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.
For Biden, how about a classic car show or a summit for the Rail Passengers Association? https://www.railpassengers.org/
Also, I think Clinton is vegan now, so maybe not into a pig roast. 1990s Clinton, sure. 21st c. Clinton, probably not.
The classic car people can’t be too happy with Biden due to the price of gas and the push for electric vehicles. Rail passengers or employees aren’t going to be applauding him.
Bill Clinton is a vegan? How the hell did that happen?
Also, you missed Nixon!
I didn’t miss Nixon. I had to stop somewhere, but you’re right, he is a tricky one. He apparently was great at foreign policy, so some kind of egghead convention talking about foreign affairs. He did a lot for the environment, but that wouldn’t be his crowd.