There’s a story going around about an alleged confrontation between a young Joe Biden and a black gang member nicknamed Corn Pop that is worth a second look. The Washington Examiner provides the basic outline:
Biden has regaled audiences with parts of the story several times, which he claims took place when he was a lifeguard at a predominantly black pool in Wilmington, Delaware. He remembers how when he kicked a local gang leader named “Corn Pop” out of the pool for violating the rules, Biden was warned that Corn Pop was going to be waiting for him after work with a switchblade.
Biden said he prepared himself by wrapping a metal chain around his arm. Corn Pop was waiting by Biden’s car “with three guys and straight razors. Not a joke.”
“And I looked at him, but I was smart then, I said first of all, I said when I tell you to get off the board you get off the board, and I’ll kick you out again, but I shouldn’t have called you Esther Williams, I apologize for that,” Biden said, revealing Corn Pop was stunned by the apology and decided to not attack him.
There’s a lot about the story that doesn’t wash, according to Michael Harriot, a writer for the Root, who notes in a tweet that Biden claims he took the job “in hopes of learning more about the black community.”
So, that summer, Biden was the only white lifeguard at Prices Run swimming pool in Brown-Burton Winchester Park. He says he did it—y’all, I SWEAR this is true—”in hopes of learning more about the black community.”
Yes, that’s an actual quote.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 14, 2019
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
But there’s another angle to the story worth exploring, and it’s one I’ve alluded to before. And that is Biden’s tough guy persona, which he wears as a badge of honor. In this tale, for example, the 20-year-old Biden wraps a metal chain around his arm in preparation to go mano a mano with some hard-hitting homies with straight razors. Bravado aside, why isn’t the Left horrified by the former vice president’s conspicuous “toxic masculinity”? (RELATED: When is the Left going to take Biden to task over his ‘toxic masculinity’?)
According to the contemporary liberal handbook:
Toxic masculinity refers to traditional cultural masculine norms that can be harmful to men, women, and society overall; this concept of toxic masculinity is not intended to demonize men or male attributes, but rather to emphasize the harmful effects of conformity to certain traditional masculine ideal behaviors.
I presume that a willingness (eagerness) to do combat with street punks armed with knives qualifies.
Never mind that Biden’s truck with Corn Pops more likely occurred at the breakfast table, not at a minority pool. Why is the Left not horrified over a presidential candidate so dripping with outdated machismo that he recently shrugged off concerns about his health by challenging a reporter who broached the subject to wrestle:
WATCH: Biden just committed to releasing his medical records before the first votes, when asked by @igorbobic. @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/fylqqhQFPZ
— Bo Erickson (@BoKnowsNews) September 13, 2019
In March, he said that if he and Donald Trump “were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him,” adding “I’ve been in a lot of locker rooms my whole life. I’m a pretty damn good athlete. Any guy that talked that way was usually the fattest, ugliest S.O.B. in the room.”
And what was he willing to beat the snot out of Trump over? His crude remarks about “touching women.” Game, set, and match go to the kettle.
