DV Journal

President Joe Biden fired a salvo this week, releasing a new 2024 campaign ad.

Called “For You,” it’s part of a $30 million campaign targeting voters in battleground states, including Pennsylvania. The spot begins with Biden talking directly to viewers and touting his accomplishments as president. In the ad, Biden seems like a friendly father or grandfather.  He talks about what he’s done and claims former President Donald Trump lacked achievements during his term.

In the commercial, the 81-year-old Democrat highlights his age and experience as helping him get things done in Washington.

“Y’all want to talk about age? Let’s talk about age,” said Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden-Harris campaign. “At 77, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump. At 78, he led us through the COVID crisis, put us on a path to creating nearly 15 million new jobs since the day he took office, and passed the bipartisan infrastructure law to repair our roads and bridges and expand access to broadband internet to every community.

“At 79, he got us the most significant gun safety legislation in a generation and became the first president to beat Big Pharma and cap the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors. At the same time, he made the single largest investment in history to combat climate change – all before his 80th birthday. Meanwhile, the only helpful thing Donald Trump did for the American people in four years was lose the 2020 election to Joe Biden – and it’s the one thing he won’t take credit for,” said Tyler.

“Now, Joe Biden is 81, and he’s going to beat Donald Trump again because he wakes up every single day fighting for the American people while Trump wages a campaign of revenge and retribution focused on himself. Trump may be four years younger than Joe Biden, but his ideas are old as hell, and they’ve already been rejected by the American people. Joe Biden is running to make sure we reject them for good.”

An Axis/Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance poll from Feb. 25 to 27 had Biden ahead with Pennsylvania voters by 1 point. The poll had Biden at 40 percent, Donald Trump at 39 percent, Robert Kennedy Jr. at 8 percent, Jill Stein at 2 percent, and Cornell West at 1 percent.

However, a Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll taken Feb. 12 to 18 showed Biden at 36 percent, Trump at 45 percent, Kennedy at 8 percent, West at 1 percent, and Stein at 1 percent.

“Biden could put millions more behind this ad, and he’d still be missing the mark,” said GOP consultant Charlie Gerow. “He doesn’t even address the mess he’s created at the southern border, which is on every voter’s mind. Nobody is buying that we have the strongest economy in the world while they struggle to pay for their groceries. He can’t get around the age issue because it’s about much more than age. The American people can see that he’s failing. Telling them they’re wrong won’t work.”

“The close is cute, but cute doesn’t cut it,” Gerow added.

The six-week ad run will air on national and local broadcast and cable television in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. The ad campaign will target audiences in the key markets of Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Phoenix, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Raleigh, focusing on voters of color and young voters.

The ad will be shown on popular entertainment and sports programming on stations like ESPN, TNT, FX, Adult Swim, and Comedy Central during high-viewership moments like the NCAA March Madness Tournament. It will also run digitally across platforms – heavily emphasizing Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

“Joe Biden is burning cash gaslighting Pennsylvania voters, but they aren’t buying his lies,” said Rachel Lee, Republican National Committee spokeswoman. “Keystone State families and workers know that his failed agenda has driven up prices, threatened their safety, waged a war on American energy, and exacerbated the opioid crisis in the commonwealth. With Biden underwater in Pennsylvania, voters are enthusiastic to support President Donald J. Trump and restore American prosperity once again!”

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President Joe Biden took a victory lap at Strath Haven Middle School in Nether Providence Township on Friday after his Thursday night State of the Union speech.

While pundits have described Biden’s speech as “fiery” and “angry,” the 81-year-old Pennsylvania native was more subdued in front of the Delaware County audience. Biden’s local appearance also contrasted with his more focused and on-point performance in Washington, D.C. On Friday, he reverted to form, losing track of his thoughts and misspeaking several times.

Some of Biden’s difficult-to-parse remarks included, “We added more to the national debt than any president in his term in all of history;” and, “Pennsylvania, I have a message for you: Send me to Congress!”

But the Biden-friendly audience, which included many local politicians, cheered and applauded nonetheless, even throwing in a chant of “Four more years!”

Another key difference in his Delco speech was that Biden attacked his likely GOP opponent, Donald Trump, by name rather than referring to him as “my predecessor.”

“Folks, our freedoms really are on the ballot this November. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms,” Biden said. “That’s not an exaggeration. Well, guess what? We will not let him.”

Biden hopes the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will again spur Democrats to vote.

“Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America,” said Biden.

Biden touted the U.S. economy as “the envy of the world,” with “15 million new jobs in just three years” and unemployment at a “50-year low” with “800,000 new manufacturing jobs and counting.”

“Wages are up, and inflation is coming down,” he said. “Inflation’s dropped from 9 percent to 3 percent.”

He called for “the wealthy” and corporations to pay more taxes. He would set the corporate tax rate at 21 percent. “No billionaire should pay a lower tax than a teacher, sanitation worker, or nurse.”

He would set the tax rate at 25 percent for billionaires to raise $500,000 billion over the next 10 years, which the government would use to cut the deficit and “provide childcare.”

He said he’s fighting the pharmaceutical industry to lower the price of drugs and mentioned lowering the price of insulin to $35 a month for senior citizens, a move Trump made in his presidency. Biden promised he would lower the price of medications for all Americans.

Biden proposed giving Americans $400 a month tax credit toward their mortgage if it’s their first home or they’re moving to “a larger place.”

“We’re cracking down on big landlords who are price-fixing and driving up rents,” he said, adding Congress should pass his plan to “bring those rents down.”

“We’ve got $359 billion passed for climate change,” said Biden.

“We beat the NRA when I signed the most significant gun safety law in 30 years. Now, we have to beat the NRA again. I’m demanding a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden said.

Biden told his Delco audience his goals are the same as they were in 2020: to grow the middle class, to “restore the soul of America,” and to unite the country. Republican critics were quick to respond that his State of the Union speech a day earlier was one of the most partisan and divisive in history.

On the street outside Strath Haven Middle School, pro-Palestinian protesters picketed, chanting “Genocide Joe has got to go,” among other slogans.

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President Joe Biden will try to paint a rosy picture of the country and his policies in the State of the Union address Thursday night, with an eye toward reelection. But opponents are taking aim at a major policy weakness: illegal immigration.

The conservative nonprofit Building America’s Future announced it will bracket the State of the Union with a $700,000 television buy, including two different commercials that hammer Biden on immigration. The ads will air nationally and in key markets in battleground states across the country, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

In “Run,” Building America’s Future pins the blame for Laken Riley’s brutal murder by a previously arrested illegal immigrant on Biden’s refusal to deport illegal immigrants who were arrested by local police.

“Run” Transcript: “Laken Riley should have been able to go on a run in broad daylight without being murdered by an illegal immigrant. But Joe Biden promised not to deport illegal immigrants.

HOST: Should that person be deported?

BIDEN: That person should not be the focus of deportation

Biden vowed not to detain illegal immigrants who cross the border.

BIDEN: No one. No one would be put in jail while waiting for their hearing. 

So when Jose Ibarra crossed into America illegally, he was not deported; he was not put in jail. Biden also supported sanctuary cities.

HOST: Should undocumented immigrants arrested by local police be turned over to immigration officials?

BIDEN: No.

So when Jose Ibarra was arrested in New York City for endangering a child, he was freed a second time; Ibarra went to Georgia, where he beat Laken Riley to death. How many more killers has Biden set free?”

Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist and CEO of Quantum Communications, says he thinks illegal immigration will be a major issue in this year’s presidential election.

“Border security is the number one issue in the minds of voters, and Biden and his administration have no excuse for their multiple failures,” said Gerow.

The new ad follows a recent survey from The Tyson Group showing immigration is a top motivator for Republican voters, who overwhelmingly oppose the weak on immigration policies that led to Riley’s murder.

The Tyson Group survey found:

• Eighty-one percent of likely GOP primary voters said stopping illegal immigration is a very important issue for them when deciding who to support for president, second only to improving the economy at 83 percent.
• Seventy-five percent of likely GOP primary voters would be less likely to vote for an elected official who has supported weak immigration enforcement legislation. (laws that prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In “Health Care for Illegal Immigrants,” BAF highlights the dangers of the 340B program being used to provide health care to illegal immigrants.

The new spot comes after Virginia’s legislature recently passed a bill strengthening the 340B program in that state. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office signaled Monday he might veto the measure because “he is deeply concerned about the federal 340b program and how it could be exploited to provide taxpayer-subsidized healthcare to illegal immigrants.

“Healthcare for Illegal Immigrants” Transcript: “The border is broken. Millions illegally pouring into our country. But it’s not just the border. Your tax dollars are at work for illegal immigrants. The more we look, the more we find…Our police are under assault. Free credit cards for illegals and free health care? They’re using a program currently under investigation called 340b to launder your money and provide free healthcare for illegal immigrants. The more we look, the more we find…We need Republicans to stand up for us.”

However, Maureen Testoni, President and CEO of 340B Health rejected the ad’s description of the program.

“The 340B program does not rely on taxpayer funds and so the claim that somehow federal taxpayer money is being ‘laundered’ to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants is patently false,” Testoni said in a statement. “What is more, by using the word ‘launder,’ which the dictionary defines as ‘to transfer (illegally obtained money or investments) through an outside party to conceal the true source,’ the ad is deceiving viewers into wrongly believing that the 340B program is being used for illegal purposes. There is absolutely no support for this salacious allegation of criminal activity.”

Jeff Jubelirer, with Bellevue Communications, said he believes all voters are concerned with immigration.

“The issue of immigration is top of mind for voters,” said Jubelirer. That’s why both Biden and Trump recently went to the border and addressed the matter in person with dueling visits. It’s also why substantive immigration reform legislation has been drafted, although with Trump opposing the recent bipartisan effort, it failed to pass.

“Immigration is not a Republican or Democrat issue; it’s an American issue. Every issue these days – it seems – is viewed with such partisan lenses, and at this time, with months to go until the general election, I don’t sense the ads will have much impact. It will only serve to reinforce existing views,” he added.

On. Feb. 13, the Republican-controlled U.S. House voted to start impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkes. Some 7.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Biden took office and halted former President Donald Trump’s tough border control policies.

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Chanting, waving signs and Palestinian flags, about 30 people protested U.S. military support for Israel at the Lockheed Martin plant in King of Prussia late Friday afternoon.

Numerous Upper Merion police officers guarded the gates of the defense contractor. Pro-Palestinian groups have been protesting at defense contractors since the war began after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The U.S. division of the Israeli company Elbit Systems has been a frequent target, including vandalism and property damage.

One protester, Asher Garza of Ambler, leader of the group “Montco for Liberation,” said its members agree with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery), who announced she supports a bilateral ceasefire after a recent trip to Israel.

“The vast majority of Americans, on a bipartisan basis, are demanding a ceasefire,” said Garza. “And part of that is reflected in our Congresswoman Madeleine Dean’s call for a ceasefire to be initiated, which we have been lobbying for.”

Carmen Guerrero

Dean’s position is at odds with the views of her fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.

“At any point, Hamas could have ended this burgeoning tragedy to surrender and release every hostage,” Fetterman posted on social media Sunday.

“Now, they’re unwilling to provide a list of any surviving hostages. Hamas is anathema to peace in Gaza. Hamas instigated and owns this humanitarian catastrophe.”

Garza also mentioned a voting campaign in Michigan where 100,000 Democratic primary voters, including members of the state’s Arab-American community, voted “uncommitted” instead of for  President Joe Biden.

“It was clearly a referendum on Biden’s policies and lack of meaningful action to stop the slaughter,” said Garza.

However, a new Harvard Harris poll reported 82 percent of Americans support Israel in its war against Hamas.

Also on Friday, Biden said a ceasefire may be possible by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 10.

Philadelphia resident Timour Kamran said he attended the protest as part of a vigil for U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell, who lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on February 25. Several other people told DVJournal they came to the protest because of Bushnell.

Kamran wanted to “honor (Bushnell’s) sacrifice for the cause of freeing Palestine.”

“We’re outside the Lockheed Martin campus because we believe the oppression of Palestine is part of a global system of empire. Companies like Lockheed Martin profit at the expense of people’s lives.”

The company provided this statement: “Lockheed Martin’s core values are to do what’s right, respect others, and perform with excellence. These values provide clear, unambiguous, and uncompromising standards for how we treat each other with understanding and compassion. We respect the right to peaceful protest and we are honored to partner with the U.S. military and our international partners to deliver strategic deterrence and security solutions.”

David, who declined to give his last name because of ongoing death threats from pro-Palestine protesters, came from Lancaster to counter-protest.

“It really comes down to the defeat of Hamas,” said David, who held a large Israeli flag on a tall pole. “I don’t hear anyone calling for the release of hostages. I just hear ‘ceasefire’ and a lot of antisemitism.”

Chants included, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which David said is antisemitic and means, “They want Israel and the Jewish people wiped off the map.”

David

“It’s tragic what’s happening,” he said. “There are innocent civilians being killed every day. I think the numbers are inflated. We’re relying on UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) and Hamas agencies to report those supposed facts. I’m going to trust Israel.”

“I hope Hamas will stop using innocent civilians as human shields,” David added.

Using a megaphone, Garza called on Lockheed Martin employees to resign.

“Break free of your comfortable bondage,” Garza said. “It’s not a hefty price to pay. I call all of good conscience to walk out. Seek just and righteous employment.” Mentioning F-16 fighter jets, he exhorted Lockheed employees, who were not likely to hear his entreaties, to not “create the machines of death.”

Then he led the chant, “Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for Lockheed crimes.”

“Free, free, free Palestine,” the crowd chanted. And “resistance is justified if the people are occupied.”

King of Prussia resident Christina Nassir also came for the Bushnell vigil.

She said she is half-Iraqi and half-Irish. She attends a Lebanese Christian church and is concerned that Israel may bomb Lebanon next.

Carmen Guerrero, also of King of Prussia, put together a shrine for Bushnell on a blanket surrounded by flowers and candles. She said she was a member of the Mayan tribe and a native American who supports the Palestinians.

A woman who came to the protest with her toddler in a stroller, said she felt compelled to leave her King of Prussia home to support the Palestinians.

“No more money for Israel’s war,” she chanted with the others.

Members of other left-wing and pro-Palestinian groups, including Philly Palestine Coalition, Lancaster Palestine Coalition, the Philadelphia Chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, CAIR Philadelphia, BuxMont DSA, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, NEPA for Palestine, and the Abandon Biden Campaign also participated.

The protest was one of several those groups have held in the Delaware Valley since the war began. There’s also been an upsurge of antisemitism at schools and universities.

Garza said a ceasefire is the only way the Israeli hostages will be released. Although, the Israeli Defense Forces have rescued some in raids on Hamas’ terror tunnels.

“Ceasefire is the only reasonable way to preserve life on both sides, if you will,” Garza said.

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Even political junkies are feeling short of adrenaline. Two old men are stumbling toward November, spewing gaffes, garbled messages and misinformation as the political class cowers behind banners they don’t have the courage not to carry.

If you aren’t committed to Joe Biden or Donald Trump in a very fundamental way, it is a kind of torture — like being trapped in the bleachers during a long tennis match. The ball goes back and forth over the net, your head turns right, your head turns left. You watch CNN, turn to Fox, turn to MSNBC, turn back to CNN. You read The Washington Post, try The New York Times, then pick up The Wall Street Journal.

Over all hangs the terrible knowledge that this will end in a player winning who many think is unfit.

These two codgers are batting old ideas back and forth across the news. We know them too well. There is no magic here; nothing good is expected of either victory. Less bad is the goal, a hollow victory at best.

This is a replay. We can’t take comfort in the idea that the office will make the man. Rather, we feel this time, in either case, the office will unmake the man.

Both are too old to be expected to deliver in the toughest job in the world. Much of the attention about age has focused on Biden, but Trump is only three years his junior and doesn’t appear to be in good health, and he delivers incomprehensible messages on social media and in public speeches.

We know what we would get from a Biden administration: more of the same but more liberal. His administration will lean toward the issues he has fought for — climate, abortion, equality, continuity.

From Trump, we know what we would get: upheaval, international dealignment, authoritarian inclinations at home, and a new era of chaotic America First. The courts will get more conservative judges, and political enemies will be punished. Trump has made it clear that vengeance is on his to-do list.

One candidate or the other, we are facing agendas that say “back to the future.”

But that isn’t the world that is unfolding. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the late, great Democratic senator from New York, said “the world is a dangerous place.”

Doubly so now, when engulfing war is a possibility, when there is an acute housing crisis at home, and when the next presidency will have to deal with the huge changes that will be brought about by artificial intelligence. These will be across the board, from education to defense, from automobiles to medicine, from the electric power supply to the upending of the arts.

How have we come to such a pass when two old men dodder to the finish line? The fact is few expect Biden to finish out his term in good physical health, and few expect Trump to finish his term in good mental health.

How did we get here? How has it happened that democracy has come to a point where it seems inadequate to the times?

The short answer is the primary system, or too much democracy at the wrong level.

The primary system isn’t working. It is throwing up the extreme and the incompetent; it is a way of supporting a label, not a candidate. If a candidate faces a primary, the issue will be narrowed to a single accusation bestowed by the opposition.

What makes for a strong democracy is representative government — deliberation, compromise, knowledge and national purpose.

The U.S. House of Representatives is an example of the evil the primary system has wrought. Or, to be exact, the fear that the primary system has engendered in members.

The specter of former Rep. Liz Cheney, a conservative with lineage who had the temerity to buck the House leadership, was cast out and then got “primaried” out of office altogether, haunts Congress.

No wonder the political class shelters behind the leaders of yesterday, men unprepared for tomorrow, as a new and very different era unfolds.

There is a sense in the nation that things will have to get worse before they get better. A troubled future awaits.

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Pennsylvania lore talks of the fabled bus to nowhere—a mythical vehicle that provides rides to lost souls. And, by the looks of it, President Joe Biden appears to be driving this legendary vehicle.

To address climate change, “Scranton Joe” wants to swap the ubiquitous yellow school bus for something greener.

As part of a broader $5 billion grant competition under its Clean School Bus Program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced its $47.3 million plan to help Pennsylvania school districts transition to electrical vehicles (EVs). The School District of Philadelphia will receive $7.9 million to purchase 20 “clean” school buses. Three southwestern Pennsylvania school districts, including Pittsburgh Public Schools, will receive 75 new buses.

“Thanks to President Biden’s historic investments in America,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in the January press release, “thousands more school buses will hit the road in school districts across the country, saving school districts money and improving air quality at the same time.”

But before fully converting to EVs, Pennsylvania school districts may want to seek a second opinion from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). For the commonwealth’s largest transit agency, EVs paint a hard-knock, costly lesson of “buyer beware.”

SEPTA once had the third-largest EV fleet. Today, the agency’s $24 million fleet of 25 electric buses collects dust. In 2020, SEPTA reported significant problems after finding cracked frames on its electric buses, forcing the agency to sideline its entire fleet. While parked at a SEPTA depot, one bus even burst into flames.

SEPTA purchased this dysfunctional fleet from Proterra, the nation’s largest electric bus manufacturer. In 2016, the company provided literal free rides to SEPTA executives during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, just months before purchasing its sizable fleet of now-defunct EVs.

Proterra filed for bankruptcy in 2023, meaning SEPTA and countless other shorted agencies that converted to electric buses have zero chance of a refund on their faulty buses.

SEPTA isn’t the only agency experiencing problems with EVs. Similar accounts of faulty electric buses—and their myriad of mechanical and electrical shortcomings—are coming out of North Carolina, Colorado, California, Texas, Michigan, and Kentucky.

The market is quickly turning against EVs.

Federal dollars might be the only thing keeping electrical buses afloat. Electric buses cost more to purchase and maintain than regular diesel buses. Furthermore, these already-pricey buses also require costly equipment and infrastructure to keep them charged and road-ready. Taxpayers will have to pick up the burden of paying for unreliable buses in the name of alarmist climate action.

This bus initiative is not the administration’s only misplaced policy proposal affecting Pennsylvania. Biden’s recent ban on exporting liquified natural gas (LNG) also negatively impacts the Keystone State and its energy-rich markets.

Even U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman—loyal, party-line Pennsylvania Democrats—are pushing back on Biden’s misguided LNG ban.

“While the immediate impacts on Pennsylvania remain to be seen, we have concerns about the long-term impacts that this pause will have on the thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry,” Casey and Fetterman said. “If this decision puts Pennsylvania energy jobs at risk, we will push the Biden Administration to reverse this decision.”

Biden’s “green” crusade prioritizes extreme environmental activists and renewable-energy lobbyists over the needs and concerns of everyday Pennsylvanians.

Big-government policies coercively forcing EVs and renewables are not the silver bullet for climate action. The market can reduce carbon emissions and respond better when government policy prioritizes reliability and fiscal responsibility rather than picking industry winners and losers.

Instead of pushing EVs and banning affordable energy production, the Biden administration should focus on reducing the regulatory burdens inhibiting technologies that will positively impact our natural environment without jeopardizing our economic environment, such as carbon-capture technology and small module nuclear facilities.

Additionally, removing the pipeline permitting nightmares preventing Pennsylvania from unleashing its energy into the national and international marketplace should be a higher priority than unreliable “green” technologies.

Considering the importance of the Keystone State to his reelection campaign, Biden should tread carefully with Pennsylvanian voters. Otherwise, his reelection hopes might join him on that elusive ride to nowhere.

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Only two presidents were born in Pennsylvania: Joe Biden and James Buchanan. And despite 160 years between the time they served, the two Democratic residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have a surprising amount in common.

And that’s not necessarily good news.

First, the obvious differences: Buchanan remained a lifelong Pennsylvanian, while Biden’s family moved from Scranton to Delaware when he was 13. And Buchanan is the only bachelor to serve as president, while Biden relies heavily, according to media reports, on his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

But they also have similarities, too. Both were senators before becoming president. Both saw their popularity wane while in office. Buchanan pledged during his campaign to only serve one term. Many voters originally believed Joe Biden was only seeking a single term as well.

“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” Biden said at a 2020 rally. Biden was already 77 years old at the time. Instead, he now wants to serve until 2029, at which time he would be 86 years old.

J. Mark Powell, author of the popular nationally syndicated “Holy Cow! History” column, said, “Historians often rank Buchanan as the worst president of all. And with good reason. When you allow the country to come apart on your watch, it doesn’t get any worse than that. It was the very definition of failure.”

“Apart from both being born in Pennsylvania, the closer you look at them, the more the two have in common,” said Powell. “Their last names both start with a B, both were Democrats, and both were highly unpopular presidents. Each was elected by voters who believed they would ease tensions in the country, yet divisions only deepened during their administrations. And in the final analysis, each did not live up to popular expectations.”

In fact, one notable difference is that while Buchanan failed to find common ground to bring Americans together during the debate over slavery, Biden has rejected the premise of national unity. Instead, he went to Philadelphia in 2022 to deliver a speech declaring former President Donald Trump and his “MAGA” supporters a threat to democracy. Biden said millions of Americans are “extremists” who don’t love America.

Buchanan didn’t even say that about southerners who were threatening to secede from the Union.

Arcadia University history Professor James Paradis said, “The one thing that stands out to me is the difference in attitude of the two presidents as they ended their first term. Both of them faced the problems of leading a strongly and passionately divided nation. Both of them, fairly or not, were also blamed for the economic difficulties of their times. Buchanan had to deal with the Panic of 1857 and, for Biden, a painful inflation rate.”

“With the nation splitting in two as his term approached its end, Buchanan looked forward to stepping down from the presidency. When Abraham Lincoln came to Washington to succeed him, Buchanan reportedly confided to Lincoln, ‘Sir, if you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed,’” Paradis said.

“For Biden, on the other hand, in spite of the pressures that he faces and the lukewarm support he is receiving from his own party for reelection, his desire for reelection seems unabated,” Paradis said.

Born in 1791 near Mercersburg, Buchanan studied at Dickinson College, passed the bar, and practiced law in Lancaster. Biden graduated from Syracuse University Law School, returned to Delaware, and served on the New Castle County Council. At 29, he became one of the youngest people ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

Buchanan served in the military during the War of 1812. Biden received deferments from military service during the Vietnam War for asthma.

Buchanan was elected to the state legislature in 1814 and continued his political career in Congress, serving as a representative and then a senator.

He was ambassador to Russia and Great Britain and did a stint as secretary of state.

Buchanan ran for president without winning three times before the Democrats tapped him in 1856 because of his reputation as someone who could find common ground.

Biden also ran for president unsuccessfully in 1988 and 2008 before obtaining the office in 2020. He had served as vice president for President Barack Obama from 2009 through 2016.

Shortly after Buchanan took office, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the infamous Dred Scott decision, which upheld slavery. Despite being a northerner, Buchanan favored it. He believed slavery was morally wrong but felt the issue should be decided by the states, not the federal government.

In 1858, Congress was divided among northern and southern Democrats and Republicans. The Panic of 1857 and John Brown’s antislavery raid on a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry added to the turmoil. Amid all the division, Abraham Lincoln led the nascent Republican Party to victory in 1860.

But, angered by Lincoln’s election, South Carolina and other states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War.

In his final months in office, Buchanan tried to compromise with the secessionists. He remained somewhat passive, and some modern historians criticize him for not acting more firmly to quash the rebellion. However, at that time, presidents waited for Congress to weigh in rather than acting themselves, said Powell.

In a letter that is part of Powell’s collection of historical correspondence, Lewis S. Coryell, a 72-year-old successful businessman, and member of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in New Hope, who was an active Buchanan supporter, praised him at the height of the secession crisis during Buchanan’s final 90 days in office.

Coryell wrote on Jan. 14, 1861: “Mr. Buchanan has, with a view to conciliation to avoid violence, practiced the most masterly inactivity. History will assign a proud page to his merits.” That was not to be the case.

“One last similarity remains to be seen. Buchanan was a one-term president,” said Powell. “We won’t know until November if Biden will add that to the list of things they shared.”

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In a report on President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents from earlier in his career, a special counsel said Biden was a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” who “willfully retained” classified documents.

Robert Hur, the special counsel, declined to recommend criminal charges against Biden, 81, who is running for a second term this year. The investigation centered on classified documents from Biden’s time in the Senate and from when he served as vice president under President Barack Obama.

Biden responded with a televised news conference Thursday evening where he blasted prosecutors for daring to ask him when his son, Beau, died.

“How in the hell dare he raise that? I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said in his speech.

But despite Biden’s assertions that his memory is fine when answering a question from a reporter, he confused Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with the president of Mexico. Recently, Biden confused German leaders Angela Merkel and Helmut Kohl and French President Emmanuel Macron with former French President Francois Mitterrand.

And he denied the counsel report that he had “willfully” held onto classified documents despite the counsel report explicitly using the word to describe his behavior.

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-Lehigh/Carbon) told NBC News that Biden is fine after seeing his speech Thursday evening.

“He did so well in this discussion with members. He’s very sharp, no memory issues, and his only stumbling is when he trips over words consistent with his lifelong speech impediment.”

Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said, “Another day, another reason Susan Wild’s staunch allegiance to Joe Biden poses a major problem. What will it take for Wild to speak out against Joe Biden’s re-election?”

On Friday, DVJournal asked area members of Congress this question: “Three out of four Americans say President Biden’s fitness for office is a major concern. After reading the DOJ report and watching his response, do you still believe President Biden is mentally and physically capable of doing the job?”

Democratic U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery/Berks), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware/Philadelphia/Montgomery), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks) declined not to respond, as did Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks).

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. declined to respond as well, but Sen. John Fetterman participated in a press call Friday defending Biden and attacking the special counsel.

“You have to remember that you have a Trump appointee,” Fetterman said of Hur. “That’s 350 pages to just say that Joe Biden isn’t going to be indicted here. It was just a smear and cheap shot, and just taking things out of context.”

“I’ve been on Air Force One with the President, and on Marine One with the President and I’ve been around him and he is absolutely lucid and most, just is a regular guy,” Fetterman said in a later interview.

But Republican Dave McCormick, who is running against Casey, shared this social media post: “The special prosecutor says Biden is too old and forgetful to be prosecuted. If he’s too old and forgetful to be prosecuted, he’s too old and forgetful to be president!”

Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who is mounting a long-shot presidential campaign against Biden, called the report a “sad day for America and particularly for President Biden and his family.”

“The report simply affirms what most Americans already know, that the president cannot continue to serve as our Commander-in-Chief beyond his term ending Jan. 20, 2025,” Dean said on Fox News Digital. “Already facing the lowest approval numbers in modern history and losing in each of the key battleground states, this report has all but handed the 2024 election to Donald Trump if Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee — and I invite fellow Democrats to face the truth.”

President Joe Biden, aka “Scranton Joe,” has the lowest approval rating of any modern president at this point in his term. Americans are unhappy about their economic circumstances, they’re angry about chaos at the border, and they hold Biden and his party responsible.

And yet, in Pennsylvania, Republicans are struggling to win elections. That struggle is particularly difficult here in the Delaware Valley. As the 2024 presidential race approaches, Pennsylvania Republicans are asking: What can we do to win?

At the center of this conversation is a familiar name: Donald Trump.

Despite his legal problems, Trump is generally expected to be the Republican nominee. A recent Morning Consult poll found 80 percent of GOP primary voters want Trump to be at the top of the ticket.

State Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia) said Biden’s falling approval ratings are the result of Democrats ignoring issues that matter to the American people. She went on to say the GOP can win in the Delaware Valley by focusing on what people care about.

“People are tired of Democratic politicians focusing on issues that don’t matter,” White said. “The GOP can win because we are focused on what people care about: giving families real choices when it comes to an education that is best for their kids. Next, combatting inflation and protecting their money, keeping neighborhoods safe from violent criminals and drugs, and fighting illegal immigration and all the problems it’s causing.”

To put another perspective on White’s remarks about Democrats not focusing on the issues voters care most about, a recently published report shows Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick outraised incumbent Sen. Bob Casey in the fourth quarter of 2023, a reported $6.4 million, more than Casey has raised in a single quarter.

“Dave McCormick has earned the support of Pennsylvanians from all walks of life because they believe he is the kind of leader who can address the burden of inflation on working families, push for a secure border, and protect the security of Americans at home and abroad,” McCormick’s campaign manager Matt Gruda said in the published report.

An NBC News poll shows Biden’s job rating has hit an “all-time low” of just 37 percent. He gets especially low marks when it comes to his handling of inflation and immigration.

David Dix, CEO and chairman of Luminous Strategies, said that even with his legal problems, it’s clear many Republican voters are pushing for Trump to challenge Biden again. He said if the GOP wants high numbers of voters in the Delaware Valley, it must separate Donald Trump and other local Republicans.

“I don’t see the border problems as one of the top three issues of concern for voters in the Delaware Valley,” Dix said. “For the GOP to do well in our section of the state, they have to …not be attached to the Trump brand, and that’s a delicate dance. In the Delaware Valley, voters are most concerned about paycheck issues, meaning inflation and being heavily taxed. Another top issue for Delaware Valley voters is who is serving on school boards. One of the key national issues is the economy. Clearly, Bidenomics has fallen flat.”

Dix, who has more than 25 years of political and electoral experience, is a regular commentator on Inside Story, a weekly public affairs program on 6ABC WPVI. He went on to say that while border security might not be one of the top three issues of concern to Delaware Valley voters, it is definitely on the list.

“Border protection is important and can’t be minimized,” Dix said. “If the GOP wants to sway more voters to its camp, it needs to develop a comprehensive strategy. Biden must do that. If Trump wins the nomination, he has to position beyond just building more border walls as it pertains to immigration. An overall strategy is needed if the problem is to be finally addressed.”

Two cases show how serious the open border policies by the current administration are. A report released on Jan. 26 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated its officers working at the Paso Del Norte border crossing encountered individuals in four different incidents trying to smuggle fentanyl and methamphetamine concealed internally within their bodies.

Montgomery County law enforcement officials also announced on Jan. 26 the arrests of two individuals charged with multiple felony offenses related to running a major drug trafficking organization supplying Southeastern Pennsylvania with heroin, fentanyl, and Xylazine. The defendants in the case are Richard Nunez and Javier Cornelio Fabian, both of Philadelphia. Investigators seized almost 400,000 doses of the narcotics worth $3.6 million.

Calvin R. Tucker, deputy chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, also remarked that runaway inflation is a major issue for most Americans and one that the president and other Democratic candidates don’t appear to be focused on. He also said the Republican Party must include minority voters in its decision-making on all of the nation’s problems.

“During the Trump presidency, the nation saw its lowest unemployment, and there was no runaway inflation,” Tucker said. Tucker is the managing director of Eagles Capital Advisors, LLC, and has been a Republican for more than 50 years.

“The GOP needs to show leadership and has to include minority leaders in decision-making to move us forward on the very important issues of concern to us. We have to be part of the discussions to find solutions to wealth disparity, poverty, and health. Immigration is important, and citizens in the commonwealth want to welcome legal immigrants. But also, the government has to demonstrate that we are the priority and be forceful in showing illegal immigrants aren’t.

“Biden is struggling to win back Black voters because the administration favors illegal immigrants. America needs a president that is going to put its citizens first and that is Donald Trump. Trump was president for four years, and the problems we have now – not being able to fill our cars with gas and high food prices – didn’t exist. As for his legal problems, they’re based in political theory, not legal theory.”

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What a difference an election year makes.

Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. Bob Casey Jr. has been an outspoken advocate of climate policies designed to reduce the use of fossil fuels and cut carbon emissions. In 2022, he praised President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, saying the $369 billion in green spending “may have been the last chance” for federal action on climate change. Casey voted against a 2021 amendment to reverse Biden’s shutdown of the Keystone XL pipeline, and he’s even floated bringing back the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps to promote “climate change mitigation.”

But with a competitive general election looming in November and a well-funded GOP challenger, Casey signed a letter last week announcing his opposition to the Biden administration’s decision to pause liquid natural gas (LNG) exports.

“Pennsylvania is an energy state,” Casey and fellow Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman wrote. “As the second largest natural gas-producing state, this industry has created good-paying energy jobs in towns and communities across the commonwealth and has played a critical role in promoting U.S. energy independence.”

Fetterman and Casey worry the LNG pause might impact “thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry.” They vowed to push the administration to reverse the decision if it “puts Pennsylvania energy jobs at risk.”

It’s surprisingly strong language for Casey, who voted for Biden’s agenda 99.3 percent of the time last year, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.

Environmental groups were not pleased with the two Democrats’ statement.

“They are being hypocritical, and also they are sticking their head in the ground by ignoring/denying the climate impacts that are being caused by LNG exports and the fracking that fuels it,” said Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) “They are also acting unproductively oppositional to President Biden who also said this pause will examine the community and economic impacts of these DOE authorizations for LNG export and that is inexcusable.”

Only one other Senate Democrat, green activist bête noire Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), openly criticized the Biden policy. Manchin chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and vowed to do everything possible to “end this pause immediately” if it’s proven the Biden administration was pandering to “keep-it-in-the-ground climate activists.”

Manchin isn’t seeking reelection, and there’s been talk that he may run for president as a centrist third-party candidate.

It’s a much different scenario for Casey, who is up for reelection this fall. His likely Republican opponent, Dave McCormick, wasted no time decrying Biden’s LNG pause.

“America and PA lead the world in Liquified Natural Gas, creating jobs for our people & allies for our country,” McCormick posted on social media hours after Biden’s announced the LNG pause last month. “Why is Bob Casey standing with [Biden] on this?”

Almost a week later, Casey announced his opposition.

Fetterman’s commitment to green energy shifted further. After twice signing the No Fossil Fuel Pledge, the alleged progressive said in 2022 that he supports fracking “as long as it’s done environmentally sound.” His Senate campaign claimed he never “supported a fracking ban” and wanted to “preserve the union way of life” for natural gas workers. However, Fetterman said in 2018, “I don’t support fracking.”

Environmental groups, including Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, Sierra Club of Pennsylvania, and PennFuture, declined to comment about the pro-fossil-fuel stance of their political allies. Instead,  Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter Director Tom Schuster said he was confident the federal review would prove LNG projects don’t “serve the public interest and will cancel them.” PennFuture said the pause was “a win for Philadelphia and Chester.”

Energy groups praised Casey and Fetterman for their willingness to break with Biden.

“The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association agrees with the criticism by Sens. Casey and Fetterman of the effect on Pennsylvania jobs of President Bidens’s LNG export pause,” Kevin Moody, PIOGA General Counsel, told DVJournal. “But just as significant, and perhaps even more so, are the adverse effects on our national security and our ability to provide Europe and Asia with the LNG they need and will get from somewhere else.”

Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association President and CEO David Taylor called it electoral politics.

“I think the Biden administration just took a position so extreme that people had to protect their backsides and jump up and say, ‘No, I’m not, I’m not in favor of that,’” he told DVJournal.

Taylor still wondered if Casey’s recent public stance was sincere, given his record.

“[He] worked closely with Joe Biden …certainly in the Democrat primary in 2019 and 2020 [he] was all in for Joe Biden,” Taylor said. “If he’s looking to differentiate himself from [Biden], that may be an exceedingly difficult challenge.”

Carluccio suspects the move could hurt Casey at the ballot box this fall, particularly among environmentally conscious voters in the Delaware Valley.

“Those folks vote,” she said. “More and more people, as they become convinced that fracking is not what it’s made out to be…are going to speak through their vote.”

The U.S. Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on Biden’s LNG export pause.

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