From back in 2019, when Joe Biden released a video announcing his decision to run for president for a third time, the headlines positioned him as the “return to normalcy” candidate. “Joe Biden’s presidency could make America normal again,” screamed The New York Post,.

That was a s--- show,” CNN’s Dana Bash said. “It was a train wreck. But it was the making of one person,” NBC’s Chuck Todd said, referring to the president. And one news report after another characterized the president as “arrogant” and “un-American.”.

Self-blame is one of the most toxic forms of emotional abuse. Psychologists say it exaggerates our perceived inadequacies, whether real or imagined, and creates an illusory ideal that we simply cannot meet. In fact, in the Book of James, we are reminded, we all stumble in many ways” and from the Book of Ecclesiastes, we know “there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”

It’s hard – at least for me – after being involved in politics for nearly five decades to understand just what the Republican Party stands for these days and what its goal really is.