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BIDEN, TRUMP and SPEECH
For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." (II Corinthians 10:10; 11:6) Anonymous (Investigator 218, 2024 September)
Biden and Trump
When I heard that President Biden and former president Donald Trump would debate on national television I cringed — concluding Biden would lose and ruin his re-election chances. This conclusion was not based on any high regard for Trump. The Bible from start to finish condemns liars and deceivers, and a Wikipedia report, found by searching with Google on "trump liar", starts off: During
and after his term as President of the United States, Donald Trump made
tens of thousands of false or misleading claims. The Washington Post's
fact-checkers documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his
presidential term, an average of about 21 per day. The Toronto Star
tallied 5,276 false claims from January 2017 to June 2019, an average
of 6 per day. Commentators and fact-checkers have described the scale
of Trump's mendacity as "unprecedented" in American politics, and the
consistency of falsehoods a distinctive part of his business and
political identities. Scholarly analysis of Trump's tweets found
"significant evidence" of an intent to deceive.
Speech and Competence
Someone who stutters, or used to but has it under control — which seems the case with Biden — should not debate publicly against a much better, fluent speaker because the better speaker usually wins. The obvious example of a perpetual winner is Adolf Hitler. He spoke fluently, vigorously and could shout anyone down, and in that sense never lost. But in things that mattered he was nearly always wrong and his wrongness brought Germany to the edge of destruction, ruined much of Europe, and killed about 40 million Europeans. A former stutterer who seems to speak normally probably diverts a lot of attention and concentration to the mechanics of speech. He may consciously need to control the pace of delivery, consciously attend to raising the soft plate, consciously move mouth and tongue to pronounce some words correctly, consciously remember diaphragmatic breathing, etc. In everyday-type interaction and conversation the person's attention to these details of speaking may not be obvious. But in a spoken debate he also has to listen to his opponent's arguments and understand them and formulate his replies. His attention to the mechanics of speaking can then be a distraction, a handicap. Consciously needing to attend to too much else besides the content of the debate can, like multi-tasking, lead to confusion and deterioration in performance. However, inferiority in speech and spoken debate does not make a person incapable of formulating sound policies or ruling a nation. He could still, despite the disability, potentially be the world's most capable man for the job. Please send someone else
Consider Moses appointed, according to the Bible, by God to lead Israel and change the world for the better. (Deuteronomy 28:1; 4:5-8; 18:15-18; Exodus 19:5-6) : 10But Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent,
neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant;
but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.
11Then the LORD said to him, "Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak." 13But he said, "O my Lord, please send someone else." 14Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, "What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. 16He indeed shall speak for you to the people; and shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. (Exodus 4:10-16) For almost 40 years Aaron spoke for Moses on official occasions. Whenever we read "Moses said..." and it was a public speech the speaker usually was Aaron. After Aaron died (Numbers 20:22-29) Joshua may have replaced him as spokesman. (Deuteronomy 32:44) Apostle Paul also, as quoted above by the main heading, was not outstanding as a speaker. Yet the Gospel, which Paul preached, was prophesied to go to all nations. With the New Testament now in 2000 languages and preached in millions of venues the Gospel could be the most repeated message in human history! (Revelation 14:6-7) 45 Presidents Ranked
Following the debate, commentators exposed Trump's factual errors. Judged on presentation and delivery Trump won; judged on accuracy Biden won. Dubious statements, however, have continued to proliferate: The
ten worst presidents added up have not done the damage Biden has
done... He's the worst president in the history of our country.
(Trump)
America's presidents, now numbering 45, regularly get ranked on performance by historians and polls: Scholars
for over 40 years have been incredibly consistent in naming the top and
most of the bottom presidents ... the top five — FDR, Abe, Washington,
Teddy and Jefferson — remain carved in granite... (U.S. News Staff
2024)
Is Biden the worst? No. A ranking in 2022 put Biden 19th, Trump 43rd. (Fieldstadt 2022) Trump himself is almost the worst, but honest appraisal is not his thing! New Contest
Biden is out; the new presidential contest is Kamala Harris versus Trump. And it's entertaining: "Every time Kamala Harris opens her mouth, she sounds like an idiot." (Trump)
"Angry, ranting and full of lies." (A news headline) "The first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions." (Hilary Clinton regarding Trump) "Harris should go to hell." (J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate) Trump 'scared to death' to debate... Harris campaign trolls Trump by playing chicken sounds... (News headlines) Clinton's statement had the crowd chanting, "Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up." But I've digressed. My main point is that the Bible is correct in teaching that the better speaker is not necessarily the better person or better for the job. References:
Fieldstadt, E. Presidents ranked from worst to best https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/presidents-ranked-worst-best/ U.S. News Staff https://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/the-worst-presidents/articles/how-historians-rate-presidents https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/trump-holds-seemingly-pointless-press-conference-filled-with-false-claims/ |