#Operation Warp Speed is an ‘unprecedented’ success and other commentary

Pathologist: Op Warp Speed Is ‘Unprecedented’

“Attacks on President Trump’s performance on COVID-19” are “central” to Joe Biden’s campaign, notes Roger D. Klein at City Journal, and those attacks, along with the media’s “continual faultfinding,” have influenced voter opinion. But they’re “unjustified and unwarranted.” Yes, the FDA’s “initial overregulation and the Centers for Disease Control’s early underperformance” made Trump a “ready target.” But the president’s “targeted regulatory relief and financial incentives stimulated an unprecedented private-sector response to the pandemic, more than compensating.” Crucially, “Operation Warp Speed is compressing the usual new-vaccine implementation time from over ten years to a matter of months” and states that heeded Trump’s advice to reopen quickly “have seen proportionally fewer deaths from COVID-19 and have brought millions more Americans back to work than those that proceeded more slowly.”

Urban desk: Packs of ‘Protesting’ Predators

The Spectator’s Douglas Murray joined Antifa-BLM activists in Portland for a few nights. At a “F- – k Gentrification” march, they paraded “through the streets screaming through megaphones at customers in the remaining bars and at the residents of an area which they claimed had once been lived in by black and indigenous families.” Chants of “the mostly white marchers” included “Wake up, motherf – – ker, wake up.” The next night, they set fires outside a boarded-up ICE building; police responded, only “to retreat under a barrage of ‘oink’ noises” and cries of “Nazis,” with activists “screaming through megaphones . . . about how much the officers’ children would hate their fathers.” They have now pulled down “almost every statue and public monument in the city,” and the few businesses still open operate “as in a city under siege.”

Libertarian: $15-Wage Confusion

Joe Biden paradoxically wants to “help small businesses” by “raising their labor costs with a minimum wage hike” from $7.25 to $15 an hour, observes Reason’s Christian Britschgi. Most studies find a correlation between a higher minimum wage and higher unemployment rates or fewer working hours, so “it’ll likely hurt workers, too.” It’s “a bit of a mystery” how Biden could think “small businesses already coping with massive declines in revenue and increased operating costs would benefit from having their labor get more expensive.” In Thursday’s debate, Biden said struggling businesses should get more money from Congress; Britschgi snarks that “if he has his way on the minimum wage, they’ll need all the assistance they can get.”

From the right: Joe Hasn’t Made the Case

When “you take a clear-eyed look at Biden, there is no meaningful case for his candidacy,” argues Lisa Boothe at The Hill. The Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden’s business dealings calls into question the “good guy” façade on which the Biden campaign is based. His record on racial justice “has been widely criticized by Democrats and others,” and his call for national civility is overshadowed by his behavior as a senator, leading “two of the most vitriolic, destructive Supreme Court confirmation hearings, for Judge Robert Bork and Justice Clarence Thomas.” And his constant flip-flopping means “voters have no reason to trust Biden on policies either.” While the president “certainly has his own faults, you always know where he stands and what he believes. What’s the case for Biden?”

Economist: Don’t Underestimate Biden Pain

At RealClearPolitics, Stephen Moore argues that despite Joe Biden’s claims, “there’s nothing centrist” in his economic plan. Though polls show most voters believe President Trump would be better for the economy, many also think “Uncle Joe’s economic plan is relatively harmless and won’t endanger jobs, paychecks or retirement savings.” Wrong. Moore cites several of Biden’s “economic deadly sins”: a $4 trillion tax hike, ending right-to-work laws and US energy independence and imposing a minimum wage “that will destroy millions of jobs for young people and low-skilled workers.” Many economists worry that under Biden, “we could be looking at a second Great Depression.” — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board