Two Mike Dukakis Moments In One Day

No sooner did I post on Joe vs Donald as a comic book superhero conflict yesterday than Joe himself came out as the deliberate, conniving, and devious supervillain himself in the notorious clip that's been all over the weh this morning.

“Can you tell us, sir — Donald Trump refers himself as a political prisoner and blames you directly. What’s your response to that, sir?” a reporter asked Biden after the 81-year-old concluded his remarks on Friday in which he defended the conviction of Trump.

The reporter asked the question as Biden began to walk away after concluding his address. But after the question was posed, Biden stopped in his tracks, looked over to the reporters, and grinned, flashing his teeth.

“Do you think the conviction will have an impact on the campaign?” the reporter pressed as Biden continued to smile. He then slowly walked away without replying, seemingly with his mouth still open.

The Trump campaign promptly turned it into an ad:

Trump campaign already out with an ad on Biden’s Creepy Smirk

🔥🔥🔥

pic.twitter.com/pmjK94JokJ

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 31, 2024

But if that weren't enough, RedStaste had this headline: Joe Biden Has Awkward Mike Dukakis Moment During Trainwreck of a Meeting With the Kansas City Chiefs. He tried to put the team helmet on and failed:

The #Chiefs presented Joe Biden with his own helmet, which the players wanted him to try on.

Biden initially tried to put it on while wearing his sunglasses, but then took them off and successfully got the helmet on his head.pic.twitter.com/DQ8WNAYdwn

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 31, 2024

He wants to appropriate the vibe of a winner, but he can't help losing. But I think the smirking visual in the wake of the New York hush money verdict is by far the more important. In August of 2021, I'd begun to get Joe's number when I referred to "Biden's view of himself as a skilled Machiavellian manipulator, operating in a behind-the-scenes dimension of Realpolitik beyond conventional expectations."

When the reporter asks what his reaction is to Trump's allegation that he's behind it, he essentially takes a bow and says, "Yup, that was me. Deal with it!" The problem is, of course, that he's just given Trump priceless campaign fodder. But it goes farther than that -- Trump knows he's got a winning formula, and he's going to keep working it:

Donald Trump discussed two witnesses in the criminal case against him Friday while complaining about his conviction, comments that could violate the judge's gag order against him.

. . . Trump mentioned Robert Costello, a witness who testified on Trump’s behalf, by name during his remarks at Trump Tower, and also went on at length about his former attorney Michael Cohen, a key witness whose name he did not use but was clearly the person he was referring to.

“This was a highly qualified lawyer. Now I’m not allowed to use his name because of the gag order, but you know he’s a sleazebag. Everybody knows that. Took me a while to find out,” Trump said, also pushing back on Cohen's description of himself as a "fixer."

What he's angling for, of course, is another angry outburst from Judge Merchan, including more threats to put him in jail for violating the gag order -- and this after Biden with his smug grin has just implicitly acknowledged he was behind the whole thing. All this will do is continue to unify more Republicans behind Trump's candidacy, including, as of yesterday, Senators McConnell and Collins, and continue to prompt record donations to his campaign.

Brer Rabbit always got enough lip for anybody and everybody. He even told God once what He'd done wrong on the third day of Creation. This time, though Brer Rabbit talked mighty humble. "Well, Brer Fox. No doubt about it. You got me and no point in my saying that I would improve my ways if you spared me."

"No point at all," Brer Fox agreed as he started gathering kindling for the fire.

"I guess I'm going to be barbecue this day." Brer Rabbit sighed. "But getting barbecued is a whole lot better than getting thrown in the briar patch." He sighed again. "No doubt about it. Getting barbecued is almost a blessing compared to being thrown in that briar patch on the other side of the road. If you got to go, go in a barbecue sauce. That's what I always say. How much lemon juice and brown sugar you put in yours?"

Gutfeld noted in his monologue last night that Trump had told Joe to "buckle up" -- but Gutfeld said there's only thing Joe buckles up for these days, and he ran a picture of a handicapped toilet.

If the US president is the butt of handicapped toilet jokes on late-night, I get the feeling something's changed. We're maybe even out of Dukakis-on-the-tank-territory and into Jimmy-Carter-and-the-killer-rabbit, but I don't think it's going to stop there.