A teeth-grinding interview
What if the next presidential election is a rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump. Kristen Welker of Meet The Press sat down with four Pennsylvania “swing voters” how they feel about that.
First off, how were they chosen for this conclave? What makes theses four representative stand-ins for swing voters in general? What makes their opinions somehow illuminating?
“If it’s a Biden and Trump race, I would vote for Biden even if he was dead. And I’m a Republican.”
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 8, 2023
-A Pennsylvania voter to Meet the Press host Kristen Welker. pic.twitter.com/DJy6dgZdfb
At least this Republican voter (above) will take a stand even if he believes (somehow) that Biden is on the edge of senility. Welker didn’t ask in this edit what people thought of Kamala Harris as president in the event…. That might have been revealing.
Samantha Cieslinski voted Republican in the past but now feels her “moral compass” won’t let her choose either Biden or Trump. Oh, and she’s the one panelist who says she might sit out Election Day 2024 if there isn’t someone running she can “support wholeheartedly.”
Moral compass? As if even if her ambivalence is real and not for the camera, has any experienced voter in this country ever, ever in their lifetimes entered a voting booth in a presidential election and found just one race on the ballot? There will be dozens of choices for citizens to make. Dozens of choices for city council, county commission, school board, perhaps judges, state Senate, state House, and council of state races on that ballot in addition to federal races for U.S. House and Senate. Oh, but if I don’t like who’s at the top of the ticket, my “moral compass” might require me to stay home and let others make those decisions?
These kinds of interviews, like reporters’ heartland diner visits, are not meant to illuminate. They are cheap political entertainment.