Late last week it was reported that Joe Biden was going to leave his dungeon and travel to Wisconsin. This was supposed to be a moment of leadership in which he showed up to calm the seas of rioting that have been roiling following the likely justified shooting of Jacob Blake. It was also going serve as a kind of mental proof of life, indicating that Biden can actually get out on the campaign trail if needed.

Well, so much for that. Biden has decided to retreat and will instead make the much shorter trip over to Pennsylvania to deliver his remarks.

Sources tell me the thinking as of now is that @realDonaldTrump's visit to Kenosha on Tuesday will backfire on him as the Biden campaign seeks to message that the chaos erupting nationwide is on Trump's watch.

— Natasha Korecki (@natashakorecki) August 30, 2020

If Biden thinks Trump visiting the city he’s brought calm to with the National Guard is going to “backfire,” his advisors are letting him down. Kenosha was on fire until Gov. Evers’ hand was forced and he accepted help from the White House. Trump absolutely gets to own the success there and Biden going would have seemed a little ridiculous at this point.

Despite that, Democrats are not happy that Biden won’t be traveling to one of the key states from the 2016 election, at least according to the Politico reporter above. Apparently, they expect him to be an actual presidential candidate, something he’s clearly not capable of.

As an aside, I had to chuckle at this caveat put in the article.

However, before Trump made that call, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers had already sent some National Guard troops to the city and then increased the deployment.

Yes, Evers sent a woefully inadequate number which accomplished nothing until Trump came in with overwhelming force. The initial deployments were so bad that the city council sent a letter calling out the governor. Seeing Politico try to give Evers credit for his weakness is a bit rich.

Regardless, as I said, Biden simply can’t be the candidate the left wants him to be. He can’t barnstorm the campaign trail like Trump is getting ready to do. He can barely get out of his basement once a week at this point and he refuses to do any tough interviews. He’s had only two press conferences in the last four months. This man is a walking empty suit that Democrats hope they can just shove across the finish line.

I’ll end by saying that as a political matter, there’s just noway Biden is going to be able to turn the rioting around on Trump. People have eyes and they recognize that those committing the destruction are all Joe Biden voters. Sure, they might have originally been Bernie Bros, but they are all Democrats who want to remove Trump from office. Trying to paint Trump as responsible for Democrat politicians who refuse his help is not going to work.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)