A week ago, it looked as though President Biden might actually get bumped from the Democratic Party’s ticket. His embarrassing debate performance, which really just confirmed what we all knew about his acuity, turned many liberals against him.
But now Biden appears to have calmed the swarm. It looks like his presidency and his candidacy are going to survive.
Is it because Biden has proven himself to be mentally fit since then? Nope.
Rather, Democrats have simply come to the realization that they have no better option. And so a man so diminished that he shouldn’t be doing the job of president will simply continue to be their candidate to do the job through 2028.
How is this, you ask? Because their priority is holding onto power, not the best interest of their country.
It’s not that Biden has lost a step or two. He has lost multiple flights of stairs. This was already arguably the case before the 2020 election, but it has clearly gotten much worse since then.
Biden, according to his staff, is really only able to do the job of president between the hours or 10:00 am and 4:00 pm eastern time. Unfortunately, the world’s worst bad guys don’t operate on Eastern Daylight Time.
That should be the only consideration anyone involved has: not whether the man can win an election, but whether the man can even do the job. For Biden, the answer is a resounding no. Not only should he not be reelected, but he should resign, or else his own Cabinet should defenestrate him.
I say that as someone who would like nothing more than to see Biden limp into this fall’s race and fall on his face. The only problem is that our country has to survive until January, when the new president would take office. Biden’s continued dotage threatens that prospect as long as he remains in the White House.
But for Democrats, winning in November is all that matters. As more days separate us from the debate and memories fade, all of their supposedly principled concern for the president’s mental state is fading just as fast. Everyone from the hosts of “Morning Joe” to Jerrold Nadler to Paul Krugman has come crawling back sheepishly to recant their heretical doubts about Biden’s capacity to serve.
Now we hear members of Congress openly talking about how no other potential candidate has as high of a chance of beating Donald Trump. Last week, it was the opposite — Biden had to go because he couldn’t beat Trump.
If you haven’t noticed, the whole discussion on the left has revolved around what is best for the Democratic Party and its prospects of holding on to power. To them, Biden’s public meltdown was just a “do-over” opportunity to hold a primary. Never mind the grave danger to the nation posed by the president’s evident incapacity.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told reporters this week, “Joe Biden is our nominee. He is not leaving this race; he is in this race and I support him.”
Translation: They can’t get rid of him. And even though he can’t even do the job full-time, they’re fine with running him.
Alex Thompson from Axios called it a “morally grey calculus” that Democrats would rather stick with a man who can’t do the job — or as Thompson was specifically arguing, won’t be able to do the job in two years — just because he’s still their best shot.
The problem is that if Biden can’t even do the job now, there’s no reason to think about whether he can do it in two years. If he can’t do the job now, and he’d be worse in two years, he should be replaced. It’s only “morally grey” if your priority is the best interest of the Democratic Party over your country.
Krugman is singing the same tune. Seemingly more concerned with electoral politics than the security of the country, Krugman wrote, “So, I said what I thought needed saying about Biden, hating every minute as I did. One thing I won’t do, however, is snipe at him if he chooses to stay in. Anyone who does that is in effect campaigning for Trump — and doing so out of sheer pettiness.”
Never mind that, the day after the debate, Krugman had penned a piece titled, “The best president of my adult lifetime needs to withdraw.” The shock has worn off. His party’s power is all that matters.
Democrats are not remotely interested in what’s good for the country. If America has to flounder for months with a part-time, semi-present president, with all the risks that entails, that is a price they are willing to let us all pay so that they can cling to power.
Shame on all of them for that.
Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).