Medved: Biden v. Trump is ‘a depressing prospect to most Americans’

President Joe Biden fell on stage as he finished handing out diplomas at the United States Air Force Academy commencement on Thursday, but is reportedly fine and did not need assistance after the fall, according to White House staff.

The incident went viral instantaneously, with presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) calling the moment sad, frustrating, and symbolic of the state of the country. Former President Donald Trump said he was glad Biden was not hurt, while also stating, “that’s a bad place to fall, that’s not inspiring.”

“Bob Dole fell off a stage. Gary Bauer, when he was running for president, fell off a stage. Gerald Ford fell down an airport stairway while he was president. I mean, again, these are human beings. They tend to be elderly human beings, Joe Biden is more elderly than most,” AM 770 KTTH host Michael Medved said on The Gee and Ursula Show. “But what matters for him is doing the job and, frankly, avoiding default, which was such a scary thing and could have impacted every single American household. It would have cost us eight million jobs, it really was a very serious matter.”

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U.S. avoids default under Biden

The Senate voted Thursday to send a compromise bill to President Biden’s desk that extends the government’s borrowing authority until January 2025 — staving off a potential default that would have happened next week. A sovereign default is a failure to honor debt obligations as a government. If the U.S. defaulted, Associated Press analysts predicted the U.S. economy would sink with 7.8 million jobs vanishing, borrowing rates skyrocketing, unemployment reaching 8%, and the stock market taking on significant losses. The vote concluded with 63 in favor of the compromise, with 36 against.

“The extreme right and the extreme left voted against an agreement. They wanted default and there were 31 Republican senators, I’m ashamed to say, who voted against this deal. There were only four Democratic senators who voted against this deal,” Medved said. “But the truth of the matter is, the Republican Party and its leadership — McConnell and Speaker of the House McCarthy — were part of the deal and got it done. Now we move forward and spend a little bit less with some meaningful changes.”

President Biden announced he will speak Friday at 4 p.m. explaining the details of the compromise, which will raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. The passed legislation did not set a new monetary cap, and called for maintaining most federal spending at the current level starting in October, with a 1% increase in the following 12 months, according to VOA.

“I’m so thrilled everybody acted like an adult in Washington, D.C,” Medved added. “By the way, congratulations to Chuck Schumer who handled this very well on the Senate side. A congratulations to Kevin McCarthy who handled it very well on the Republican side in the House of Representatives. And to President Biden. It would have been disastrous for the country and for his administration if we had gone into default. We wouldn’t have the market up 600 points today like it is.”

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Who will the Republican Party endorse beyond Trump, DeSantis?

“What is the future for the Republican Party?” Gee Scott, co-host of The Gee and Ursula Show, asked Medved on KIRO Newsradio.

“I think what is desperately needed is to move beyond Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, both of whom are very flawed candidates,” Medved answered.

Beyond DeSantis and Trump, Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, has announced her bid for the presidency. Haley was also the 29th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for two years, from January 2017 through December 2018. Other candidates in the pool are Ryan Binkley, the CEO and co-founder of Generational Equity Group, political commenter and talk radio host Larry Elder, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, American businessman Perry Mason, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

“I think Tim Scott is doing well on the campaign. I’m sorry that he joined most of his Republican colleagues in the Senate and voted no on the deficit on the debt ceiling deal, but he’s still a viable candidate who could surge,” Medved said. “I think Nikki Haley could also surge.”

Medved also included Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, who’s seriously considering a presidential run according to officials familiar with Burgum.

“Doug Burgum is a very good guy. Would be probably a very good candidate, but he has no chance, “Medved said. “And he’s coming forward. I think the more things open up, and the more it looks like it’s going to be Biden vs. Trump again, that’s a depressing prospect to most Americans. I think we have a real chance of fresh candidates on both sides.”

Additionally, former Vice President Mike Pence plans to enter the race June 7 with a campaign video and a kickoff speech in Des Moines, Iowa, according to NBC News.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump leads all candidates in polling at 53.9% by June 1 (hitting a peak of 54.3% late last month), with DeSantis currently second at 21.1%. Pence (5.4%), Haley (4.5%), Ramaswamy (3.5%), and Scott (2.1%) were the others to receive votes.

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“Trump’s not only relevant, but he is the front runner for the Republican party,” Gee said. “Today is June 2. In July, August, September, and October, Donald Trump will still be the front runner. I guarantee you in 2024, Donald Trump will be the front runner for the GOP. Why? Because that is what the Republican Party is about. They are about Trump being the leader. Prove me wrong.”

“Ok, I’ll prove you wrong,” Medved retorted. “The GOP, just in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy was able to get more than two-thirds of the Republican members of the House to vote for this debt deal. And Trump did not endorse it. Trump was actually kind of dodgy about it. DeSantis was openly against it. And look, I think at some point or another, it’s going to be put up or shut up. The American people are going to want to talk about the future, about doing things differently. Nobody wants to go back to the past.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.