The Tribune

with CHARLIE HARPER

“EVEN bad publicity is good publicity.” Do you remember who made that famous?

It was Donald Trump, reportedly speaking on his long-running and tremendously successful TV serial ‘The Apprentice’, and writing in best-selling books like ‘The Art of the Deal’.

And he lived by that maxim, seeking headlines, lurid pictures and incessant coverage from the New York media as he began his relentless ascent from privileged but also relatively anonymous beginnings as son of a wealthy real estate developer to the central figure in the American social and political consciousness.

It’s now been two weeks since the June 27 televised debate between former American president Trump and current president Joe Biden. And guess what?

Everyone’s talking about ... Biden! Every day at the White House press briefing, on cable newscasts from the right, left and centre of the political spectrum, in the editorial board rooms of the best, most trusted newspapers in the US and even in the thoughts and words of many millions of Americans who don’t live in the cloistered cocoons of New York City and Washington, DC, it’s Good Old Joe who is top of mind.

Ironically, for Trump at least, as the current saga unfolds around Biden and whether he will remain in the presidential race, be forced out from within his own party, step down on his own or something else will happen to alter the current lineup of Trump v Biden Part II, it is Scranton (PA) Joe who is dominating the discourse.

Two things about this. First, as Biden and his family clearly project their intention to ride out this hurricane of doubt, criticism and concern, will the embattled president actually manage to survive the popular and media storm and cruise to nomination by his Democratic Party at their convention next month in Chicago?

But second, when will Trump get sick of watching his bitter rival hog all the headlines while he is consigned to the status of backstage hero or knave, depending on which side of the political and television fence you are on?

Aren’t you wondering how long it will be before Trump blasts out of his relative quiescence and tries to pry away the headlines again? It’s doubtful he will wait too long. The Republican Party nominating convention is going to start in Milwaukee next week.

We’re all still wondering who will be chosen as Trump’s vice-presidential running mate. But how many people are really thinking of that now? Polls and pundits suggest that many more folks are engaged in indignation, defiance, anger, sorrow and even anticipation over Biden’s continuing battle to overcome an historically weak debate performance.

At the moment, there do not appear to be many secrets about these two flawed candidates for the most powerful and significant position in our contemporary world.

After a decade in the white-hot heat of America’s formidable public glare, Trump is well defined for almost everyone not living in a cave. If you look up ‘polarizing’ in the dictionary, you’d likely see his bouffant combed-over, fading blond hairy visage glaring defiantly at you. Everyone paying attention has already made up their mind about America’s great demagogue.

Maybe the most important facet of Trump is his hair.

A British men’s lifestyle magazine named Gentleman’s Journal this week quoted a well-known hair stylist: “I don’t think anyone could convince Trump to change his hair – but I’d have him wear it closer to his scalp. Right now, his hair and head look like they’ve had an argument and are trying to get away from each other. I’d bring it closer in at the sides and comb the hair across his head rather than front to back. Straighter lines might soften his jowls a little...”

Another hair professional offered this assessment to the magazine: “With this in mind – the terrible colour and sloppy lack of sharpness around the perimeter – I would definitely say that it’s up there as one of the worst hairstyles in the world – but also the most discussed. His advisors could have tamed it down, but any publicity is good publicity – and here we are talking about it!”

So, there it is, the magazine’s editors conclude:

“Trump’s hair, an analysis: It’s an antique gold comfort blanket-cum-display of individuality, intended to show him as staunch and loyal but in reality, falling short as looking cartoonish and stubborn. A hairy issue, no question – but this threadbare thatch looks set to stay.”

Biden is not going to compete with Trump in the public consciousness. His shtick is workmanlike competence. Or at least that’s what it was.

In most public appearances, Biden still generally looks good. He’s tall, slim and appears to keep himself in pretty good physical shape. He sports aviator sunglasses that he and wife Jill seem to always favour when they’re out and about in the sunshine. His smile can still light up a room.

As a much younger man who was first elected to the US Senate at the age of 31, Biden already showed definitive evidence of losing his hair, but he was handsome, successful and looked confident enough to rule the world. Which, in a sense, he’s doing now.

But there’s this different, troubling side to Biden now. He is often photographed with shoulders slightly slumped, his thin, hair-plugged mane stubbornly shaggy just at the back of his neck. He can seem hesitant and on the verge of an embarrassing stumble as he tentatively makes his way on or off the presidential jet Air Force One or the presidential helicopter Marine One. He looks old and tired at times.

Biden is, and clearly sees himself, as an indominable fighter who has overcome major obstacles throughout his life and will do so again between now and Election Day on November 5.

It’s interesting to watch Trump and Biden as they gather themselves for their November rematch. And it’s just as interesting to watch as the Democratic Party, which sees itself as the party of true democracy, seem to fall in line behind a worrisome, flawed leader, with none of the party leaders courageous enough to speak out against his continued candidacy.

That’s just what the Democrats have spent the past four years criticizing the Republicans for doing with Donald Trump.

This is not to say that the two major American political parties are mirror images of each other. Their differences are etched in bold relief in the American political consciousness – especially these days.

But the Dems and the GOP are led by ambitious, power-hungry men who hate to lose and project their testosterone-fueled rivalry onto a country and world in desperate need of sober, strong American leadership at a time of unusual international restlessness and genuine danger as conflicts with ancient, unresolved origins continue to rage in the geographic neighbourhoods inhabited by Israel and Ukraine and other regional conflicts and animosities threaten to explode like so many spot fires in the American West.

As America’s loyal (except perhaps for Viktor Orban’s Hungary) NATO allies gather in Washington this week for a much-anticipated summit meeting that is likely to move ever closer to a promise of future membership for Ukraine, the biggest headline for most media will be Biden’s ability to project and personify American strength and resolve.

It is likely that as this meeting concludes, reporters from all over the world will mine and dissect and analyse every other Western leader’s spoken and written words, smiles, eye-rolls and physical affect for clues about their real assessment of Biden’s mental acuity and physical stamina.

They aren’t likely to find much to parse. It’s no secret that every European leader (again, perhaps except for Orban) desperately wants to see Biden or some other Democrat prevail against Trump and his nativist view that the US neither needs nor should continue to support the NATO alliance which has undergirded Western security and prosperity for 75 years.

For Europe, Vladimir Putin’s Russian megalomania remains an existential threat. While it’s possible that in the future, Europe’s leaders will decide they must make and execute a plan for security independent of American military might, that day is not close at hand.

They need the US committed to NATO and engaged in the world. Our neighbours in the Caribbean and in South America need America’s strength and commitment too.

But we’re not voting in November.