Lemire: Joe Biden Framed His Entire Candidacy As a Rebuke To Donald Trump

EXCERPT:

LEMIRE: “Willie, Joe Biden framed his entire candidacy as a rebuke to Donald Trump. They were careful throughout his campaign not to just react to everything Trump did. They had a solid message. They wanted to return to normalcy, return to making America what it always has been, what they wanted it to be again. And we have seen that same approach during this trial where Biden made a point of saying, studiously, that he was ignoring the trial, he was not watching it live. Of course he was briefed, he saw highlights, but he tried to focus on the business of governing. And as much as he and his staff and Senate Democrats said they could do two things at once, that the trial could happen, but yet the White House could still respond to this pandemic that has claimed nearly 500,000 American lives at this point, they of course acknowledged privately this was a distraction. There was a moment on Saturday when it looked like Democrats were going to have witnesses in the trial, potentially extending this trial days, if not weeks, where there was real concern that this would continue to linger over the administration, it would slow things down, it would put in jeopardy that timeline to get that Covid relief bill done by mid-March. Now the White House, they say they didn’t call over to the Senate and that a deal was struck where just some testimony was submitted to the record and there was not witnesses, and therefore the trial ended on Saturday anyway.”