Joe Biden had a bad night. He made a mistake. He wasn’t feeling well. And from now on, there won’t be any events scheduled after 8 p.m. so that he can get more sleep. Democrats seem to have no shortage of explanations for the president’s terrible debate performance that don’t include some form of long-term cognitive decline. But each new excuse is another nail in the coffin. Every time the party solidifies behind Biden, arguing that he’s sharp as a tack and still has a chance of winning, it threatens the credibility and even the electoral futures of his fellow Democrat politicians.
Can the current president beat Trump? Could a replacement – assuming he could be convinced to step down – do any better this late in the game? Democrats have backed themselves into a damned if they do, damned if they don’t kind of corner by continually denying the president’s obviously degrading condition, and they don’t have many options left.
Singing the Biden Blues
The Democratic Party is torn over whether Biden should end his campaign for re-election, making way for someone else who might stand a better chance of beating Trump. As Liberty Nation News previously reported, calls came from the left-wing media almost immediately after the debate for the president to bow out. Multiple polls show many voters at home share that sentiment, as do many of the party’s elected politicians in the Swamp and around the nation. But there are those in all three groups who have taken a stand in support of Biden, as well. Both sides of this spectrum, though, may end up singing the Biden blues whether he stays in the race or not. In either case, there’s a good chance Trump will win the election.
There are those who genuinely believe that, if the president were to allow it, another Democrat could be nominated and take his place on the ballot, securing the party a win over Trump in November. Then there are those who “see the writing on the wall,” figuring they’re doomed with or without Biden.
“About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate,” said Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp (D-WA). “I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump.”
Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat from Maine, seemed even more resigned. “While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win,” he told Bangor Daily News. “And I’m OK with that.”
Many other Democrats expressed similar doubts, whether they called for Biden to step down or not. But the president had plenty of support, as well – including 23 Democratic governors from around the nation who gathered at the White House Wednesday. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called Biden honest and candid and said that the governors were going to have his back. Kathy Hochul of New York said Biden is “in it to win it,” and that they have to support him “because the stakes could not be higher.”
“I heard three words from the President tonight – he’s all in. And so am I,” California Governor Gavin Newsom posted to X Wednesday night. “You don’t turn our back because of one performance. What kind of party does that? This president has delivered. We need to deliver for him at this moment.”
More at Stake Than Just the White House
Aside from simple worry over the White House, Democratic lawmakers are concerned that a lack of voter enthusiasm for the presidential race could hurt them as well come Election Day. One look at the turnout between midterms and presidential election years proves that plenty of voters are only motivated when the White House is in play. Any disgruntled Democrats who stay home because of Biden also leave the down-ballot candidates out in the cold, imperiling the party’s slim majority in the Senate and dashing any dreams of taking the House.
But those who stand by Biden may have a heftier price to pay as well: credibility and electability. The longer elected politicians refuse to recognize the president’s deteriorating condition, the more they look to disillusioned voters like liars or fools – or worse, both. Anyone who can see Biden’s condition must question either the integrity or the mental acuity of anyone else who can’t or won’t.
Rather than waiting for voters to come to this conclusion on their own, however, one GOP challenger is pushing the issue. Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, faced a new attack ad Sunday from Republican challenger Dave McCormick’s campaign that claims he knew of Biden’s condition and stood by him anyway. The 35-second video highlights the president’s poor performance in the debate, then shows Casey proclaiming that Biden is up for the job should he win. It ends with the question: “When will Casey finally tell the truth?”
How many Republican challengers to Democrat-held seats will follow suit? More importantly, how many voters will have their “aha” moment because of it? Biden told radio host Earl Ingram in a July 4 interview that he had a bad night and he had “screwed up.” He then said that it was just 90 minutes on stage.
Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years,” he continued. But conservatives have been pointing to terrible performances by the president – both in personal appearances and in policy – from the very beginning. How many of his former supporters are now looking back on those instances with fresh eyes? And what happens when the Democrats who stand by Biden even now – especially the big names like Newsom or Hochul – are up for re-election or, for that matter, decide to reach for the brass ring themselves?
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