Inside the Beltway during the coronavirus pandemic

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Go ahead. Assume the position.

Some of you already know what it feels like, especially after South Carolinians crowned Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee during the coronavirus crisis. Fellow Democrat Jim Clyburn — House majority whip, hearty member of the Congressional Black Caucus chairman and native of South Carolina — pushed Mr. Biden over the threshold with his endorsement.

On Feb. 29, the same day Mr. Biden unmasked his familiar Cheshire cat grin after winning South Carolina, a 50-year-old man in Washington state became the first recorded COVID-19 death in the United States.

It’s also when liberals and Democrats inside the Capital Beltway began assuming and bolstering their “Beat Trump” position.

Having already failed to impeach President Trump, Beat Trumpers devised another strategy: Unify to counter Mr. Trump’s COVID-19 efforts, turn on the spigots labeled federal, state and local dollars, and coalesce state and local leaders to beg for tax dollars as if their lives — and the lives of their families and constituents — depended on it.

Then dump it onto the head and the lap of the president. And they did.

Like a victorious sports coach, Mr. Trump and his team managed to dry his head. His lap, however, remains stained and likely will remain so for the next few months if Congress and the White House don’t greenlight the economy, nonessential businesses are prohibited from reopening, schools and daycare centers remain closed and taxpayers discover they are broke or hungry or both.

In such cases, Mr. Trump would become the fall guy.

Still, that doesn’t mean Mr. Biden would become the knight in shining armor.

Scratch Gretchen Whitmer, the outside-the-Beltway governor of Michigan. She has pissed off Michiganders so much it’s surprising a recall isn’t underway.

Oprah Winfrey and Joy Behar don’t want to be big fishes in such a small tank.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California and New Mexico’s first Hispanic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham have a shot as women of color. The question is whether either will “get along” with a President Biden or assume the position as second fiddle?

The veepstakes are crucial in the candidates’ home states as they are inside the Beltway.

“Joe Biden needs a co-president. Not just a running mate, not just a potential vice president, but someone who will be president-in-waiting should Biden win in November — the month he turns 78,” as Jennifer Harper, The Washington Times’ Inside the Beltway columnist, quoted Spectator USA contributor Daniel McCarthy the other day.

Elected leaders don’t mind so much mind working part-time inside the Beltway, where lights, cameras and actions beckon 24/7. Living 24/7 inside the Beltway? Amid the coronavirus? Not so much, however.

That’s why Joe Biden escapes to Delaware (and since COVID-19 struck his basement bunker) every chance he gets.

Deborah Simmons can be contacted at [email protected]

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