Why? Because there is still a reasonably good chance that this madman, even if convicted of federal crimes, will win next November. About 35 percent of the country adores him. Another 12 or 13 percent will vote for him against Joe Biden (or any Democrat), simply because they’re Republicans, or they’re against abortion rights and they just can’t vote for a Democrat for president. That gets him close. He just needs another 3 or 3.5 percent—a little more than half of the (in my estimation) 6 percent or so the electorate who are genuine swing voters.
They swung, or a majority of them did, for Trump in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, because they’d been conditioned for a quarter-century to hate her, and because James Comey reopened that investigation for a few days before the election. Then they swung for Biden in 2020, because Biden seemed normal and the pandemic was raging. It’s still kind of chilling to reflect on it and realize that if there had been no pandemic, Trump probably would have cruised to reelection in 2020.
But there was, and he didn’t; Biden was just the right person at the right time. Today, to a lot of swing voters, I fear Biden may be the wrong man–simply because of his age. They appreciate his accomplishments and his basic decency, and I don’t think they buy the “Biden crime family” garbage. If he were 70, not 80, he’d be sailing. But the facts are the facts: He’s 80, and a lot of people think that’s almost disqualifying. I talked with a couple friends—they follow events, but they don’t work in politics and aren’t obsessed by it—Saturday at my high-school class reunion. They’re Democrats; they appreciate Biden’s accomplishments, and they’ll vote for him over Trump. But they weren’t enthusiastic, about either Biden or (especially) Kamala Harris.