of The Young Turks, and host of No Filter on TYT.