I don’t blame those in the Biden camp for doing everything they can to quell internal party rebellion. That’s their job, and I take some comfort that they’re doing it and it’s possible, because if Biden is the nominee, it’s imperative that he beat Trump. But until it’s time to replace Biden, Democrats shouldn’t allow themselves to wallow in fatalism and complacency.
More than a shock, Biden’s performance in the debate was a revelation, confirming his skeptics’ worst fears. Since then, many news reports have made it clear that the Biden we all saw on stage is familiar to those who see him behind the scenes. Axios informed That, according to presidential aides, Biden is alert and engaged from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but not necessarily outside of those hours. The Wall Street Journal informed European officials were concerned about Biden’s “focus and stamina” even before the debate, with “several senior diplomats saying they had tracked a significant deterioration in the president’s faculty in meetings since last summer.” This is not a fixable problem.
Since Thursday, a comeback has been discussed among Democrats. “When you get knocked down, you get back up,” Biden said at a rousing rally in North Carolina on Friday, words that are now part of a new campaign ad. Progressive Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, a Biden surrogate, compare President of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa. But apparently, aging can’t be outdone by hardship.
I’ve heard optimistic Democrats rave about how much better Biden did in North Carolina than he was in the debate the day before, but that’s silly: We all know Biden is usually a good read from a teleprompter. The question is whether he can think and speak extemporaneously, a low bar for the president, and one that Biden can no longer be relied upon to clear. After all, if Thursday was just a bad night, he could reassure the skeptics by doing a bunch of interviews and unscripted town halls. If he’s not doing it, it’s probably because his campaign doesn’t think he can pull it off.
It should go without saying that Biden is preferable to Trump in any situation, especially after Monday’s damning Supreme Court ruling granting presidents immunity for their official acts, an act of civil contempt, but it ensures that a second-term Trump will rule. A vengeful dictator. The stakes of this election are existential; It is a referendum on whether America will continue to be a liberal democracy. Everyone in the anti-Trump coalition is scared, which is why the argument about what to do about Biden is so heated.