Trump's Re-election Strategy: Investigate and Smear Joe Biden

Part of the president's re-election strategy has become clear. The Washington Post writes: “A day after threatening to withhold his vote, Sen. Mitt Romney signaled Friday that he will support a Republican effort to obtain documents and testimony relating to work done in Ukraine by the son of former vice president Joe Biden.

Romney (R-Utah) will vote for issuing a subpoena in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee next week after receiving assurances from the panel’s chairman, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ‘that any interview of the witness would occur in a closed setting without a hearing or public spectacle,’ Romney spokeswoman Liz Johnson said in a statement.

Romney joined Democrats last month in voting to convict President Trump of abuse of power based on his dealings with Ukraine; the president was acquitted on the impeachment counts. On Thursday, Romney said Sen. Johnson’s probe had the appearance of being politically motivated to target Trump’s potential general-election rival. ‘I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, nonpolitical body,’ he said.

The subpoena vote, set for Wednesday, comes as Trump and his Republican allies refocus their attention[1] on Biden’s connections to Ukraine after his sudden surge in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Trump said in a Fox News Channel interview Wednesday that he planned to make those connections a “major issue” in the presidential race should Biden win the nomination. ‘I will bring that up all the time,” he told host Sean Hannity.’”

So, the key points here are, (1) the president is going to make this into a major campaign issue, and (2) this effort is politically motivated by the rise of Biden’s wins in democratic primaries. Romney was right to say that the Trump Party had the appearance of being politically motivated. It definitely is politically motivated. Corruption isn’t the Trump Party’s concern. Winning the 2020 election is.

If Biden fumbles this issue, and he very well might, it will be all his fault. He has been fully warned well in advance. Since he chose to run for office, he is deeply morally obligated to not screw this up.

Fabricated evidence

In view of the obvious partisan basis for the investigation, the biggest concern is that the Trump Party or the Department of Justice will fabricate evidence to smear Biden with and take whatever political fallout that illegality might engender. One thing that is clear, as long as William Barr is Attorney General, any illegalities by the Trump Party in connection with supporting the president will not be investigated. There is no chance whatever of that happening. In that regard, the president will protect whatever sleaze Trump Party senators choose to engage in.


Footnote:
1. In another recent WaPo article, the president's intent to attack Biden as a corrupt politician was made clear: “President Trump and his Republican allies are rapidly shifting their focus to former vice president Joe Biden’s son Hunter, reviving attacks that led to Trump’s impeachment, in an effort to broadly define as corrupt the potential Democratic presidential nominee.

As Biden surged this week in the Democratic nominating contest — and with exit polls from Super Tuesday’s primaries showing he has captured at least some of the white working-class voters that propelled Trump’s 2016 victory — the president vowed to make Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine a “major issue” in the general election, should Joe Biden win the nomination.”