Debate one of the 2020 presidential candidates

(Jerry Jones is CIA retired, native of Sparta)

Posted

 Let me begin by noting that this is not my normal opinion article.  My wife and I have been out of town for several days in connection with a tragedy involving a member of her family.  As a result, I have not had time to prepare my weekly “opinion” article, which I enjoy sharing with each of you.  But I will not disappoint the Sparta Expositor or you.

We did arrive home in time for me to watch the first of three scheduled 2020 debates between Socialist Democrat nominee Joe Biden and the incumbent Republican candidate, President Donald John Trump.  I am not a big fan of these obligatory political debates as there is always a great deal of accusatory comments, verbal interruptions, and the candidates, along with the moderator, talk in raised voices at the same time.  This first debate fit that mold.  I didn’t learn anything that I didn’t already know.    

Nothing was said in the actual 96 minutes of the debate to change my mind about either candidate.  Trump remains my runaway choice.  President Trump did very well, especially on law and order issues, his accomplishments, and the economy.  Joe Biden could not name a single police department or law enforcement agency who supported his candidacy.  Although, in his rare public appearances over the past several months Biden has clearly demonstrated that he is dealing with the onset of senility, he did better than I anticipated in the debate.  Given the importance of the televised debate, I suspect he was medicated at a time and level to get him through the debate.  Nonetheless, some of his quoted statistics were far from accurate.

Biden was asked whether he had called the mayors of Portland and some of the other riot-ravaged cites and encouraged them to put an end to the violence - and, if not, why not.  He did not provide a direct answer to either question.  He also had no comment on the violence in Chicago throughout the eight years of the Obama-Biden administration.

Biden repeatedly tried to make the COVID-19 pandemic a campaign issue.  He claimed the president did not act soon enough and tried to hide the claimed fact that COVID-19 was in the U.S. for months before he told the American people.  All the established facts show Biden’s comments on this claim were not true.  This is the same Joe Biden who criticized the president, in January 2020, when he (the president) stopped all travel from China into the U.S. and, in doing so, saved thousands of American lives.  In fact, Biden criticized the president at the time for stopping all travel from China, which in itself discredits Biden’s claim the virus was in the U.S. for months before President Trump informed the rest of us.

Do you think that if Joe Biden had been president when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the U.S. that he would have done a better job than President Trump?  I will answer that question for you.  No!  And, I thank God that Donald Trump was president when the pandemic hit.  Donald Trump was just like the rest of us.  None of us had ever heard of COVID-19, so this was a learn-as-you-go exercise for all of us.  And, that includes President Trump.  Fortunately, he is action-oriented, decisive, and a fast learner.  He did not panic nor linger.  He gathered his cabinet and pulled together a first-rate medical team made up of experts.  He isolated the country from foreign threats and went on the attack.  He and his team attacked this problem in record time.  Were some mistakes made?  Of course.  Like I said, this was and remains a learn-as- you-go ordeal, and we are winning, thanks to President Trump’s leadership.

Former President Teddy Roosevelt famously said, “When you find yourself  under attack, do what you can, where you are at, with what you have.”  That is exactly what President Trump did, and I don’t believe anyone else could have done any better.  The Socialist Democrats’ decision to try to make COVID-19 a campaign issue will not work.           

The issue of universal ballots and vote harvesting came up near the end of the debate.  Of course, Joe Biden supports them and claims there have been few, if any, problems to date.  That is not true.  I saw an undercover video on Fox News taken by an independent group called Project Veritas that shows an operative for the Socialist Democrats harvesting votes; i.e. paying elderly and other uninformed individuals for their votes; i.e. instructing them how to fill out the ballots and who to vote for.  In some instances, these people were filling out and signing numerous ballots.  Once the ballots are filled out and signed, the elderly and other uninformed individuals receive a cash payment.  In New York City, over 100,000 misdirected and flawed universal ballots have already surfaced.  President Trump took a strong stance against the universal ballots and vote harvesting.  He made it clear that he would not yield to fraudulent ballots.

That subject of ballots brought the first presidential debate of 2020 to an end.  And, with that said, I remind you that the forgoing is my opinion.   

But, before I close, I want to pause at this point to make note of the recent passing of William (Bill) Marvin Johnson, on Sept. 13th.  The citizens of the city of Sparta, White County, and the state of Tennessee have lost a very fine man.  He set a high standard as a son, husband, father, grandfather, friend, businessman, and as an All-American athlete.  He set an even higher standard as a Christian.  He maintained those standards throughout his life.  I had the pleasure and distinct honor of having known Bill Johnson and calling him a friend.  And, although Bill is grievously missed by his family, friends, and associates, they can find comfort in the belief that even heaven is enhanced by his presence.  I pray that God will give us more men like Bill Johnson.  God Bless America!                            

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