Trump’s bravery shines through as Democrat strategist’s reprehensible response draws criticism
Conservative: Trump’s Courage Stands Out
“The United States can’t be led by a coward or by someone who looks like one under fire,” argues The American Conservative’s Daniel McCarthy, so Donald Trump’s raised firt bare minutes after getting shot was “what a leader had to do in that situation”: “Morale is a nation’s blood. Trump refused to let the assassin shed it, even as his own wounds bled.” RFK Jr. rapidly “called for peace and prayer for Trump,” and Bernie Sanders soon did much the same. “The exception to this rapid response was President Biden, who put out an anodyne comment at 7:58 p.m. He then gave a press conference in which he declined to say whether this was an attempted assassination.” That is: “At a time when the country needed reassurance from figures of authority,” Biden “was conspicuous only by his absence. He might as well have been off reading My Pet Goat.”
Reporter: Dem Strategist’s Vile Reaction
“The top political adviser to Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman suggested that the attack on Donald Trump could have been ‘staged,’ ” reports Semafor’s Kadia Goba. Hoffman last week publicly wished he had made Trump “an actual martyr,” Goba notes; then Saturday night adviser Dmitri Mehlhorn, in an email he now regrets, said “one possibility — which feels horrific and alien and absurd in America, but is quite common globally — is that this ‘shooting’ was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash.” He admitted it could be “some crazy anti-Trumper,” but wrote that the false-flag op “is a classic Putin play and given the facts seems more plausible.
From the right: Joe’s Age Isn’t Dems’ Big Problem
If Democrats think Joe Biden’s decline is their only or even biggest problem, they’re “as confused” as he is, snarks The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel. They’re avoiding “any discussion of the root problem” — that their “sharp move to the left” is “deeply unpopular with the electorate.” Even the contenders to replace Biden are “unrepentant progressives, promising to double down” on Dems’ far-left agenda. “Biden’s age is a problem,” but “not the cause of striking demographic shifts — under way for years — that show the working class, including minority voters, fleeing the party. Progressive policies will be on the ballot this fall as much as any one person’s name.” If Dems care about their future, they’d be “having that debate.”
Eye on Albany: NY Health-Care Pay-to-Play
New York health-care capital grants have “been used to build new facilities and renovate old ones,” but some “have been used not for anything new, but for paying off old loans,” grumbles the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. E.g., the Health Department allocated “$25 million in grants to finance a pair of medical office buildings being developed by Crystal Run Healthcare, a company tied to $400,000 in contributions to [Andrew] Cuomo’s campaign.” Yet “the buildings were already under construction before the grants were awarded.” Two more grants went to groups tied to “Somos Community Care, whose leaders have made millions in campaign contributions” to Cuomo and Gov. Hochul.
Liberal: Biden Just Doesn’t Get It
“Never underestimate the destructive power of a stubborn old narcissist with something to prove,” snarks Mark Leibovich at The Atlantic. “President Joe Biden, 81, is acting like one of history’s most negligent and pigheaded leaders at a crucial moment, and right now, we are all pedestrians.” “The spectacle has been endlessly depressing, unless you’re Donald Trump or want him back in the White House — in which case you’re relishing this slowly unfolding, self-owning, party-destroying wreck.” The “Republican National Convention is shaping up to be a week-long Mardi Gras of MAGA in Milwaukee.” “Clearly the White House has no serious answer for people’s widespread and legitimate doubts about the president’s capacity to serve, let alone for another four-year term.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
