Editor’s Note: Say What? is the segment of Liberty Nation Radio where we unveil some of the most wacky, astonishing, and damnable things uttered by politicians and the chattering class.
Tim Donner: Of all the issues debated during the second and final head-to-head clash of the presidential campaign, the one that stirred the greatest anticipation was the growing scandal over the Hunter Biden laptop recovered from a computer shop in Delaware and the direct accusation by a business partner of the Biden family that Joe Biden got a cut of every deal with foreign interests in return for exerting his influence as vice president.
Joe Biden: I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life … I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever, ever … There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant.
President Trump: You mean the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax? You got to be …
Biden: That’s exactly what … That’s exactly what …
Trump: Is this the way you’re going? This is where he’s going. The laptop is Russia, Russia, Russia.
Moderator Kristen Welker: All right. Gentlemen, I want to stay on the issue of race.
Trump: You have to be kidding. Here we go again with Russia.
Tim: It will be up to the voters to decide whether this scandal, very late in the campaign, matters or not. More on that in a moment. But the closest thing to new ground broken in the debate was Trump’s question about and Biden’s open proclamation on the issue of fossil fuels versus renewable energy.
Trump: Would you close down the oil industry?
Biden: By the way, I would transition from the oil industry. Yes.
Trump: Oh, that’s a big statement.
Biden: That is a big statement.
Trump: That’s a big statement.
Welker: Why would you do that?
Biden: Because the oil industry pollutes significantly. It has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.
Trump: That’s maybe the biggest statement in terms of business. That’s the biggest statement … because basically what he’s saying is he is going to destroy the oil industry. Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio?
Tim: Trump was making sure voters in crucial swing states are clear that Biden and the Democrats intend to gut the fossil fuel industry so crucial to their states’ economies. But the difference in outlook between the two candidates was arguably the most stark about the pandemic.
Trump: It will go away, and as I say, we’re rounding the turn, we’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.
Biden: This is the same fellow who told you “This is going to end by Easter” last time. This is the same fellow who told you that “Don’t worry, we’re going to end this by the summer.” We’re about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter. He says that we’re learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it.
Tim: A dark winter and a dystopian vision of the future, not something ordinarily peddled by a candidate for president.
So as the debate fades into the rear-view mirror, how long can the elite mainstream media protect Joe Biden from the burgeoning scandals surrounding his family, especially after this bombshell statement, right before the debate, by one Tony Bobulinski, business partner of the Biden family, which put the lie to Biden’s repeated claims that he had nothing to do with his son’s overseas businesses and didn’t make a dime off them?
Tony Bobulinski: I’m making the statement to set the record straight about the involvement of the Biden family, Vice President Biden, his brother Jim Biden, and his son Hunter Biden in dealings with the Chinese. I’ve heard Joe Biden say that he’s never discussed business with Hunter. That is false. I have firsthand knowledge about this because I directly dealt with the Biden family, including Joe Biden.
I was introduced to Joe Biden by Jim Biden and Hunter Biden. At my approximately hour-long meeting with Joe that night, we discussed the Bidens’ history, the Biden family business plans with the Chinese, with which he was plainly familiar, at least at a high level. On May 13, 2017, I received an email concerning allocation of equity, which says, “10% held by H for the big guy.”
Tim: We shall see whether the elite media blackout on this story will persist. But as bad as the Biden scandal may or may not turn out to be, the brazen censorship by social media of the New York Post story uncovering the scandal was truly breathtaking, and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, “It’s a five-alarm fire.”
Ted Cruz: Hunter Biden is not the story here. It’s Joe Biden that has potential corruptions with Ukraine, and he’s repeatedly denied that he’s ever met with Ukrainian oligarchs, and yet these emails suggest that he has. And then the next day, the New York Post broke a second story about what appears to be the potential for direct corruption between Joe Biden and communist China. And in particular an offer from communist China to pay Joe Biden, personally, millions of dollars. These emails refer to Joe Biden as quote, the big guy. Big tech, Twitter, and Facebook decided they didn’t want the American people to hear this. And so if any American across the country tried to tweet these stories out, tried to post these stories, big tech blocked the stories. And in fact, they went so far as to block the New York Post, a major media company, from posting their own stories.
Tim: Cruz and his colleagues are promising to hold hearings and compel testimony from the heads of Facebook and Twitter, promising that the liability protections afforded these big tech companies may soon be in serious danger.
Earlier in the week, the big gun expected to be pulled out by the Biden campaign entered the fray down the home stretch. Barack Obama, twice elected president, very active on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in 2016, came out of hiding, this time with a virtual appeal to young voters.
Barack Obama: In times as polarized as these, your vote doesn’t just matter, it matters more than ever before. Joe Biden needs your vote. I know Joe better than almost anybody. I trust him to be a great president. He’s different. He’s on the right side of the issues. He’ll get the job done. And Joe and Kamala will want you to keep pushing them to get the job done.
Tim: Now, you would think that Obama’s support would make a difference, but over his eight years as president, he saved himself, but his party did not at all share in his success, losing over 1,000 legislative seats across the country, and his intense campaigning for Hillary Clinton obviously did not help. Obama’s first speech came midweek in Philadelphia, where Democrats hoped to run up the score and win Pennsylvania.
One of the most intriguing questions of this election is whether President Trump can pick up more votes from Hispanics and blacks. He’s made a big-time appeal to the black community. Did it again in the second debate, emphasizing record low black unemployment, opportunity zones, his new platinum plan, criminal justice reform, and support for historically black colleges. And he’s gotten some help from famous black entertainers: Kanye West, 50 Cent, and Ice Cube, who was asked by an incredulous Chris Cuomo on CNN, how could he possibly work with this president in any way when he rapped about removing Trump just a couple of years ago?
Ice Cube (rapping): Arrest the president … you got the evidence … that is Russian intelligence …
Chris Cuomo: Now we see a shift. Now he wants to work with President Trump.
Ice Cube: I came up with the Contract With Black America. Both campaigns contacted me. One campaign said, “We love what you have, but let’s really dig into it after the election.” And one campaign said, “We love what you have. Do you mind talking to us about it?” And that’s what I did. I’m willing to work with both teams, but I’m just working with whoever is willing to work with me.
Tim: Trump got 8% of the black vote in 2016 and is expecting to hit double digits this time around. If he does, it could spell the difference in this election.
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Read more from Tim Donner.
