This is how Joe Biden can beat Donald Trump like a drum

Biden loves America. Trump hates his country. There it is.

Photo illustration: Salon/Getty Images

Compare and contrast.  That’s what a political campaign is for; candidates present their vision of where they will take the country, and why you should elect them to do it versus what the other candidate wants to do.

So far, Joe Biden has been running as the candidate who doesn’t lie and tells the truth, who will protect our democracy, and do the things that good Democrats always say they will do – provide health care, protect Social Security and Medicare, support the troops and take care of the vets, and work on the economy so there is equal opportunity for all.

But he’s running against the Donald Trump of 2024, not 2020, or even the soft-focus fascist of 2016.  Accusing Trump of lying every time he opens his mouth is stating the obvious, as is accusing him of extremism and racism and all the other terrible isms, including the modern-day fascism of MAGA Republicans.

Listen to what Trump told the 51 million people who listened to or watched the debate last Thursday: “We’re a failing nation right now. We’re a seriously failing nation.  What’s taken place in our country, we’re literally an uncivilized country now.”

Compare that to what Joe Biden told his fellow citizens.  He did so in a halting, hoarse voice, but his words ring out in a patriotic call to arms and love of country:

“We are the most admired country in the world. We’re the United States of America. There’s nothing beyond our capacity. We have the finest military in the history of the world. The finest in the history of the world. No one thinks we’re weak. No one wants to screw around with us. Nobody.  The idea that somehow we are this failing country, I never heard a president talk like this before. We – we’re the envy of the world.

This is an excerpt from my weekly Salon column. To read the rest, go here:

Loving vs. hating America.