On any given Saturday during the autumn season, millions of Americans of all ages, me included, turn our eyes to NCAA college football in stadiums and in living rooms across the nation. Every fourth year on the first Tuesday of November, millions of Americans of ages 18 and older turn out to vote in our Presidential Election. This year I see a link between the two.
Each college football game captures the attention of some fans, but interest peaks nationwide when two undefeated heavyweights compete head-to-head. On October 15, 1988, the consensus #1 ranked University of Miami Hurricanes traveled to South Bend, Indiana, to take on the top 5 ranked (AP #4/Coaches #5) Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Both the game and its subsequent ESPN documentary were christened as” Catholics vs. Convicts.”
As a Notre Dame alum, I supported my team, but did feel some sympathy for the Miami players being collectively branded convicts as only a few on the team or formerly on the team had criminal records. I also found it interesting that currently the number of American Catholics, 52 million, is nearly triple the number of convicted felons – 18 million American citizens.
The 2024 Presidential Election brings us another heavyweight matchup of an undefeated Catholic against a once defeated, 34 times convicted felon.
When evaluating pregame matchups, it is important to examine the team lineups and personal statics.
First, for the Convicts or Team Trump:
Donald Trump was charged, convicted, and is awaiting sentencing. He was also found guilty of libel and sexual abuse in a civil case.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
Rick Gates, Trump’s former campaign vice chairman, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
Roger Stone, Trump’s former adviser and former campaign aide, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s former adviser and former White House aide was charged, convicted, and is currently in prison.
George Papadopoulos, Trump’s former campaign adviser, was charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
Allen Weisselberg, The Trump Organization’s former CFO, was charged, convicted, and is currently serving his second criminal sentence in prison.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s former White House national security advisor, was charged and convicted.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering, in addition to a conviction in a contempt case similar to Navarro’s. He’s expected to begin serving a four month sentence soon.
Elliot Broidy, the vice chair of Trump’s inaugural committee pleaded guilty to federal charges related to illegal lobbying.
Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, Trump lawyers associated with efforts to reverse the 2020 election outcome, have pleaded guilty to election-related crimes.
The Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud.
Now for the Catholics, or Team Biden:
President Biden discovered that he had stored papers from his Vice Presidential service in personal locations after leaving office. Mr. Biden immediately notified the FBI and The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of the documents which were then collected by the FBI and returned to NARA. Special counsel Robert K. Hur investigated the Biden document case and decided not to prosecute. His report stresses that the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents case was at a quantum magnitude different level from that of the Biden Case.
So even with less than a decade of political life vs. 52 years of national political life, the Convicts flounder badly against the Catholics in terms of felony convictions for Team Trump vs. Team Biden.
I will save for another post the legislative records of the Biden Administration vs. the Trump Administration, but again there is no comparison as Biden has arguably the strongest legislative record of any President since LBJ and has overseen the greatest economic recovery in the world following the pandemic. Trump cut taxes for billionaires and failed to protect Americans from Covid.
But let’s look at the stats:
|
|
|
We know the outcome of the Catholics vs. Convicts Round 1: Notre Dame defeated Miami 31-30. The Irish went undefeated for the season and after a victory in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2nd were crowned national champions. Miami was voted as the #2 team in the nation.
On January 20, 2025, either Joe Biden or Donald Trump will be sworn in as President. The difference in this choice could not be more striking or important for our American experiment in Democracy. This contest is more important than any football game. To achieve a second victory of Catholics over Convicts in 2024, please encourage all your family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances to vote for Joe Biden on November 5th
Robert Kahn
