Former Sen. Al Franken Says Trump Is Doing Great Job Of Digging Hole For Himself – And Biden Should Let Him

Former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, a once rising star in the Democratic party felled by the #MeToo movement, said Wednesday President Trump has turned the November election into a referendum on himself and he will “crash and burn” if he continues down his current path.

“Given Trump's inability to admit and learn from mistakes, there is the real possibility that he will continue to crash and burn all the way through to November 3,” Franken said in a op-ed penned for CNN, his first since resigning from office in 2018. He warned, however, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should not count on that.

Franken, a comedian-turned-politician, said all Biden need do is allow Trump to keep digging the hole he’s been digging since the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the nation and shocked the economy into recession.

At the same time, Franken described Biden as a “fundamentally decent man who could begin healing some of the divisions this president has deliberately exploited and deepened. He said Democrats, however, need to articulate a rationale for voting in the fall. Otherwise, he warned, Trump may refuse to leave office should he lose.

“Biden has to win by a lot. And to do that and carry Democrats to a majority in the Senate, he has to offer Americans a vision of what America can be,” Franken said.

Franken ticked off a litany of what he sees as the nation’s failures, starting with political dysfunction and ending with international relations. He also noted in a Fox News interview, Trump failed to articulate any goals for a second term when asked what he would like to accomplish.

“Joe Biden needs to remind Americans what leadership is supposed to look like. Worldwide, we need to engage our allies if we are to challenge China's emergence as the world's preeminent economic and political superpower,” said Franken, who was once considered a possible 2020 presidential candidate.

Franken was accused of sexual misconduct by eight women, but in his resignation speech recognized the “irony in the fact that I am leaving, while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office.”