The Disingenuous Unsupportable Didactic…of Summer
Oh, joy! Silly season is in full bloom. Today, on the day after the Memorial Day holiday, Americans return from their bio-safe cloisters to venture out into the sketchy, questionable, specious arguments made by the Dud Swallow.
The Dud Swallow is special bird in campaign season. The preening male is fond of making inane arguments and smearing the target of his choice with a Disingenuous, Unsupportable, Didactic. It’s a dud. A Dud Swallow was spotted on the pages of Bindlesnitch today. His target was Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. Last week, this bad argument spotter pointed out a Dud Swallow in the pages of the Washington Post, with a comparison of Sarah Palin and Stacy Abrams. That particular Dud Swallow, also a male, had suggested that Stacy Abrams was the Democratic Party’s Sarah Palin.
Already, you may have noticed how one spots a Dud Swallow in nature. Dud Swallows are fond of imitation. This is not for the sake of parody, though. This little mocking bird is bent on derision and smear. (Not to be confused with the Mockingbird, which is known for its intelligence and courage).
Today’s Dud Swallow citing involves the comparison of Joe Biden to Donald Trump. Specifically it said, Joe Biden is the Donald Trump of the Democratic Party. This is another amusing thing about the Dud Swallow. Even in its comparisons, it diminishes itself. Set aside the accuracy of the elements of the comparison by the Dud Swallow. Take the overall affect. Donald Trump, by most accounts, would be regarded as the nadir of the Republican Party. Forget how Democrats feel about him, but instead consider how Republicans feel about him. Trump doesn’t control the GOP through respect and admiration. He rules by fear and intimidation. Just over five months from Election Day, and Trump has never delivered a speech or a phrase or notion that contributes to America’s reputation. While Ronald Reagan implored Gorbachev to “tear down that wall…”, whether he deserves credit for that or not, history has received that well. Conversely, Donald Trump’s ode to a wall, “build that wall”, has not made himself, or the United States any more respected around the world, and arguably much less. The Dud Swallow wont likely admit it, but you don’t have to love Reagan, or hate Trump, to recognize that Trump does not come off favorably in that comparison.
And here is the thing. When the Dud Swallow compares Biden to Trump, he inadvertently elevates the Democratic Party. The poor Dud Swallow hears the call of another Dud Swallow, in this case, Marc Thiessen, and then starts to warble his plagiarized nonsense version, this time about Joe Biden. Consider Donald Trump, and how he compares to most Republicans currently. Almost all of them would be preferable to hold a position of power…compared to Donald Trump. Keep in mind, for the Dud Swallow’s formula to be understood, you must make a like to like comparison. (This is the sort of thing that the Dud Swallow does not understand). Can you find another Republican with Donald Trump’s long list of failures and character flaws? Doubtful. Now, take Joe Biden, and place him at the bottom of the Democratic barrel, as the Dud Swallow would have you do. Does that like to like comparison among Democrats make an argument for Donald Trump, or Republicans? No. The poor Dud Swallow has just told you to choose ANY Democrat. He’s not the sharpest beak in the forest.
That is the structure of the Dud Swallow’s smear. All that is left are the premise points of comparison. The points are almost too ludicrous to list them. Joe Biden has been married twice. He lost his first wife tragically in a car accident, and has been married to his second wife for decades. Donald Trump is twice divorced, and was infamous for his, let’s just say, not so family friendly proclivities. Comparison of the two men is absurd. If you are not already aware of those differences, avail yourself of them on your own time.
The last part I would like to point out is the cowardly behavior of the Dud Swallow. The Dud Swallow employs a disingenuous didactic. In today’s case of the smear against Joe Biden, the Dud Swallow hoped to edify Democrats about their failure to acknowledge Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s similarities. In doing so, the Democrats have shown themselves to be hypocrites. The Dud Swallow’s unclever trick essentially trolls for disagreement, but lays out the avenue of approach for the disagreement. When the refutation does not take the avenue of approach that the Dud Swallow has laid out (the false comparison), the Dud Swallow retreats while squawking about his pursuer’s stupidity. The Dud Swallow has left a trail, and this tactic can be observed everywhere the disingenuous, unsupportable didactic appears. Pointing out the inconsistency of the Dud Swallow really ruffles its feathers, as it were.
05/26/2020 @ 2:30 pm
I wouldn’t limit this apt and clever analysis and assessment to what you characterized as “silly season”.
In my view this would work every time the ‘Dud Swallow’ spews a false equivalency…. Which occurs on a year round basis….
05/26/2020 @ 2:37 pm
Thanks, R.P. In full disclosure, I was referring to President Obama’s use of the term, referring to this time leading up to elections. But, seriously, you’re a hard man to impress, so…thanks.
05/26/2020 @ 5:23 pm
Here is just one example of why declaring Joe Biden to be like Donald Trump is particularly idiotic. The goofy comparison of the two politicians fails to be aware, and take heed of serious issues actually involved in the choice. I am including a link to a column by Max Boot, a former Republican. Boot discusses many things, but significant among the many is the fact that Trump seeks to restart a nuclear arms race. Now, one can’t be sure if an apologist for Trump’s sublime idiocy is even aware that Trump is currently involved in such a stunt, but even if you consider Trump’s ploy to be only that, as Boot points out, this is the least desirable time for a nuclear arms race, given the world’s need for a resolution to a pandemic, and the economic damage caused by it. Reasonable adults understand this. Trump and his apologists squawk about Biden suffering with “dementia.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/26/were-middle-pandemic-we-dont-need-nuclear-arms-race-too/
05/27/2020 @ 10:09 am
An arms race is probably a wag the dog thing. Trump needs distractions.
Trump is the absolute worst in the Republican Party but that comes with a twist, because Trump’s real function in many ways is to allow McConnell to act out his fantasies without being held responsible for them, which is why he protects the President – see impeachment. What ultimately made this fail – or will probably make this fail – is COVID-19. Trump has blown that too visibly.
Tangent: For those coming up with the conspiracy theory that Democrats took advantage of COVID-19 politically, followed to its logical conclusion it goes: We deliberately set up the virus because we knew the President wouldn’t be able to handle a crisis. If he’d handled it such a (phony) strategem would have blown up in our faces.
How Trump controls the Republican Party depends on where you look. He gets respect and admiration from a certain portion of the electorate. Unfortunately, that portion of the electorate currently functions like Brownshirts. See armed guys protesting in State capitals.
The false equivalency is, as you point out, ludicrous. Even if Biden lied about everything he was accused of lying about, that wouldn’t remotely put him in Trump’s league. Comparatively speaking, it wouldn’t put him in Little League compared to the Majors. In terms of favoring family politically, the worst that can legitimately be said about Biden is that his son took advantage of his last name to get a position with a Ukrainian company, which doesn’t involve a role for Joe at all. Biden has no record of nepotism in office. Are we supposed to compare this to the roles of Ivanka and Jared Kushner? The sheer imbalance of the comparison is endless, and I’ve left out the most important part: Donald Trump is personally responsible for what is probably in excess of 50,000 American deaths. And he’s not finished.
And, in spite of gaffes, comparing Trump and Biden on racism is beyond absurd. For one thing it assumes that the vast majority of the Black population of the United States is too stupid to notice Biden’s alleged racism in supporting him, as in that population’s observations don’t have the educated validity of the Dud Swallow’s. As racism goes, such a contention is, uh, problematic.
Ron,
If you’re reading this, we have the obligation to remain silent. Your comment function has been off for your last two posts.
05/27/2020 @ 10:21 am
The post and following comments have said what needs to be said.
This Dud Swallow has been here all along, flittering about, screeching until we dash outside to see what the noise is all about, to find that he has shit all over the porch and only wants you to slip and fall.
05/27/2020 @ 10:38 am
It puts a skip in my step to see you two use the term “Dud Swallow”. I dig it!