Sixteen thousand people erupted into rapture when Donald J. Trump walked into the Prudential Center in Newark at 10 p.m. Saturday to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship match.
UFC doesn’t appeal to me, and this article about Trump attending isn’t illuminating, but it did get me thinking about other presidents and candidates.
Where would Joe Biden go to revel in the embrace of his most avid fan base?
He doesn’t fit in anywhere, it’s spooky. Any other president or candidate, whether you like them or not, can be imagined fitting in at a nonpolitical venue or event.
Off the top of my head.
Obama: Late night talk show, jazz club, fancy dinner party.
George W.: Baseball games, college football, rodeos.
Bill Clinton: Barbecues, pig roasts, NASCAR. He’d really like a luau.
George Bush: Embassy events, other prestigious, old money gatherings like DAR.
Ronald Reagan: Patriotic events, rodeos, any old West events.
Jimmy Carter: Fundraisers for Habitat for Humanity, serious nerd parties like engineer conventions.
Gerald Ford: College football, along with NFL and MLB.
After a president leaves office and is no longer influential, they still have their people, a place where they are enthusiastically greeted.
I can’t think of anyone who wants to see Biden if he can’t do something for them. Biden seems kind of hollow. Not because he is the shell of the man he once was, but because he never was much of a man.