Finally, a Good Month for Joe Biden

It doesn’t happen to him very often, so it’s worth noting: President Joe Biden had a very good March. Maybe not enough to turn the tide, but enough for several national polls to suggest he could eke out a narrow victory over Donald Trump.

There’s no reason to bet the bank, and the Nov. 5 election is still far away, but it’s certain that Joe Biden is in a much better position today than he was a month ago.

It all started with the State of the Union address on March 7. Biden surprised quite a few people with an energetic and vigorous speech. This standard in American politics is rarely a defining moment, even in an election year.

However, it was still an important step for Biden in reassuring his own party. While his opponents often describe him as a near senile old man incapable of carrying out the duties of a president, he showed himself in a much better light, so much so that no one among the Democrats is worries about his ability to run a presidential campaign.

He also distinguished himself from Donald Trump by addressing core American values — honesty, decency, dignity and equality — which set the tone for his campaign in light of the November election. Nothing new, but an attack angle that pleased his Democratic supporters.

Nothing spectacular, but we can say Biden is back in the saddle.

In the meantime, Trump played “loser takes all” in court. He succeeded in getting the courts to postpone three out of four criminal trials he is facing, probably until after the election. The most serious case in Georgia involving election interference attempt will probably not be heard before the November election.

Nonetheless, a criminal trial is set to begin on a more embarrassing charge of falsifying business accounts to cover up a $130,000 payment to a porn star paid for her silence about an affair with her in 2006 while he was married to Melania. Trump has consistently denied the allegations.

But this type of story, the delight of grocery store tabloids, is not so good for the reputation of someone who wants to be the favored candidate of the religious right, a very powerful group within the Republican Party.

Thus, on April 15, Trump will be first former president in American history to be tried on criminal charges. He faces up to four years in prison if he is convicted.

The other trials Trump faces are not expected to be begin before November’s election, but they may very well work to his detriment during the campaign.

IN addition, a New York Court of Appeals saved Trump at the last minute when it reduced the bond he was ordered to pay from nearly half a billion dollars to $175 million. The bond is a guarantee pending appeal of a civil fraud ruling for inflating the value of his properties to obtain favorable loan rates.

Trump was unable to pay the $464 million judgment even after he knocked on the doors of every financial institution that specialize in these kinds of bonds. Trump must pay the $175 million by the end of next week.

At the very least, this shows that Trump is not as wealthy as he boasts; a wealth that is at the heart of his founding myth. The former president even claimed that he was being prevented from using his own money for his election campaign, something he had steadfastly refused to do until now.

In any case, regardless of what the courts finally decide in the case, it has dealt some serious damage to Trump’s reputation by virtue of the fact that he has found himself in the role of the accused. All of which means that he did not have a very good March.

The polls reflect this. On average, Real Clear Politics polls have given the advantage to Trump since last fall. Now, his advantage is no more than 1.6%, down from 4% in recent months.

This may seem like a rather narrow margin, but American elections are almost always decided by a slim margin. The last “easy” victory for a candidate went to George H.W. Bush in 1988, with 53.5% of the vote over 45.7% for his opponent.