| | | | Joe Biden's eerily familiar Trump argument |  | | Close your eyes and listen to Joe Biden's 2020 pitch, and you might hear a very familiar echo.
"This is not who we are, the way we are treating people," Biden said in his first interview as a candidate on ABC's "The View." "There is an American creed. It's about decency, honor, including everyone, leaving no one behind."
That sounds a lot like this, from 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton:
"I want to be a president for all Americans, not some Americans – Democrats, Republicans, independents, every single American. I want to be the president for those who vote for me and those who vote against me because I want to bring our country together."
And then there's this from Biden's announcement video: "We are in the battle for the soul of this nation. I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time. But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are — and I cannot stand by and watch that happen."
Which sounds a lot like this from Clinton: "And the kinds of things that you've been hearing from Donald Trump, demeaning, defaming groups of Americans, people who have every right to be respected by someone who wants to be President of the United States, and he stands there and mocks a reporter with a disability, and he calls women pigs, and he calls Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, and he demeans Muslims, and attacks a Gold Star family whose son died in action in Iraq – that's not who we are. So, yes, we have a lot of plans, but we also have values, my friends. And we're going to stand up for American values."
Some of these similarities can be written off to typical political rhetoric. ALL politicians talk about value and character.
But that doesn't explain the clear overlaps between the pitch Clinton made against Trump in 2016 and the argument Biden is constructing in the early days of his 2020 presidential bid.
Clinton's argument boiled down to this: Donald Trump is not the best of us. He represents an aberrant strain of American, uh, gusto that should not be rewarded. He wants to divide the country, not unite it.
Which is, essentially, the exact same argument Biden is making. Here's Biden from a stop in New Hampshire (hat tip CNN's Casey Riddle) on Monday:
"I'm running for three reasons. I want to restore the soul of this country. And secondly, I really want to, quite frankly, rebuild the backbone of this country, this time bringing everybody along, the middle class. The middle class has built this country. And thirdly, what I want to do is I want to, we talked about earlier, unite the country. "
That's a pitch Clinton could have made. In fact, she basically did!
The Point: Why is Biden pursuing a failed, four-year-old blueprint? He's banking on the fact that after four years of Trump, voters will be much more open to an appeal to decency and a return to normal.
-- Chris
| | "Probably, like me, a little controversial, but that's OK."
-- President Donald Trump praising far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán while nodding to the controversy of their White House meeting. | | |
TRUMP TWEETS, BY THE NUMBERS | | In case you weren't able to separate yourself from social media this weekend, you might have missed the fact that President Donald Trump sent 35 tweets (and 62 retweets!) over 48 hours.
What exactly did he say? Chris breaks down Trump's top tweet topics: - 15 were about Mueller/Russia
- 8 were about China/tariffs
- 3 were about the "constitutional crisis"
- 2 were about great ratings for Fox and Friends and OANN
- 1 was about the economy
Read on for more on the President's 280-character thoughts. | | Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited a certain former hire while offering remarks to law students about standing alone when you are tested -- and to compromise without violating one's principles.
"As Robert Mueller once said, 'There [may] come a time when you will be tested,'" Rosenstein said at the University of Baltimore Law School today. "'You may find yourself standing alone, against those you thought were trusted colleagues. You may stand to lose [all that] you have worked for. And [it may] not be an easy call.'" | |  | | Today's topic: A Monday political pop quiz! | | New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has reportedly been close to announcing his presidential ambitions (he traveled to Iowa earlier this year, after all) and this could be the week he finally does it.
De Blasio says he hasn't fully come to a decision yet, BUT "we will make a final decision this week and we'll announce it this week." De Blasio spoke to the press in a rally at Trump Tower today touting NYC's Green New Deal that was complete with pro-Trump hecklers.
If he enters the presidential race, de Blasio will join the more than 20-some Democrats already in the field. | |
LAUREN'S CAMPAIGN TRAIL LATEST | | Donald Trump: Will hold a MAGA rally in Montoursville, PA on May 20.
Beto O'Rourke: Is getting the CNN town hall treatment on May 21 from Drake University in Iowa.
Joe Biden: Made his first stop in New Hampshire of the 2020 cycle today. As he told the crowd: "I'm going to be here a lot."
Elizabeth Warren: Pledged to make her education secretary a former public school teacher "who is committed to public education."
Seth Moulton: Is calling for medical marijuana to be made available to veterans.
Kamala Harris: Says she wouldn't have voted for NAFTA. | | | | | | |
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