It is Tuesday and so far the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is going forward on Thursday. That could change on a dime, yes. But so far it hasn’t. Yesterday, Ronny Jackson sent a letter to not only the White House but all cabinet members demanding that President Biden submit to drug testing to determine whether he is taking performance enhancing drugs. The White House finds the entire thing laughable, evidently. ABC News:
The Biden campaign quickly dismissed Trump’s demand, saying he would not submit to a drug test.
“Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies,” a Biden campaign spokesman said.
“Trump’s going to talk trash like that all the time because that’s what he does. The other day you may remember he was trying to question our president’s mental acuity and he could not remember the name of his own doctor so tell President Trump, bring whatever he’s got — President Biden will be standing there, ready for him,” Biden campaign adviser Mitch Landrieu said on CNN. (Trump had referred to his White House physician Ronny Jackson as Ronny Johnson at a campaign rally.)
Calling for drug tests has been a tactic Trump has used repeatedly for years. He previously called on Biden to take a drug test before their 2020 debates, suggesting without evidence that Biden must have been on “performance-enhancing drugs” during that year’s Democratic primary. In 2016, Trump made similar unsubstantiated claims about Hillary Clinton.
A couple of things are agreed upon here: 1. Trump’s desperation and 2. His obvious fear. Plus, Ronny Jackson is not the guy to use as a front man for all this, he’s got credibility problems of his own revolving around substance use.
All of this concocted drama around drug use, as well as claims that CNN will host a biased debate, positively reek of desperation to get the former president out of Thursday night’s presidential showdown. It’s not surprising, as Trump is not suited to actual debate: His speech is often erratic and incoherent, and he’s prone to going off on tangents. Plus, Trump has historically taken a hit in the polls after debating with Democrats, in 2016, and again in 2020. While Trump loves to hype up a crowd, he’s just not that convincing when he’s sharing the stage.
It also appears that Jackson may soon want to focus on problems of his own. The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it will review a report from a congressional watchdog that discovered “substantial reason” to believe that Jackson had converted thousands of dollars of campaign money for his own personal use.
Jackson was demoted by the U.S. Navy in 2022 after the Pentagon inspector general found that he regularly drank on the job, berated his subordinates, and acted inappropriately. Last year, Jackson was filmed unleashing a profanity-laced tirade on a Department of Public Safety officer.
The countdown is on. It is still possible that Trump might bail, although the optics of it will be horrific. That might not stop him, however. His situation is one of having to decide which optics are the worse, the optics of running away and hiding or the optics of making a complete ass of himself on live television with all the world watching? Make no mistake, there are conversations weighing the pros and cons of a last minute cancellation and its ramifications as we speak.
I did have to look twice – and then a third time before I saw the utter stupidity.
One of the ‘performance enhancing drugs’ they mooted was caffeine.
In short – they are accusing him of drinking COFFEE
My mind ceased boggling ages ago in respect of anything the G(r)OP(e) party puts out
Well, that’d be real stupid because Von Shitzinpants guzzles diet cokes like it’s water. The amount of caffeine he consumes is phenomenal. Diet coke, like all colas except for the caffeine free varieties, have quite a bit of the shit in them.
President Biden and his team not agreeing to this with the proper safeguards in place (neutral, trusted lab doing the tests and analyzing them) is an error they should not have made. They should have just told the dumb-shits to bring it the f*ck on. Von Shitzinpants would have shit himself so badly, he would have blown out his diaper. Von Shitzinpants and more importantly his campaign team don’t want him anywhere NEAR a drug test; not a real one, one not performed by dr. feelgood. The Biden team could have shown the world, yet again, what a fucking crybaby coward Von Shitzinpants is.
All they managed to do is give him what his supporters will consider to be a good reason for not showing up at the debate. Hell, even if there would have been actual, real drug tests given-who the fuck cares? And there was no chance in hell Von Shitzinpants was going to take it anyway.
Nope, this was real stupid on Biden’s part. Real fucking dumb. If they keep fucking up like this they might as well just declare Von Shitzi the winner and be done with it. This was an easy one and they screwed it up badly.
No. what’s stupid is your insane belief that Biden’s passing a drug test would actually be believed by Trump or his supporters. Just as we’ve been hearing Trump’s non-stop lies about how all the cases against Trump have been purely motivated by politics and how every ruling and verdict against Trump is just because of a “weaponized” DOJ despite absolutely no real evidence of anything remotely close to any kind of politically-based lawfare, and how the Hunter Biden case is (somehow) all show and that Joe will issue a pardon after the election, Trump will make a case for his supporters that Biden’s passing a drug test is nothing but a government/”Democrat” set-up to hide the drugs being used to keep old “Sleepy Joe” functional.
And they will believe every single word of it.
Just as they will believe Trump’s failing a drug test as just more “Democrat” hijinks, designed to end Trump’s political career.
What is really stupid is thinking it makes any difference one way or the other. Of course magats would not believe in any drug test President Biden took even if the same one was performed and analyzed by the same company that gave one to trump. That is not the point. The point is/was that just stating he would take the test would likely terrify trump or at least his team. It would be psychological warfare against trump.
What would it hurt for Biden to say he’d take a drug test (btw, if PED’s are what is tested for, outside of amphetamines (ADD/ADHD meds), can a PED for brain function if one exists even show up on a drug test? Quite frankly that is stupidest part of all this)? IF Biden doesn’t take anything for brain function fine and if he does, maybe we need to know this. If anything I believe borders on insane, it’s that I think pols should be upfront/honest. I’ve believed this since way before I was old enough to vote. In today’s society, that likely makes me loony t
Nowhere did I state trump’s cult would believe anything Biden did or didn’t do-they will only believe what their cult leader orders them to believe and you and I know this. The point of what I DID state was Biden should have just agreed with the logical stipulations in place. You and I know trump was not going to allow a drug test that was across the board fair/equal to both men. He was going to chicken out of such a test.
By not agreeing to take the drug test Biden and his team gave ammunition for trump to use to get out of the debate in what would be the closest he would ever come to a reasonable excuse. Does he need such an excuse for his followers? No. Would such an excuse perhaps sway some who are on the sidelines and undecided and/or some trump voters who are starting to re-think their support? Maybe. Right now getting those voters, the undecided and the wavering trump supporters, is vital for Biden. Agreeing to the test and then watching trump chicken out could make a difference.
It would have meant nothing for Biden to agree; trump was not going to show up for a fair and equal whiz quiz and now he not only doesn’t have to worry about this, he might have been given an out that could sway voters on the fence. Nothing is going to sway the true believers but there are others out there who could go to either camp and this could influence that decision.
spike. I understand your reasoning but I disagree. Why cave to his demands? It makes him more powerful by doing so. His crowd are mindless cult members who will believe any damn thing he says no matter how the facts line up. Hell…some believe the goddamn earth is flat. Biden IS THE PRESIDENT AND DOESNT NEED TO PROVE A GODDAMN THING. I think the less he responds to Trump and his minions demands only makes Trump look powerless to do a thing BUT SHOW UP. If he doesn’t, and I’m not convinced he will, he’ll look like the gutless coward he is. Everybody in America knows any defendant can testify in his/her own defense, and trump SWORE TIME AND AGAIN HE WOULD. He chickened out then gaslighted his cult, who will swallow any bullshit. I think Biden is playing this right. Let Trump spin in the wind and let his sphincter be so tight he can’t shit his diaper for days.
I know. It seems unreasonable to give in to anything trump wants. I just think there was not a snowball’s chance in hell trump was going to agree to undergo the testing. Well, not unless dr ronny was giving it. Any logical stipulations would surely have been red flags for trump and his team and they would run away from such a test. trump is a coward and I think this would have put that out there in a very big way. Wouldn’t have mattered to the true magats and quite frankly, unless it comes out of trump’s mouth, nothing does matter to them.
We know, you, I, Joseph, etc. President Biden doesn’t have to prove anything to us but agreeing to this silliness isn’t for us. It could be useful in getting those undecided and wavering trump supporters.
We’ve seen the transformation he undergoes when he jacks himself up for rallies. If he shows up Thursday all bug-eyed and sweating, Biden can sit back and enjoy the show with the rest of us. Anything could happen and probably will.
I have always liked the way the NFL would list players that might not play on game day.
Probable: 75%
Questionable: 50%
Doubtful: 25%
As soon as I heard about the debate being scheduled, I had the Neon Carpet Wearing Ferret as maybe probable. His performance the last two weeks have made me think it’s now between doubtful and out. After all, the NFL does have a concussion protocol. Maybe there should be one in politics.
If Trumpler shows up, Biden needs to come out swinging and land punches all during the evening. Let Trumpler lie and rant all he wants, sling childish insults and bluster as he does. All Joe has to do is calmly list Trumpler’s lying, incompetencies and unfitness for office. Forget the braindead amongst the audience; the majority of Americans are clever people, well able to discern between a bullshitter and a real President.