Debate Number One: Now What?
Now that the entire world has seen him in vivo, is it possible for anyone to deny the depth of President Biden’s cognitive decline?
He looked, as he so often does when he’s not reading a teleprompter, uncomfortable, bewildered, and robotic. His worst moment came early, when he could not coherently answer a question about the national debt.
“We’d be able to right wipe out his debt,” he said. “We’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do – child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the… with… with… with the COVID.”
Then a pause, followed by, “Excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with – look, if… we finally beat Medicare…”
And that is when CNN co-moderator Jake Tapper cut him off.
Later, after Biden gave a rambling answer about the border security crisis, Trump said, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
Age was an issue in the debate. And while Trump is no spring chicken, the idiosyncrasies of his posture and facial expressions were not due to a failing mind. The scowling and sneering and rolling of the eyes I saw on Thursday night were the very same that he used so successfully for more than 12 years to embarrass and humiliate contestants on The Apprentice and make it a hit show.
To be fair, the low moment for Trump was highlighted by Bari Weiss when she noted that Biden said Trump had “the morals of an alley cat.” To which Trump responded, “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.”
Which, as Weiss put it, “Just… I mean… With all due respect…
What About the Facts?
Given his weak performance, we will surely be hearing from Biden supporters arguing that although his delivery may have been weak at moments, he was right on the facts.
I did some checking. Depending on the political position of the fact checkers, there is an argument to be made favoring either candidate.
But I am not going to get into that, because nobody cares about the facts anymore. Not our politicians, not our business leaders, not our journalists, and not our voters.
In less than two decades, the US has devolved from one of the richest, strongest, and most just countries in the world (based on Enlightenment values) to a borderless, faithless, fact-less cultural wasteland where the very idea of truth has no meaning.
We no longer even have a single American myth to bind us together. Facts don’t matter. And everyone in politics – from the top to the bottom – knows that to be true.
So, spare me your count on facts.
Does Any of This Matter?
They say that presidential debates have little to no impact on the outcome of elections because by the time they take place most voters have decided whom they are voting for and, thus, judge the debaters’ performances with a strong bias.
This debate, however, took place before either one had been confirmed as his party’s candidate. And it’s quite possible that a larger-than-typical percentage of “undecided” and/or “swing” voters were watching – viewers still trying to figure out which candidate would be better qualified for the world’s most important political post. (Or, more probably, which one would be less likely to break the economy and further divide our citizens, and more likely to put us into WWIII.)
So, yes, debates aren’t usually the deciding factor in presidential elections, and debate performances – strong or weak – shouldn’t affect voters too much.
Except sometimes.
When the nation is in crisis, real crisis, and effective leadership is at the top of voters’ minds, poise and confidence can matter. (I’m thinking of the 1960 debate between Richard Nixon and JFK, where Nixon looked alarmingly nervous and almost creepy, eyes darting back and forth while he wiped beads of sweat off his upper lip.)
Today, the US faces a host of serious challenges, from huge budget deficits and a federal debt over $30 trillion, to rising inflation with stagnating wages, to racial and religious hatred tearing apart any sense of “one nation” – not to mention two major wars, either of which could go nuclear.
And it is in that context, in this era we are living in, with so much doubt and worry and animosity and fear all around us, that Biden lost the debate.
I don’t think his performance will put off any of his staunch supporters because their position has always been passionately anti-Trump. (As Bill Maher once said: “I’d vote for Biden’s brain in a jar of blue liquid rather than for Trump.”)
Here’s Where It May Count
But it had to matter, perhaps very much, to the undecided voters in the swing states. Especially to those that had not seen the dozens of YouTube videos of Biden falling up and down stairs, wandering around at state functions, and completely losing his trend of thought when speaking to the press without cue cards – or had seen them, but had bought into suggestions from the mainstream media that they were “Russian propaganda.”
Any hope that Biden would have been able to persuade them that he is mentally fit to lead the US for another four years… that is all but gone.
For that audience, Biden lost big on Thursday night. Not necessarily because his policies or programs are worse than Trump’s. And not even because he let more than 12 million undocumented immigrants and who knows how many millions of doses of fentanyl over the southern border, or because of his foreign policy, which has put the US in imminent danger of a global war when pragmatism could have resulted in a less tense situation.
He lost because, however undecided voters might think about all that, they cannot possibly believe that Biden can lead America back to peace and prosperity over the next four years.
So, What’s Next?
According to numerous reports, more than a few Democratic Party honchos are seriously worried that another performance like Thursday’s will set Biden back in the swing states even further than he is right now. Likewise with pro-Democrat political pundits, who are talking publicly about the possibility of Biden stepping down to allow someone younger and more capable to replace him in the next debate against Trump.
For example…
* Nicholas Kristof, éminence grise of progressive political commentators: “I wish Biden would reflect on this debate performance and then announce his decision to withdraw from the race, throwing the choice of Democratic nominee to the convention.”
* Kasie Hunt, CNN anchor: “The voice, open-mouthed look, and visual contrast between President Biden and former President Trump all have Democrats I’m talking to nearly beside themselves watching this debate.”
* Top pollster Dave Wasserman: “This debate making abundantly clear that Biden’s insistence on running for another term… has gravely jeopardized Dems’ prospects to defeat Trump.”
* Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s former communications director: “It was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden. I don’t think there’s any other way to slice it.”
What Do I Think?
I don’t know what to think, but I’m feeling better about my prediction that, come this fall, President Biden will not be his party’s nominee.
The Dems are just too weak in the swing states to hope for another victory prompted by the loathing for and/or fear of Donald Trump.
If they want a better chance of winning the presidency – in fact, a good chance – they should go with my recommendation: Gavin Newsom and, as VP (if he can get her), Michelle Obama. That’s a combo that Trump, regardless of his running mate, won’t be able to beat.