Bernie’s Weekly Q&A (2/16)
The Hur Report and Biden's deterioration, Matt Drudge, Lara Trump, and more!
Welcome to this week’s Premium Q&A session for paying subscribers. I appreciate you all signing up and joining me.
A quick note first
We’ve asked this before, but we will again. Can those of you submitting questions for the weekly Q&As please limit your questions to just a few sentences (three or four tops)? We receive a number of complaints from subscribers about the length of these sessions. People don’t mind long answers so much, but they don’t like having to read through long-winded questions to get to those answers. Thank you, and we appreciate your help and understanding.
Let’s get started:
Hi Bernie, The Irish Women’s Basketball team refused to shake hands with the Israeli Women’s team at a recent game in an international tournament. Obviously this is unsportsmanlike; however, is this anti-Semitic or is this an acceptable political display? — Peter S.
It’s not necessarily anti-Semitic, but it might be. I wonder if they would shake hands with the Russian team? How about China’s team? Or a bunch of other teams. Or is it only the Israeli team whose countries policies offends them? The people who run the association should set firm rules down on what’s allowed and what isn’t — and penalize any team that doesn’t abide by them.
Bernie, I have been listening to the “Finding Matt Drudge” podcast. It’s been very interesting learning about how desperate media people once were (and maybe still are) to get their pieces linked to on his website (for the web traffic), and how they went through all kinds of scientific methods to try and make it happen. They have also talked about how incredibly reclusive Drudge is these days. He’d disappeared from public view all together. I’m curious if you or John ever met him? — Alex D.
From John: Hi Alex. I’ve never met him, but Bernie has (I’m sure he’ll tell you about it below). I’ve actually been listening to that same podcast, and have also found it very interesting (though I have mixed feelings on Drudge personally). Here’s something all of you may find interesting (that Bernie himself might not even know or fully appreciate): A LOT of Bernie’s columns have been featured on the Drudge Report over the years, including pretty recently. At least one of mine was, as well (possibly more). And we’ve never pitched our columns to Matt. So, after listening to some of the podcast, and learning just how coveted that recognition is (to the point where some news organizations used to allocate a lot of time and effort to try and catch Drudge’s attention), I’m left viewing our inclusion as somewhat remarkable.
From Bernie: I met Matt Drudge at the News Cafe in Miami Beach back in 2001, when Bias was just about to come out. He had read what the publisher sent him and told me that my book would be the #1 book in the nation. I smiled but didn’t put much stock in what he said. Before he mentioned my book at the top of his website — in very big letters — Bias was ranked somewhere around 100,000,000 on Amazon (and that’s only a slight exaggeration). By the next morning Bias was #1 on Amazon — and eventually hit #1 on The New York Times bestseller list. Drudge and Rush Limbaugh had a lot to do with that. I thank them both.
So, I guess the cat is out of the bag now with Biden’s mental infirmary. (Right?) I understand that both of the political parties must just think the last thing you can do is tell your party’s sitting president to stand down. But, I guess I can see what might be their point— who else do we have? Bernie and John— who could the D’s bring in to replace Biden AND still be able to defeat Trump? — Rick H.
From John: Hi Rick. I don’t think the big problem would be finding a back-up candidate. I think there are a number of prominent Democrats who would answer the call (governors, senators, etc.). And as long as it’s not Kamala Harris or some fringe nut, that person would likely destroy Trump in the general election (just as Nikki Haley, if Republicans wised up, would destroy Biden). I know I’m a broken record on this, but either party could do itself an enormous electoral favor by ditching their presumptive nominee, and selecting a minimally fit candidate. I think the bigger challenge for Democrats, at this point, could be ballot access and filing deadlines. Of course all of this assumes Biden will bow out, which I still don’t think is likely to happen.
From Bernie: Robert Hur told us what the American people already knew — that President Biden is old and mentally frail. Democrats are angry that Hur made such a public point about it but they’ve been saying the same thing for quite a while now — but in private. Biden could stay in the race all the way to the Democratic Convention in August — and then release his delegates and let them decide who they want to run. It could happen. Joe isn’t getting any younger — or sharper.
My question for Bernie and John: We know the Republican voters have their own dilemma of continuously voting for MAGA candidates that ultimately face defeat yet keep voting for them. Do you think a situation like this involving illegal aliens could possibly sway downstate New York voters, and other blue state democrat voters, to get their heads out of the clouds and stop blindly voting for the Democrat candidate, or will they do their usual straw man argument of “Republican bigotry” and double down on virtue signaling as the issue continues to worsen? I’d like to think the former will happen but I have doubts. —Ed G
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Bernard Goldberg's Commentary to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.