Bobby Jindal: President Biden Would Be Radical, with Media Enablers Braking on Corona-Panic

August 8th, 2020 5:01 PM

Former Gov. Bobby Jindal, one of Donald Trump’s rivals in the 2016 presidential campaign, wrote a piece for Friday’s Wall Street Journal on “The Biden Bait-and-Switch.” He says Biden is running on normalcy and nostalgia, but he’s quietly promising the Bernie Bros to enact radical policies once elected.

What made it interesting is how Jindal emphasizes the role of the media in setting the table of our national conversation. Everything that’s a horrible headache now will suddenly vanish into an oasis of calm once that Orange Obstacle to the Left is removed:

Voters weary of lurching from one sensational crisis to the next are promised a respite. The international condemnation, Twitter tirades and polarization can be swept away simply by voting for inoffensive, bland Mr. Biden.

Media coverage of the nation’s standing would change dramatically after a Biden victory, even if the reality does not. Mr. Biden promises increased federal coronavirus spending, but as president he couldn’t override governors’ authority to restrict economic activity, and he doesn’t propose to alter Mr. Trump’s program to accelerate vaccine and treatment development. With Mr. Trump embracing masks and trillions in federal spending, and high case totals in blue California and red Florida alike, a Biden victory wouldn’t change the epidemic’s trajectory.

Yet, as the media hailed Gov. Andrew Cuomo despite his disastrous policy of transferring coronavirus patients into nursing homes and New York’s record high deaths, Mr. Biden’s election would also miraculously transform the virus from an existential threat into a manageable hindrance.

Mr. Biden, liberal activists and the media are holding the country hostage, threatening voters with exhausting crises, refusing to reopen schools and the economy, and filling the streets with violent protests. Normalcy, they claim, is only a vote away. Given Mr. Biden’s affable personality and lack of a radical record, it is tempting to hope he would bring temperance to the White House and allow the country to exhale and heal.

Jindal says that’s a false picture: “Rather than making the traditional move to the center after he secured the nomination, Mr. Biden has continued to move left. He seems more worried about persuading Mr. Sanders’s supporters to turn out than convincing Mr. Trump’s voters to consider a moderate alternative.”

But he’s right on about how we should expect the media to find the pandemic is much less sensational once the Democrats are in charge. “Science” would be in charge. No coronavirus death under Democrats would be blamed on the Democrats. No reporter would rudely stand up in the Rose Garden and suggest Biden killed tens of thousands of people through his incompetence. The “news” would change into promoting whatever dramatic changes the Democrats choose to impose first.

Jindal concluded: “The media portrays Uncle Joe as a familiar face, reliable statesman, and known quantity in contrast with the volatile Mr. Trump. In reality, he promises to be the most liberal president in history. Voters seeking a return to normalcy would get a radical new future instead.”