About Meacham and his journey to the Dems

Why do I even care about Jon Meacham? One reason is that NeverTrumpers fascinate me, and although you might not share that interest, I am intensely curious about what makes them tick. It’s not just their dislike of Trump – that’s the easier part to understand, and I think it’s based on a kneejerk patrician revulsion and a focus on certain things he’s said that really are somewhat offensive and/or which have been twisted into something they were not (the Charlottesville hoax, for example). But how can they switch to the current Democrats and the corruption, mendacity, and leftism of Joe Biden and those he has appointed, as well as his incredibly destructive policies? And how in particular can someone like Meacham see Biden as a soul-saver, and provide the words for him to assert that idea while simultaneously trashing half of America? How can Meacham justify this to himself? Because it’s pretty clear to me at this point that this “saving the soul of America” theme is Meacham’s, written by Meacham for Biden to mouth right from the start of his presidency and even during his candidacy.

And although you may disagree, I think Meacham is sincere. I think that as a writer he has held to an idea of forces of light and darkness in American history, and Trump is the darkness (a la Ku Klux Klan and Father Coughlin and McCarthy, from that Amazon description) and Biden is the light. That this is now in the realm of fantasy is not apparent to Meacham, because it is so compelling and he so wishes it to be that way. A vision of the anointed, indeed. This is my strong impression on learning about Meacham’s history and his role in Biden’s campaign. …

I doubt that Meacham had much if anything to do with the lighting and setting of Biden’s awful Phildelphia speech. If he had, as a history writer he might have recognized that it was likely to conjure up, not a uniting lightbringer, but those forces of darkness that so repelled Meacham “with lighted torches…Veins bulging…spewing…bile.” But to him and to Biden’s aides, that thought probably wouldn’t occur, because they apparently are so focused on their own message and think Biden is a believable messenger to deliver it (or perhaps the only one available right now), and that the evil of the other side is so apparent. They don’t see that speech as a declaration of war on kulaks or on Jew-equivalents, and that the imagery reinforced that perception.

I am struck, also, by the Biblical nature of the phrase Meacham used in Biden’s inaugural speech: “to restore the soul and to secure the future of America.” “Restore the soul” – what does it conjure up for you? For me, it’s the 23rd Psalm, King James edition. How ludicrous to apply that to Joe Biden. And yet there it is, courtesy of Jon Meacham.