Why Biden is smiling today

The winner of last night’s GOP debate wasn’t there.

I’m talking about President Biden.

Two hours of canned lines, thrown punches and awkward body language (it seems like it actually hurts Ron DeSantis to smile) resulted in two fundamental problems for Republicans.

First, nothing changed the dynamics of the Republican primary. Former President Trump had a wide lead over his GOP opponents when the debate began; that won’t change for the foreseeable future.

Second, instead of showcasing a strong, confident Republican Party, the debate exposed serious rifts in ideology — a party drifting from its moorings. The GOP once stood proudly, unequivocally, for the defense of liberty around the world. Last night, that same party sparred over whether we should support Ukraine in its war against a revanchist, expansionist, nuclear-armed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At one point during the debate, Fox showed the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. I imagined Reagan rolling in his grave during the foreign policy segment.

The candidates jousted over wildly unpopular positions with a mainstream electorate: cutting Social Security and Medicare, banning abortion across the nation, passing bigger tax breaks for the rich at the expense of middle class and working families.

For a MAGA primary, the debate did little to shake the king from his throne. For a general election, it reminded non-MAGA voters why they should reelect Biden.

Speaking of the king, I never thought I’d say this, but I missed Trump. It was like going to a Broadway show and learning that the star isn’t performing, and there’s not even an understudy — just a bunch of people auditioning for the part.

Moderator Bret Baier at one point acknowledged that Trump was “the elephant not in the room.” In 2016, Trump defined the debates. Last night’s lacked definition. In the March 2016 Republican debates, Trump left us questioning the size of Sen. Marco Rubio’s (Fla.) hands and other anatomical parts. Last night left us wondering who Doug Burgum is and why he was on the debate stage.

Still, the debate had its entertaining moments.

The attempted takedown of entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was expected. Here, the most effective zinger came from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, blasting Ramaswamy as “a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.” It’s true. Ramaswamy is auditioning for the role of Trump’s hand-picked candidate for vice president. What we saw last night was an overly eager, well-practiced contestant on “The Apprentice.”

The clumsiest moment was Sen. Tim Scott’s (S.C.) promise to fire Attorney General Merrick Garland on his first day as president, which, I suppose doesn’t bode well for the rest of the Biden Cabinet if Scott wins. How bold! How morally courageous!

The oddest moment: moderator Martha MacCallum’s question to Christie about UFOs, and his dexterous flip to his war on teachers unions. Who knew that the old science fiction line “take me to your leader” refers to American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten?

Then there was the body language. When asked to raise their hands if they’d support Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee even if he’d been convicted of a felony, arms were thrust. Except for Christie’s, who then seemed to get into a mini debate over the technical difference between raising a hand and wagging a finger. By the way, I propose the next GOP debate be held on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, where Trump infamously boasted that he could “shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Certainly not on last night’s debate stage, where it was demonstrated that at least one man is above the law.

The debate was at times feral, which makes sense. The MAGA electorate is itself feral, escaped from the domestication of respect for institutions, civility, the Constitution, law and order. It was a dystopian chorus of Trump’s inaugural speech in 2017, where America was declining, dismal, a place of carnage.

Meanwhile, far from the debate stage, where facts matter, the Biden administration has helped create 13 million jobs, the strongest two years of small business creation in history, and record-low unemployment. NATO is unified and even growing, Russia is weakening, our alliances are deeper in the Pacific as a result of last week’s agreements with Japan and South Korea.

Which brings us to the most vital question: In the only debate between the 1980 presidential campaign incumbent Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, Reagan asked Americans, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” The answer then was a resounding “no.”

The answer now is yes. And watching last night’s debate, contemplating the prospect of nationwide bans on abortions, lower taxes on the wealthy while Medicare and Social Security are squeezed, policies that enrich polluters while more storms and wildfires rage, and a return to the chaos of Trump, the answer is clearer than ever.

Steve Israel represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives over eight terms and was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2011 to 2015. He is now director of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. Follow him @RepSteveIsrael.