“By an illegal. That’s right. But how many thousands of people are being killed by legals?”
And just like that, President Biden, countered Republican hecklers with a spontaneous retort during his State of the Union address on March 6th. Not only did he acknowledge the comments of those rude audience members, but he returned fire with an undeniable truth – most victims in the United States of America are murdered each year by those who are legally here. In 2023 Adams County, per the PA Uniform Crime Reporting website, ucr.pa.gov, there were four offenses categorized as Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter…and not one of them was committed by an illegal or rather, an undocumented, immigrant. In fact, most murders aren’t committed by immigrants because “…under U.S. law, even a misdemeanor domestic violence charge can be escalated to an aggravated felony when the defendant is an immigrant, which in turn can lead to automatic deportation.”(www.josephlento.com) In other words, immigrants of any kind may be deported long before their crimes lead to homicide while legal residents can remain to escalate their violence.
But Biden’s responses are not limited to snappy comebacks to scurrilous Republicans. In moments of actual crisis, President Biden responds swiftly, decisively, and powerfully.
On October 7th, 2023, shortly after receiving the briefing of Hamas’s attack on Israel, President Biden vowed to provide Israel with whatever it needed and spent the rest of the morning in constant communication with his national security team, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and CIA Director Bill Burns. He spoke with King Abdullah of Jordan and the two Congresspeople present in Israel at the time of the attack. Throughout that weekend, he delivered public remarks from the White House, repeatedly reconvened his national security team, called Netanyahu to reiterate the United States’ “rock solid” commitment to Israel, and pledged to work with Israel on “every aspect of the hostage crisis” including the sharing of intelligence and U.S. expertise.
Since that attack, President Biden has continued to address several important issues while in office. In that same speech he noted several of his administration’s accomplishments – “The pandemic no longer controls our lives…Unemployment [is] at 50 year lows…More people have health insurance today than ever before…Inflation has dropped from 9 percent to 3 percent – the lowest in the world…My policies have attracted $650 billion in private-sector investment in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, creating tens of thousands of jobs in America…and thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced all across your communities…We cut the federal deficit by $160 billion because Medicare will no longer have to pay those exorbitant prices to Big Pharma…”
Those aren’t ramblings of, say, a deranged former president and accused criminal that Donald Trump is, conducting a “revenge” (Trump’s term) political campaign. Biden’s words and actions are those of a very competent person, deftly making important and responsible decisions that affect millions of people across the globe.
When an octogenarian speaks, people listen. Considering the experience of those comprising The Silent Generation, there is much to learn, and little to mock. It was their older family members who fought against authoritarian regimes during WWII. Adams County alone has about five thousand octogenarians and older who are registered to vote. And these registered voters have often voiced their appreciation for the sacrifices of those who served in WWII and other wars to defend Democracy at home and abroad. In contrast to those respectful voters, Trump, of an inherited wealth, avoided his military draft five times, and later referred to those who served and/or died for the United States’ armed forces as “suckers” and “losers.”
Donald Trump is a septuagenarian whose gaffes outpace those of Yogi Berra and aren’t half as clever (does anyone even know what he meant by “covfefe”?) Moreover, like his 60 out of 61 lawsuits to challenge the 2020 election, Trump’s violent insurrectionists equally failed to overturn the valid election of President Biden.
Despite Trump’s penchant for authoritarian rule – he said he would be a dictator on the first day – we will suffer another presidential rematch of Biden versus Trump in November’s general election.
On one hand we have a long-married gentleman in President Biden who, in that same speech pledged, “I will protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share!” On the other hand, we have a porn-star diddler in Donald Trump who recently garbled about “cutting…entitlements,” then in a reflection of his typical instability, walked it back.
When November’s pivotal moment in history comes, will you choose the steady patriot who is President Biden and actually presides?
Or will you join the jeering minority for the would-be dictator in Trump?
The choice is yours, while we still have a Democracy.
Beth Farnham is a member of the DFA Education Task Force. She lives in Adams County with her husband, their two children, an exuberant dog, and a loud, fluffy cat.