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FIRST 2024 US PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Biden needs to go, but he won’t
PHOTO: REUTERS
Watching the first US presidential debate between Donald Trump, a convicted felon and fascist, and incumbent President Joe Biden for 90 minutes felt as painful as getting through a wisdom tooth removal. The debate, rather a debacle, has led the nation to a panic stream about its future leadership and the future in general. We have been familiar with the fears about Donald Trump throughout, that he is not a legitimate choice; he spews conspiracy theories and lies like a machine gun. The debate was the earliest in electoral history—both are presumed party nominees—and in fact, the Biden campaign pushed for it to remind the public of the former president’s chaotic nature. The Biden campaign prepared for weeks in Camp David, but the result of that was a disoriented, alarmingly incoherent Joe Biden who, more than once, could not complete a sentence.
The media coverage since has been rampant with discussions about Biden’s embarrassing underperformance that has crystallised fears about his age—though he’s only four years older than Trump—and raised questions about his cognitive fitness to run the most powerful country in the world. It takes a lot to overshadow Donald Trump in a negative way. For an hour and a half, Biden stood on the stage, unable to answer questions, and unable to remember things he’s done himself. Expected to make a strong case for why he should be re-elected, Biden did exactly the opposite. He could not respond to Trump’s jabs, and just spewed a few insults, calling him “a loser and a sucker.” Biden was so incredibly sluggish that it makes one wonder whether this man even makes the decisions that come out of the White House, or whether he just sits there with a group of others in the Oval Office, while his secretary of state or vice-president gives him papers to sign with his executive pen.
The New York Times ’ editorial board has already called for Biden to step aside; his supporters are saying that as a patriot, he should put the country before himself. The US media is already analysing what would happen if Democrats open up the convention on August 19 in Chicago, and considering potential candidates like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, among others. But the question is: where were these candidates during the primaries? Why did none of them run rigorous presidential campaigns? Does Joe Biden run such a formidable lobby within the Democratic Party that no sane person could tell him that his time is up? While the media and reportedly some Democrats have “quietly’’ considered some replacement options, support from the members of the Democratic Party for Biden remains steady even after the disastrous debate.
Biden won the primaries essentially unchallenged. California Governor Gavin Newsom was seen as a front-runner for the 2024 presidential race, but he put that to bed quickly last September, saying he had “great respect and reverence for Joe Biden as a person.” After Biden’s underperformance, media outlets continue to name Newsom as a potential replacement, while he himself told MSNBC, “You don’t turn your back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?”
The mental fogginess that Biden displayed on that debate stage in Atlanta surely didn’t happen overnight. One can say he is not like this every day, that he had a bad night, but he must be this out of it some days, and that itself is a huge issue for a commander-in-chief at such a critical time for the US—and the world. CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Vice-President Kamala Harris, “Is this the Biden you work with every day?” She responded rather defensively, reiterating the president’s superior performance in contrast to Trump, which the former failed to communicate at a worrying level during the debate.
The huge game changer that the media is pushing for would realistically require Joe Biden to say, “I can’t do this job,” and release all the delegates he has accumulated, which would open the field for dozens of candidates. It would be chaotic and tough; a new candidate would lack Biden’s established branding as a universal household name and need heavy advertising in a short span of time. The move could reveal factionalism and cracks in the Democratic Party, but all that chaos would serve the US better than four years of Donald Trump, who has vowed to be a “dictator” from day one.
By the looks of it, however, Biden has not indicated a desire to gracefully step down. After the debate, he appeared in North Carolina, and did what he does best: honestly address his own shortcomings, seem relatable, and say, “I know how to do this job.” He started by stating, loudly, squinching his forehead, “Folks, I know I’m not a young man… I don’t walk as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to.” But he made it clear that the “stakes are too high,” and invoked familiar tactics, saying like millions of Americans, “when you get knocked down, you get back up.”
What’s clear for now is that the Biden campaign is rushing behind the scenes to control the spiralling speculations of “the beginning of the end.” But that is a short-term solution. If Biden is this rusty today, how will he be after four years, if re-elected? There are many, many questions to ask and consider for the Democratic Party. Reportedly, influential donors have pressured Biden to step aside. The hope among Democrats that this round of panic can fizzle out is not impossible, and it is unclear how much this will affect voter decision. But the possibility that this could get worse, and Biden could lose to Trump, is just as real too.
The main factor favouring the sitting president is the sentiment that a vote for Biden is a vote against Trump. When Biden says the stakes are too high, it is because he, along with many members of the Democratic Party, genuinely believe that only Joe Biden can defeat Donald Trump, because he did it in 2020. But things have changed since then; Biden is not the same person anymore. Though the US economy has done well under his administration, Biden isn’t currently assertive enough to reap a winning electoral strategy out of it. His foreign policy missteps, especially in regard to the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, will likely sway some young voters, as well as Arab voters in swing states like Michigan.
Donald Trump used “Palestinian” as a slur and said Israel should “finish the job,” and spouted nonsense theories about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He said ridiculous things about abortions, and Roe v Wade, but all of that has blended into the background. Instead, pro-Dem media outlets are remembering and even agreeing with Trump’s words, “I don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence and I don’t think he knows either.” If Biden continues this way—in debates, on live television—the attention on his weakness can cost him and his party the election. There is still time to introduce a new face and a charged, exciting voice, but it’s hard to imagine Biden and the Democrats doing that. It hasn’t happened since 1884, and the idea that he will step down after just one debate is a dream that won’t come true. After all, the course of US politics recently has dwelled much more on illogical party loyalty and lust for power, than the right thing to do.
The mental fogginess that Biden displayed on that debate stage in Atlanta surely didn’t happen overnight. One can say he is not like this every day, that he had a bad night, but he must be this out of it some days, and that itself is a huge issue for a commander-in-chief at such a critical time for the US—and the world.