tHis stadium announcer called on the audience to give him a warm welcome to “a very special guest.” Cheers erupted as basketball fans realized Barack Obama was in their midst. The former US president rose to his feet and smiled and waved before watching the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
It was a normal, jarring scene at a very unusual time. The night before, Donald Trump had delivered the longest presidential speech to Congress to Congress, a dark, divisive tilade plagued by lies and insults.
But Biden didn’t respond and Obama remained silent. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were muted as well. Six weeks after Trump’s second term, which shattered democratic norms and destroyed diplomatic alliances, it remains unclear what will encourage the former president to talk about.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Political Center, said: “Let’s just look at Clinton and Obama.
“I called them Pontius and Pilate,” he said. “When you challenge Trump, he chases you and never lets you down, so you can understand why. It’s hell every day many times.”
The first six weeks of Trump’s first six waves have shook millions of Americans. He slapped the January 6th rebels, punished journalists, tariffs, imposed the Russian side of Ukraine, expanded the president’s power, unleashed high-tech billionaire Elon Musk, and cut the federal government. Critics say it’s time to break the glass.
Having struggled to find a coherent strategy, Democrats used delayed tactics to stall Trump’s cabinet candidates and thwart speeches to Congress. Grassroots activists expressed their anger and fear at City Hall, demanding more direct action. In particular, former government officials are also making public with concern.
Last month, a group of five former Treasury secretaries wrote a joint New York Times essay to warn that the country’s payment system was under attack by political actors from Musk’s “Government Efficiency Department” or Doge.
Five former defense secretaries then signed a joint letter calling on Congress to hold an immediate public hearing.
But the President’s Club has its own etiquette. The five men have recently met twice. They first met at Washington National Cathedral for Jimmy Carter’s state funeral. Obama and Trump even saw them chatting and sharing jokes. They were then reunited at Trump’s inauguration. There, Biden is forced to listen to his president, known as “a horrifying betrayal.”
Since then, all former presidents have resisted the temptation to make serious interventions. Sabato believes one factor is recognizing that Trump and his in vituperative supporters will certainly fight back, including families such as former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton who opposed Trump in the 2016 election.
“Bill Clinton is nearly 80 years old and he has been hit with many attacks throughout his life,” Sabato said. “I don’t know if he wants that anymore, but there’s Hillary. He has to realize that Trump will also chase her. I believe Obama, the more I think about it, the more friendly chat I have at Jimmy Carter’s funeral was part of Obama’s plan.
Understood. But I think they have an obligation to do more
Larry Sabbat
He added: “That’s annoying. Trump unleashed this army of assholes and we all experienced them on Twitter and other ways. Okay. But I think they have an obligation to do more.”
Certainly, the former president’s feed on X social media platforms does not convey a sense of nation in crisis. Bill Clinton pays homage to the politicians who have passed away in recent weeks, but Hillary Clinton “don’t want to hurt Putin’s feelings” by responding sarcastically to the halt of offensive cyber operations against Russia, for example.
Bush does not have an X account, but his Texas-based presidential center published an article this week with the headline “American first Russia should not be second,” accusing Trump and Vice President JD Vance of attacking Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Obama’s X account, with over 130 million followers, posted a New York Times article by former USAID administrator Samantha Power, denounced Trump’s cuts to international development agencies. However, it offered congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles on their Super Bowl victory and their Valentine’s Day message to his wife Michelle.
Beyond signing with Los Angeles talent agency, Biden has maintained something under-represented since taking off from Washington on January 20th. His X-feed includes a celebration to new Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, the release of Hamas Hostages, a Valentine’s message to his wife Jill, a reflection on Black History Month, a photo of his beloved Amtrak train service, and a homage to the late Congressman Sylvester Turner.
It’s not hard to imagine how Biden bullyed and blamed Zelensky last week, just as Trump bullied and blamed Zelensky and threatened to tear the 80-year-old Trans-Atlantic Alliance that Biden worked to renew. However, he did not provide a public response.
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Author and former Obama speechwriter David Litt said: At this point, the protocol is pretty clearly out the window at this point, including spending a significant portion of his speech on Congress beating Joe Biden. It’s not just done, but it’s done now.
You want to carefully choose the moment because it gets the biggest impact moment
David Litt
“It’s true, Trump wasn’t shy about criticizing the current administration when he was former president. I think he would do that if he could physically tweet what he thinks about the people he still holds.”
With the death of George H.W. Bush in 2018, his son George W. Bush raised the question that Bush could join Clinton, Obama and Biden as the only living Republican president away from Trump himself.
Litt added: Trump is going even further by selling out our allies and building a new alliance with Putin and Russia for me. It sounds like something like a bipartisan group of former presidents might cross the line that might say this is not right. ”
There has traditionally been resistance among presidents to criticize their successors, especially during the opening honeymoon period. However, history has exceptions to rules.
Theodore Roosevelt denounced William Taft in a series of speeches despite Roosevelt’s promotion to Taft as his successor in 1909. Carter sent arms to Iran in hopes of the release of the Americans who took Ronald Reagan, who defeated him in 1980, in the hopes of the release of the prisoners of Lebanon.
In a 2007 interview, Clinton unearthed his successor, George W. Bush, because he failed to achieve democratic progress in Iraq. Bush reportedly said Obama’s decision to lift sanctions against Iran in 2015 was a mistake.
The Democrats’ answer is not backwards. It’s not the past. It must look positive somewhere
Kurt Bardera
During a conversation with former members of his administration, President Obama denounced the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as a “absolutely chaotic disaster.” He also warned that “the rule of law is at risk” under the 45th President.
But none of his four years of Democrats at the White House compared to Trump’s constant, vicious attacks on Biden. Trump chuckled his successor as “a bent Joe” and “a sleepy Joe”, claiming he “did more damage than the last 10 worst presidents combined.”
It is doubtful whether the fire return from Biden, who took office in the 30s with a confirmed rating and could potentially be accused of hurting the loser, will benefit his party at this moment. Democrat strategist Kurt Bardera said: “The Democrats’ answer is not backwards. It’s not the past. It has to look somewhere ahead and that’s what they have to grasp here.”
Bardera said of the former president: “If I were them, I’d come behind someone now and say this is the guy I believe in. There’s no crap time. Join the game or never talk again. If you have nothing to say now, I don’t want to hear from you again while this is moving ahead in front of our eyes.”
