On Monday night’s Late Show, host Stephen Colbert and 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson hoped that Joe Biden’s “honesty” would turn America away from the “demagoguery” and “barbarism” of President Trump. They both seemed to forget how Biden’s first presidential campaign self-destructed in the midst of a plagiarism scandal.
“Donald Trump has proven that, unlike our conception of ourselves and our government, demagoguery is actually a useful tool for the president, at least for the goals that Donald Trump has, which is power through division,” Colbert fretted to Dickerson. The liberal comedian then wondered: “Do you think that decorum will return, I guess, is my answer, as the standard, when we’ve seen proof that barbarism works as well?”
Dickerson, who was on to promote his new book about the American presidency, The Hardest Job in the World, gushed that Colbert’s comments synced perfectly with the campaign messaging of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee:
It’s basically Joe Biden’s pitch. Which is, if we think of elections as responses to the previous president, then one of the arguments that Biden is making is return the country to values and character and things that were – and honesty, which are at the – if you think of the two pillars of the presidency, you think about honesty – you know, honest Abe, one of the greatest presidents – and character. And I think that’s essentially the Biden campaign’s pitch, which is, essentially, going back to those basic values that were at the center of the office and the comfort of not having to be in a state of jitteriness.
During his first run for the presidency in 1987, then-Senator Biden was actually hammered by the liberal media for plagiarizing multiple campaign speeches, plagiarizing a paper in Law School, and even lying about his academic record.
Perhaps “honesty” is not the best theme of Biden’s presidential run.
Appearing on Monday’s CBS This Morning, Dickerson commiserated with co-host Tony Dokoupil about “divisive” Trump trying to “hold back” progress.
Here is a transcript of Dickerson’s June 15 exchange with Colbert:
12:18 AM ET
(...)
STEPHEN COLBERT: As presidents rarely give back powers, do you think presidents will take certain aspects out of their toolkit? For instance, Donald Trump has proven that, unlike our conception of ourselves and our government, demagoguery is actually a useful tool for the president, at least for the goals that Donald Trump has, which is power through division. Do you think that decorum will return, I guess, is my answer, as the standard, when we’ve seen proof that barbarism works as well?
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, that will be one of the – you asked about questions of this election, that will be one of them. It’s basically Joe Biden’s pitch. Which is, if we think of elections as responses to the previous president, then one of the arguments that Biden is making is return the country to values and character and things that were – and honesty, which are at the – if you think of the two pillars of the presidency, you think about honesty – you know, honest Abe, one of the greatest presidents – and character. And I think that’s essentially the Biden campaign’s pitch, which is, essentially, going back to those basic values that were at the center of the office and the comfort of not having to be in a state of jitteriness.
The presidency is usually a calming job, that certainly was it’s original conception, which is when the country is agitated, the President calms things. President Trump has seen advantage in keeping things jittery, keeping things akilter.
(...)
