‘Pulling a President Ford’

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Joe Biden casts Trump as divider as the president visits Pennsylvania

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden takes more swings at President Trump; Peter Doocy reports.

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On the roster: ‘Pulling a President Ford’ - McConnell declares Pelosi bill D.O.A. - Biden: ‘I wouldn't vote for me’ if he believed Reade - Trump presses Pompeo on Kansas senate run - Cheers, Jay

‘PULLING A PRESIDENT FORD’
Asked during an MSNBC town hall Thursday whether he would, if elected, commit to “not pulling a President Ford” and pardoning President Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden was quick to offer and enthusiastic assent.

“Absolutely,” Biden said, his voice clear and definitive. “Yes. I commit.” He went on to vow that his Justice Department would go after Trump however the evidence led them.

As a freshman senator, Biden arrived in Washington just as the nuclear winter of the Watergate investigation fell over the city. From the fall of 1972 until well after Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, noting could escape the scandal, its investigation and its aftermath.

Biden at the time even warned his fellow Democrats against scandal obsession, reminding them of the political corruption in their own party and of the danger to the system itself.

“Politicians happen to affect everything that affects you, as you are very well aware,” Biden said in a May 1973 speech in Cleveland. “And if we bring down a great political party that should not be blamed for what happened, we begin to bring down a system.”

Once the scandal had blossomed into a potential impeachment in 1974, Biden spoke passionately in the Senate about the need for due process for Nixon and the judgment of history.

“In the case of an impeachment trial, the emotions of the American people would be strummed, as a guitar, with every newscast and each edition of the daily paper,” Biden said. “The incessant demand for news or rumors of news — whatever its basis of legitimacy – would be overwhelming.”

Yup.

Biden would oppose Nixon’s removal until the very end, just days before the ruined president stepped down. Biden would oppose, on the same grounds, the impeachment of Bill Clinton 24 years later. He was the last Democratic contender in 2015 to explicitly support the House effort to impeach Donald Trump.

He has always been a party-loyal Democrat, but Biden for most of his career was a small-r republican who staunchly supported the mediating institutions of a republic, particularly our unrepresentative Senate. So Biden, perhaps better than anyone active in American politics today, understood the thinking behind the question he got on Thursday.

The sneer in the town hall questioner’s voice was positively dripping when he scoffed at Ford’s decision shortly after taking office to pardon Nixon for all federal crimes relating to the Watergate break-in and cover-up. As Biden’s questioner put it, “under the pretense of healing the nation.”

Let’s have some context here. Ford pardoned Nixon on Sept. 8, 1974, less than two months away from midterm elections that were already certain to be brutal for his party – a fact no doubt very much in mind when House Judiciary Chairman Peter Rodino, the Jerry Nadler of his day, summoned Ford to testify in mid-October.

Ford, the first president since Abraham Lincoln to testify before the House, pleaded for understanding, but was pole-axed by questioners similarly scornful as Biden’s virtual town hall attendee who were similarly down on all that “healing the nation” jazz.

One of Biden’s old buddies, Sen. Ted Kennedy, spoke for a lot of Democrats in 2001 when he presented Ford the Profile in Courage Award for the political risk he took in granting the pardon.

“I was one of those who spoke out against his action then. But time has a way of clarifying past events, and now we see that President Ford was right,” Kennedy said. “His courage and dedication to our country made it possible for us to begin the process of healing and put the tragedy of Watergate behind us.”

Biden and certainly Kennedy knew well the many crimes and misdeeds barely beneath the surface of American political life. The Johnson and Kennedy administrations and their political tactics were often just as rotten as Nixon’s skullduggery. The 1960 election in Illinois alone would have been enough, but the abuses of power and misuse of federal authority for political aims in those years would make endless fodder for investigations.

Ford acted to break the cycle and give the country a fresh start. History recalls that it was his decision to grant the pardon that led to his narrow defeat, but whatever the consequences for him, Ford helped usher in a new, remarkably successful era for the country and its politics – an era that would last at least until Newt Gingrich and the next impeachment frenzy.

Every day now, the Trump administration and House Democrats re-litigate the 2016 election and the alleged misdeed on both sides. Unable to work together on the crushing woes facing the nation in the era of coronavirus, the two sides hurl allegations, leaks and conspiracies at each other day after day.

The joke is that anyone thinks somehow there will be some conclusive moment or that there will be some entity that can provide definitive justice. Democrats believe this Justice Department is corrupt in the same way that Republicans believe its predecessor was. Both sides are using tools designed for national security protections to build their cases.

The criminal justice system will never provide a political or popular consensus about Trump and Russia or Barack Obama and the FBI.

When Obama took office in 2009, many in his party demanded criminal investigations of George W. Bush and his administration over the invasion of Iraq and other alleged perfidies. Obama, conscious of Ford’s model, refused. Bush had done the same thing about Republican demands for criminal investigations into various claims of corruption against the Clintons.

We are living through a time when the current president disagrees with that standard and wishes to see his predecessor and his 2016 rival punished for crimes he claims were perpetrated against him. And certainly, Republicans would say that it was Obama’s effort to interfere with the incoming administration that started it. And on and on, a self-licking ice-cream cone of outrage.

It’s a terrible cycle that, if sustained, will quickly lead to ruin. If both parties say the system is corrupt, why shouldn’t citizens believe them? If every election decides which side’s prosecutors will get to target their enemies then we will have truly criminalized politics.

Biden has been here before, and as a younger man had reasonable concerns about what happens when what are matters of morals and ethics – issues better suited for political resolution – become matters of criminal law.

His promise Thursday to charge his prospective Justice Department with the next round of politically charged prosecutions suggests that he is ignoring his own counsel.

Healing a nation isn’t an easy job, but it’s the one voters would probably be most inclined to want done.

THE RULEBOOK: SHADES OF GREY 
“Situation, soil, climate, the nature of the productions, the nature of the government, the genius of the citizens, the degree of information they possess, the state of commerce, of arts, of industry, these circumstances and many more, too complex, minute, or adventitious to admit of a particular specification, occasion differences hardly conceivable in the relative opulence and riches of different countries.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 21

TIME OUT: DRIVE-BY-ART
Smithsonian: “With museums and galleries around the world closed due to COVID-19, millions are missing their usual sources of art, history and culture. … Now, a drive-by exhibition held on the South Fork of Long Island [New York] has continued the innovative trend, enabling locals to view art while maintaining social distancing measures, reports Wallace Ludel for the Art Newspaper. The show, titled ‘Drive-By-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing),’ took place last weekend. Featuring works by 52 artists, the event served as ‘an outdoor public art exhibition … experienced from the safety and intimacy of one’s own automobile,’ according to its official description. Art on view included roadside sculptures, live performances, videos projected onto the sides of buildings and paintings installed within the natural landscape. ‘My intention with Drive-By-Art is to create a platform for experiencing artistic works in the public sphere brought on by the new realities of COVID-19,’ artist and exhibition organizer Warren Neidich tells the Art Newspaper.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD 
PRESIDENTIAL POWER RANKINGS
(270 electoral votes needed to win)
Toss-up (103 electoral votes): Wisconsin (10), Ohio (18), Florida (29), Arizona (11), Pennsylvania (20), North Carolina (15)
Lean R/Likely R: (186 electoral votes) 
Lean D/Likely D (249 electoral votes)
[Full rankings here.]

TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE
Average approval: 44.6 percent
Average disapproval: 50.8 percent
Net Score: -6.2 points
Change from one week ago: ↓ 1.4 points  
[Average includes: CNN: 46% approve - 51% disapprove; CNBC: 46% approve - 54% disapprove; Monmouth University: 44% approve - 51% disapprove; PRRI: 43% approve - 54% disapprove; IBD: 44% approve - 44% disapprove.] 

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MCCONNELL DECLARES PELOSI BILL D.O.A.
Fox News: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told ‘Special Report with Bret Baier’ Thursday that another coronavirus stimulus bill is likely, but dismissed House Democrats' latest $3 trillion proposal as ‘unsalvageable.’ ‘The president and Senate Republicans are going to be in the same place. We will let you know when we think the time is right to begin to move again,’ McConnell said. ‘I think there's a high likelihood we'll do another bill.’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged Thursday that the so-called HEROES Act faces long odds of becoming law, but suggested the massive bill could be a starting point for negotiations with the White House and Senate. ‘We're putting our offer on the table, we're open to negotiation,’ Pelosi said. The House is set to vote on the measure Friday.”

McConnell admits he was wrong on Obama pandemic plan - Politico: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he was mistaken in claiming that the Obama administration had failed to leave a pandemic playbook for the Trump White House. ‘I was wrong,’ McConnell said in an evening interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. ‘They did leave behind a plan. So, I clearly made a mistake in that regard.’ McConnell had claimed during a Monday campaign event for President Donald Trump that the current White House had not been briefed by the previous administration on preparing for a pandemic at the scale of the novel coronavirus. He also slammed former President Barack Obama for criticizing Trump’s coronavirus response… Speaking to reporters on Thursday afternoon, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that the ‘Obama-Biden plan that has been referenced was insufficient,’ and said the Trump administration had prepared its own pandemic report and exercises last year.”

House Dems left and center to vote ‘no’ on $3T coronavirus bill - Fox News: “Several Democrats are bucking their party and voting against Speaker Nancy Pelosi's $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill in the House on Friday. Some moderate members in swing districts -- including Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma and Cindy Axne of Iowa -- ripped the massive measure as a one-sided partisan bill that is going nowhere. And there's resistance in the most liberal wing of the party, too, where some say the $3 trillion measure isn't big enough. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said her ‘no’ vote was ‘difficult’ but the bill fell short on ensuring Americans continued to get paychecks and had access to health care. At least one Republican, Rep. Peter King of New York, is bucking the GOP and supporting the legislation that will give nearly $1 trillion to state and local governments reeling from coronavirus budget holes.”

BIDEN: ‘I WOULDN'T VOTE FOR ME’ IF HE BELIEVED READE
NBC News: “Former Vice President Joe Biden, after again emphatically denying the claim of a former staffer that he sexually assaulted her nearly three decades ago, acknowledged for the first time Thursday the dilemma now facing some potential supporters in November, saying: ‘They should vote with their heart.’ ‘If they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn't vote for me. I wouldn't vote for me if I believed Tara Reade,’ Biden told Lawrence O’Donnell during an extended interview Thursday on MSNBC. Biden, the apparent Democratic presidential nominee, said he didn’t remember Reade, who worked for him for less than a year in 1993, two decades into Biden’s 36-year Senate tenure. And while he again said that all women who come forward with accounts of abuse or harassment ‘should be taken seriously,’ he also said it should ‘be thoroughly vetted,’ and charged that Reade’s story ‘has changed as it's gone on.’”

Check your priors - NYT: “What Trump’s stunning win and Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s extraordinary comeback in the 2020 primaries both demonstrate, [political operatives] say, is the crucial importance of momentum-changing events, the mood of the electorate and the ingrained perceptions of the candidates. Tactics like well-produced campaign ads, high-profile endorsements and clever one-liners at debates often matter far less, as Mrs. Clinton found. In other words, Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory is not predictive in 2020… It’s not that Mr. Biden is a lock to win this November. In an era of intense polarization, coast-to-coast landslides in presidential elections are as much a relic as eight-track players. Further, as 2016 vividly illustrated, late-breaking events can shape elections, and Mr. Trump will go to great lengths to win. And in a close race, campaign organization can matter.”

Continetti: The Teflon campaign - Free Beacon: “On May 14, [Biden] led Trump by 5 points. ‘Biden's advantage,’ says Harry Enten of CNN, ‘is the steadiest in a race with an incumbent running since at least 1944.’ He has never been behind. His share of the vote has been impervious to external events. Neither good nor bad news has an effect. Bernie Sanders ended his campaign on April 8 and endorsed Biden on April 13. Biden received no bump from this display of party unity. Tara Reade accused Biden of sexual assault on March 25, and Biden did not respond directly to the allegation until May 1. His margin over Trump did not shrink. It remained the same. Why? The incidents of this election cycle are not the reason. Epidemics, depressions, and sex scandals have happened before. What is distinct are the candidates. One in particular. If this race has been the steadiest in memory, it is because public opinion of the incumbent has been the most consistent in memory.”

Team Trump launches anti-Biden ad blitz - NYT: “The first wave of long-promised negative ads from the Trump campaign began this week in caustic form, flooding Facebook pages and television screens in swing states with harsh messages that make unfounded inferences about Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental state and paint the presumptive Democratic nominee as too friendly to the Chinese government. In May alone, the Trump campaign has spent or reserved about $7 million on television airtime in local markets, fueling negative ads that repeat xenophobic tropes regarding the Chinese origin of the coronavirus, and unearth positive comments Mr. Biden has made about China in the past. The campaign’s ads on Facebook have taken their own dark turn. Its videos on the platform declare ‘Geriatric Health is No Laughing Matter’ or ‘Joe Biden: Old and Out of It,’ then use selective edits of Mr. Biden’s verbal stumbles and meandering soliloquies to make less-than-subtle suggestions about his mental acuity.”

TRUMP PRESSES POMPEO ON KANSAS SENATE RUN
WaPo: “President Trump recently encouraged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to reconsider running for the U.S. Senate in Kansas but Pompeo rebuffed the request, according to two people familiar with the conversation. Trump spoke to Pompeo about making a bid for the seat during a one-on-one meeting at the White House about two weeks ago, both people said, suggesting that Pompeo could definitely keep the seat for Republicans if he ran. Trump’s request underscores the growing nervousness among Republicans that they could lose control of the Senate in this fall’s election and that a once-safe Kansas seat could now be in play. The president has received regular updates from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other political advisers about the worsening political landscape in the Senate, according to Trump advisers…”

Plumbing the depths of campaign finance laws - The Wichita [Kan.] Eagle: “Bob Hamilton sold his plumbing company three years before running for U.S. Senate, but he remains the name and face on much of the firm’s advertising. Bob Hamilton Plumbing’s website features several photos of its namesake, including one on a coupon for HVAC services featuring Hamilton and a yellow lab. He still frequently appears in the company’s television ads, which use the slogan ‘Better Call Bob!’ His image is even painted on its fleet of trucks. The company’s advertising could provide a boost to his candidacy in the crowded GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts. Hamilton’s campaign hinges largely on his background as plumber and job creator. But the distinctions between corporate and campaign advertising could also create headaches for Hamilton and the company he founded.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Amid ongoing stock-trading controversy Sen. Kelly Loeffler turns over documents to SEC and DOJ - Politico

AUDIBLE: HONK, HONK
“Those Canadian geese are trying to get away from the virus.” – Joe Biden during a virtual roundtable where geese could be heard in the background while he spoke.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
Tune in this Sunday as Chris Wallace sits down with former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz Mohamed El-Erian and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D​). Watch “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.

#mediabuzz - Host Howard Kurtz has the latest take on the week’s media coverage. Watch #mediabuzz Sundays at 11 a.m. ET.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“Your comments this week seem heavy on the issues related to the propriety or impropriety of past Presidents coming forth with criticisms of their successors and the current President commenting on his predecessors. Both are, I'd argue, the logical arc of the increasingly tribal politics that has been moving in the direction of bitterness for the last half century.  I honestly don't see that arc being flattened anytime soon, but like the coronavirus it's a disease that could do great harm and already has. Much is said that it's the result of the extreme wings of both parties, the true believer wings, having overtaken the party pros by means of the populist idea of nominating candidates in primaries. I think that's a big part of it, but I also think that there comes a time when even the extremists must be willing to be civil and work together lest the whole experiment in representative self-government fail to continue. This nation can't survive forever with two opposing factions of roughly equal strength battling it out from not always even parallel universes. Any thoughts on how to get some civility back into the system as a prerequisite for reaching some sort of consensus?” – Bruce Moyer, Southgate, Mich.

[Ed. note: If the comments seem heavy, Mr. Moyer, it’s because they’ve been eating a lot of carbs during quarantine… Your question is pretty tricky since it would sort of be like saying “What should we do about these shark attacks other than not dumping chum in the water?” Our system as constituted rewards extremism both ideological and attitudinal. There are many reasons for this, and each reason itself has many causes and the reasons are intertwined and reinforcing. But we have to consider: the dumbing down of our culture, weak parties, clickbait news coverage, asinine campaign finance laws, the demise of regionalism and, of course, our idiotic primary system. Parties are probably the easiest rescue operation, so I guess I’d try that one first. But while I lament the coarseness of our current dialogue, it’s not civility per se that we should be after. We should be after a system that mediates disagreements between citizens in an effective way and holds government power safely in check. If that could be accomplished by people talking to each other like the French knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” that would be fine by me. What we’re looking for is cooperation and the elevation of patriotism over partisanship. That would produce more civility, which would, in turn, be sustaining to the new system. And if you want to find the best way to incent cooperation, do something about the horrible primaries.] 

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

CHEERS, JAY
UPI: “A pub quiz host who took his games online during the COVID-19 pandemic set a Guinness World Record when 182,513 households signed on to play along. Jay Flynn, who hosted trivia quiz nights at pubs in England before the coronavirus crisis, took his games online for the Virtual Pub Quiz, allowing fans to continue playing while on lockdown in their homes. Guinness said the Virtual Pub Quiz set a record for the most viewers of a quiz YouTube live stream when his April 30 game was attended virtually by 182,513 households. Flynn's games have raised more than $200,000 for National Health Service Charities United. ‘This is not just for myself for hosting the quiz and the work that has gone into it. But for the players and families who have come together and also the NHS,’ Flynn told Guinness. Flynn was previously named the 1372nd Point of Light honoree by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The award is given by the prime minister to volunteers in various sectors who have been a ‘point of light’ during the pandemic.”

AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Boundary disputes are inherently conducted over small acreage. Yet the slightest breach in a frontier, especially in a religious war, can be ominous.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the New Republic on April 9, 1984.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.