He did it. In announcing during a lengthy live interview with radio host Howard Stern that he was happy to debate Donald Trump, President Joe Biden threw the first punch. “I am somewhere,” he said. “I don’t when. I’m happy to debate him.”

Biden scored two blows at once. In appearing on the Howard Stern for a one-on-one interview, he took a swipe at the New York Times which has apparently been pouting, as Politico reported, that he won’t grant it an exclusive interview and he went on the offensive against Trump. The Trump camp claims that he will be more than happy to face off against Biden, but that may prove to be as reliable a promise as Trump’s assertion that he plans to testify at his New York trial (which he’s already started waffling about).

What kind of a debate it would be—or whether it would even merit the term is an open question. Trump doesn’t like to debate. He likes to pronounce. It cost him dearly in his first matchup with Biden when he engaged in the rhetorical equivalent of throwing ketchup against the wall. More than a glimpse of this Trump was on view when he spoke with Greg Kelly of Newsmax on Thursday night. Trump, who never misses an opportunity to whine about his self-inflicted legal predicaments, explained that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, not to mention Judge Arthur Engoron, have something in common: “They’re evil, you know. They’re evil, they’re sick.” He concluded, “These people are crazy.”

If you want crazy, however, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem might be a better place to look. In a new book called No Going Back, she ventilates her hatred for her former puppy Crickets as well as a foul-tempered goat, both of whom she apparently executed in a gravel pit. No going back indeed.

The fourteen-month-old Cricket was supposed to be a bird dog but all she produced, as far as Noem could see, was crickets In true MAGA fashion, she acted decisively to deal with an encumbrance. “I hated that dog,” Noem writes. “It was not a pleasant job but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.” And to think of the grief that Mitt Romney took for strapping his dog Seamus in 1983 to the top of the roof of his Chevrolet station wagon in a carrier for 12 hours during a family vacation. Noem, though, showed that she was no RINO. The New Republic suggests that “we have reached the `murdering puppies’ stage of Trump VP auditions,” given that Trump is known to be afraid of dogs.

For now, Trump has bigger concerns than selecting a vice-president. In his testimony today, former National Enquirer head honcho David Pecker acknowledged that it was standard procedure for Michael Cohen, who was working for Donald Trump in 2016, to supply amendments to the source agreement with his former inamorata Karen McDougal. In addition, Pecker has testified that Trump’s principal concern wasn’t that his family would discover his relationship with McDougal but that it might damage his presidential campaign.

For Melania, who turns 54 today, the trial is an odd birthday present. Trump lamented, “it would be nice to be with her” before going on a fresh tirade about the iniquities that he was being subjected to by vengeful prosecutors. Similarly, Trump has complained that the trial is keeping him from hitting the campaign trail. But this past Wednesday, when the trial wasn’t held, he didn’t hold a rally. Instead, he had a more important task—going golfing at his Bedminster club in New Jersey.

About the Author: Jacob Heilbrunn

Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of The National Interest and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. He has written on both foreign and domestic issues for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Reuters, Washington Monthly, and The Weekly Standard. He has also written for German publications such as Cicero, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Der Tagesspiegel. In 2008, his book They Knew They Were Right: the Rise of the Neocons was published by Doubleday. It was named one of the one hundred notable books of the year by The New York Times. He is the author of America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.

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