Many thanks to the Gettysburg Connection who published this piece on July 16th, 2024. https://gettysburgconnection.org/a-plague-of-double-standards/
As the nation, including much of the press, drills down to every.single.performance. of President Biden in zealous endeavors to gauge his mental acuity, I am constantly reminded of the French fairytale, or nightmare really, “The Animals Sick of the Plague” by Jean de la Fontaine.
If you are not familiar with the story, its premise is that a group of animals who are frightened by a devastating plague, like that of the Black Death, consider who should be sacrificed in order to end it. Starting with the Lion, the “king of beasts,” they each confess their sins until they find the most culpable. Unsurprisingly, the lion’s sins are quite egregious as he admits having eaten scores of sheep, whom he recognizes as having done no wrong, and devouring some of their shepherds too. As awful as his crimes are, however, the Fox, a flatterer of the Lion, forgives him for his transgressions, even going so far as to claim that the sheep and shepherds should have been honored to have been eaten by him. And so the charade continues with each aggressive animal declaring abominable crimes and no one outwardly finding fault with any of their vicious kills, until the Donkey admits to having eaten grass from a monastery yard because once upon a time he was overcome by hunger. The animals leverage his guilt to claim him the most culpable, then sacrifice him.
Sadly today, our nation is in the throes of a plague, albeit no longer a physical one, that continues to sicken many Americans – the plague of Double Standards. A familiar problem to most women, the plague of Double Standards has always been present in our population, but now, it has spread to Democrats, both women and men. While former president Trump is a convicted felon who surrounds himself by cronies in and out of jail, immeasurable scrutiny has landed on President Joe Biden, one of the most successful presidents in U.S. history, because, one time, he had a difficult debate performance.
Through the infestation of Double Standards, no one seems to truly take into account that President Biden had a cold at the time, was on cold medication, or actually presides over our country as a full-time job. Just this week, he gave an impressive speech to NATO. However, a number of Democratic members of Congress have decided that he should simply give up his campaign, while Speaker Emeritus Pelosi keeps claiming that he “should decide,” as if he hasn’t stated unequivocally that he will be the Democratic candidate for President of the United States in November’s election. Moreover, they say next-to-nothing about his opponent in Trump, a wannabe king, convicted of 34 felonies by a jury of his peers, who gish-gallops through lies, each more challenging than the next to counter in a two minute rebuttal. Meanwhile, Fox News pundits flatter convicted felon Trump on his debate performance and his handlers don’t promote his ramblings that the press only resorts to shining more light on President Biden’s imperfections.
But let us consider the other news beyond one halting debate performance from President Biden, a recovering stutterer. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist is now in jail for several months for contempt of Congress. Allen Weisselburg, Trump’s former CFO of The Trump Organization, is currently in jail for tax evasion. Peter Navarro, Trump’s Deputy Assistant, is currently in jail for contempt of Congress. Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, and Roger Stone are all cronies of Trump who served in his administration, on his campaign(s) or both, have all served time in prison having been convicted of crimes such as conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering, though Trump pardoned a few of them. Recently, Rudy Guliani, former federal prosecutor and Trump’s legal advisor was disbarred due to lying about Trump’s 2020 election loss. Of course, Trump’s charity, The Trump Foundation was shuttered under court supervision due to misuse of funds for political purposes in 2019.
The evidence-based science from our last pandemic makes it clear: if Democrats keep harshly criticizing President Biden for being 81 years old, more American People, of, by, and for whom this Democratic Republic of checks, balances, and sacredness of votes is established, will sicken and die, not only from a disease like COVID-19, but by the the newest mutation of Double Standards that Trump and his court of beasts will unleash upon us should he be re-elected to the highest office of our land.
The moral of the story is: Focus on convicted felon Trump’s crimes, his Project 2025, his January 6th insurrection, and his lies, or President Joe Biden, and hence, our Democracy, will be sacrificed.
Beth Farnham for Congress 