YESTERDAY'S PERFORMANCE BY THE MAN WHO WILL MODERATE THE JUNE 27 BIDEN-TRUMP DEBATE

This post by my friend Barry Friedman at his substack is presented to demonstrate exactly why Noted Great Journalist Jake Tapper was named to be one of the two moderators of the first Biden-Trump debate on June 27. After reading this, I am certain you will join me in saying my fears that anything could possibly go wrong in the debate have been completely calmed. Right? Right??? Is this thin on?

IT’S NOT BRAIN SURGERY

By: Barry Friedman

Comes to us now another installment of the never-ending quest of bookers for Sunday morning news shows — CBS’s Face the Nation, NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week, and CNN’s State of the Union — to find GOP legislators, apologists, and/or propagandists who will explain how they’re patriotic Americans above all else and, no, they haven’t drunk every last drop of the Kool-Aid for to make benefit glorious ex-president Donald Trump. It then usually takes about 11 zeptoseconds for these same men and women to indicate that the more they think about it, yes, they actually would not only bathe in the aforementioned Kool-Aid, but open up a Kool-Aid stand in front of Mar-a-Lago and funnel the profits to the ex-president.

Which brings us to CNN’s inexplicable and rather lazy decision to invite Trump’s former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson — who knew he was still a thing — on State of the Union to bemoan the loss of civility in American politics. Carson in his earlier life was a world-class neurosurgeon and, as we all know, performing a Posterior Fossa Decompression and streamlining Residential Opportunities and Self Sufficiency studies to enhance Neighborhood Networks in low-cost housing alternatives requires the same skillset.

Carson was on ostensibly to pimp his latest book, Look How The Sick, Depraved, Godless, and Transgender-Loving Woke Liberals Who Want An Open Border Destroyed America By Pushing an Agenda of Equity, Respect, Fairness and Forced Gender Reassignment (that may not be the exactly title but you get the idea), which would have been bad enough, but Host Jake Tapper, who was off his game on Sunday — I mean like Nikola Jokić against the Timberwolves off his game — then allowed Carson to sing Kumbaya in his efforts to promise to praise Democrats when praise is warranted.

Tapper started by first asking Carson, who apparently is on Donald Trump’s short list to be vice president, whether he would make the pilgrimage to NYC to give prosecutors the stink eye at the ex-president’s criminal trial, as the job clearly requires.

TAPPER: This could be the final week of Donald Trump's criminal trial. And it seems likely that more of the former president's supporters will make the trek up to the courtroom this week. One who has not been to court yet, at least, but who is on Trump's V.P. list, is my next guest. Joining me now is Trump's former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, who's been promoting his new book called "The Perilous Fight: Overcoming Our Culture's War on the American Family.” . . . so, I do want to ask about the criminal trial. He was yet again in a Manhattan courtroom, Mr. Trump, President Trump, facing testimony from Michael Cohen. And a lot of supporters of his have been there. Speaker Johnson, vice presidential hopefuls like senator J.D. Vance or Governor Doug Burgum. Are you planning at all on going to see the case and express support for him there?

CARSON: I have a very hectic schedule, which is planned far in advance.

Jesus, Mary, and twins conjoined at the head, that was Carson’s answer? I think we can safely take him off the short list now.

TAPPER: For the book, you mean and for other things?

CARSON: For all kinds of things. The president knows that I'm a supporter of his. There's nothing that needs to be proven.

Of course not. It’s not like Trump needs constant attention, affirmation, and sustained genuflection from his supporters 24/7.

TAPPER: Let me ask you about the black vote, if I can, because President Biden this weekend is crisscrossing the country touting his record for black Americans during his presidency.

This was an embarrassing, insulting question. Even Ben Carson doesn’t deserve to be put in the position of being the likely Black American voter whisperer. Tapper never brings a Jew on the show to ask about Jews because of the guest’s inherent Jewness.

You have been very vocal about praising how good Donald Trump was for black Americans. And, in particular, you noted that black unemployment hit a record low in September 2019, 5.3 percent. Now, since then, black unemployment hit a new record low under Biden, 4.8 percent in April 2023, though, right now, it's up again to 5.6 percent. Do you think the Biden/Harris ticket deserves any credit for that, for the record low under them?

CARSON: You know, I really have a problem with people trying to make everything oppositional.

You mean, for instance, if someone said something like this?

“He’s an ‘African’ American. He was, you know, raised white,” the retired neurosurgeon said. “So, for him to, you know, claim that, you know, he identifies with the experience of black Americans, I think, is a bit of a stretch.”

Wait! That was you, wasn’t it?

Please. Go on, though.

We can build on what each other does. And we have to recognize that we, the American people, are not each other's enemies. I have an acrostic, WANE, W-A-N-E, we are not enemies. And so there's nothing wrong with Republicans giving Democrats credit, Democrats giving Republicans credit. We're all Americans, and we need to work together to solve these problems.

TAPPER: It's a very interesting answer and inspiring.

Except that it’s neither. Carson gave an answer slightly less thought-provoking than a Successories poster. And, Jake, if you noticed, the good doctor didn’t actually give Democrats credit for anything.

He did say this, though, back in February.

Joe Biden has “significant mental issues” and will not be the Democrat candidate for this year’s Presidential election, according to Ben Carson.

Not that he is being — what was that word again? Oh, yeah . . . “oppositional” — you understand, when it comes to the last two Democratic presidents.

Let me ask you, though, obviously, because Donald Trump is really making a big play for the black vote. And he did -- he got 12 percent of the black vote in 2020, 19 percent of black men, the highest percentages for a Republican presidential nominee in years. What percentage do you think he might get this November?

In what world is Ben Carson even remotely qualified to opine on this?

CARSON: I think it'll be higher than the percentage that he got before.

Thanks Nostradamus.

I think black Americans are no different than any other Americans.

Except the rest of us didn’t . . . hell, I’ll let Carson describe our shared history.

From The Washington Post

“That's what America is about. A land of dreams and opportunity. There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less,” said Carson, speaking extemporaneously as he paced the room with a microphone. “But they, too, had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.”

They also, no doubt, had dreams about not being chained, thrown in cages, humiliated, inspected like livestock, and then auctioned off — while still being chained — in ports across an ocean.

They fill the pinch of the inflation. They know what it feels like when they have to go fill up their gas tank. They see the crime that's running rampant, that people, repeat offenders are being let out of prison and endangering them and their neighborhoods. They see what's happening with the border and how that's impacting their own communities, how other people's issues are being put on the front burners and theirs are being put on the back burners. I think those are the issues that are pushing them toward Trump.

TAPPER: Let's talk about something in "The Perilous Fight."

No, let’s not. Carson peddled a predictable, hackneyed, redundant, and debunked set of GOP talking points and Tapper should be ashamed of himself for not pushing back on any of them.

From Bloomberg (Inflation)

US inflation is set to further recede in 2024, ending the year near the Federal Reserve’s 2% target as economic disruptions from the pandemic fade further and prices of some goods even decline.

From PBS (Crime)

WASHINGTON (AP) — New FBI statistics show overall violent crime in the U.S. dropped again last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike. Murders dropped 13 percent in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period the year before, according to FBI data released this week. Violent crime overall was down 6 percent. Property crime also ticked downward about 3 percent in the nation as a whole, though in the Northeast and in large cities over a million people it increased by about the same amount.

From WOLA.org (Immigration)

The number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped sharply during the first months of 2024. It is very rare to see migration decline from winter to spring, but that, so far, is what appears to be happening.

From the National Urban League (Black Americans)

In contrast, President Biden placed racial equity at the center of his Administration, committing that it would shape the legislation, regulations, federal investments, and agency actions his Administration championed.  As our report makes clear, that commitment has resulted in meaningful policy changes for Black Americans across economic opportunity, education, health care, criminal justice, housing, the environment, and civil rights protections. Candidate Biden promised to invest in Black America and improve the economy. When President Biden took office, the unemployment rate was 6.3%. Today, it’s 3.7%. The Black unemployment rate was 9.2%. Today, it’s 5.3%.

TAPPER: There are a lot of really interesting parts of this that you could spend five hours talking about.

But one of them that's relevant to today's politics, in particular, has to do with abortion. Democrats are really hoping that that's going to help them in November. Former President Trump has said he does not support any national legislation abortion. He said it's a good thing that Roe v. Wade was overturned, but it should be left up to the states. In your book, in "The Perilous Fight," you express support for national legislation banning abortion. Do you think Mr. Trump's position this against such legislation is firm, or do you think you could convince him of otherwise? What are your conversations like when you talk about it?

CARSON: Well, President Trump does not like to surround himself with yes-people. He likes to have healthy discussions about things.

Donald Trump likes to have what?

From Politico

A week exactly after his inauguration, seated for dinner at a small, oval table in the Green Room of the White House, Donald Trump said to the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation what might end up being the six most consequential words of his presidency. “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

And recognize that, in terms of saving the lives of unborn, he has done more than any other president. So I give him much credit for that. I am unabashedly pro-life. I spent most of my career as a pediatric neurosurgeon trying to save lives.

As does every other pediatric neurosurgeon, many of whom try to save lives but also don’t want pregnant women bleeding to death in hospital parking lots because other doctors and/or hospital administrators are afraid to perform abortions out of fear the purposefully vague “life of the mother exception” in their state’s law hasn’t kicked in.

And, in many cases, I operated on babies that were premature, 26, 27, 28, 29 weeks gestation, same level at which people are performing abortions. Those babies had to have anesthesia because they could clearly feel pain.

Hold up, Hoss. That’s only being done if there is an absence of fetal viability or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.

From The Guardian

But late-term abortions are also very rare. In 2015, more than 400,000abortions took place in the US. Of those, just 5,597 (or 1.3%) happened on or after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The vast majority (91%) of abortions take place at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy.

Now, when an abortion is done, you reach inside of that uterus with a clamp and tear that baby apart, that human being. It's very hard to even understand how people can do that.

Sure, when you put it like that, when you peddle the notion that you’re reaching inside a woman’s uterus with a clamp and tearing apart a 6-year-old on her way to church, yeah, it would be — but that’s not what’s happening.

From KFF

Medication abortion, also known as medical abortion or abortion with pills, is a pregnancy termination protocol that involves taking two different drugs, Mifepristone and misoprostol, that can be safely used up to the first 70 days (10 weeks) of pregnancy according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA).  The World Health Organization has authorized use up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Since the FDA first approved the drug in 2000, its use in the United States has quickly grown. In 2023, 63% of abortions in the US were medication abortions.

TAPPER: But on the policy of it, do you think Donald Trump's wrong for not supporting national legislation?

CARSON: I think I agree completely with his ideal of shifting it to the states.

Arizona, you wanted to say something?

And the reason that it should be shifted to the states is because the discussions can take place between the legislators and the people. That's where it's supposed to be. That's where it should have been in the first place.

He and Donald Trump want to leave it to the states as long as the states don’t permit abortion. And if I’m wrong, let me know the next time you see either of them in California and New York telling legislators who passed legislation providing easy access to reproductive services, “You be you.”

TAPPER: We are now less than two months away from the Republican Convention, where President Trump will need to choose a running mate. Would you want to be willing to debate Vice President Harris?

CARSON: I would certainly be willing to discuss policies, the differences. We have a unique situation, where you have juxtaposed two different administrations with different philosophies. And people can see, how did one feel versus how did the other feel? And I would love to debate with her or with anyone about that?

TAPPER: Have you talked with President Trump about the V.P. position at all?

CARSON: I have not.

Oh, you really should. Trump is all about reason, a calm exchange of ideas, and a sophisticated examination of competing philosophies. He’s a big reader, too. Remember the last time he read one of your books?

From NBC News:

"He wrote a book and in the book, he said terrible things about himself," Trump said of Carson. "He said that he’s pathological and he’s got basically pathological disease ... I don't want a person that’s got pathological disease."

Of course Trump doesn’t want a person like that on the ticket. It would be redundant and he’s too competitive.

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Nothing to see here, folks, move along…

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