In the wake of last Thursday's debate, Biden's staffers and supporters are starting to paint a picture. As the curator of the Toddler-in-Chief thread, this picture is disturbing.
I fully anticipated that it'd be Trump who collapsed into gibberish, because every speech by either I'd seen, that's what Trump did. Biden was always coherent if his usual inarticulate self. I thought HRC & Trump were too old eight years & Trump & Biden too old four years. Hell, I'm 76 & can literally run circles around the lot of them & I don't have the energy or desire to chair a cmte at the swim club. But I was shocked to see how much Biden has aged since 2020. That's way getting old works--gradually & then all at once. He's been a pretty good president. It's tragic to see him end this way.
Interesting. I didn’t even get to the end of the Times piece (the bit about not thinking he could face Putin down) which sounds disturbing because the beginning stuff you cited struck me as pretty weak. They describe a grueling travel schedule and say some said he seemed confused at a speech in France or his mind drifted, or whatever and he got the kind of aid we were giving to Ukraine wrong and it struck me that they were having to reach pretty hard for examples of negative things to note. Two back to back over seas trips (granted in a pretty nice plane) with multiple stops and meetups and his son on trial for a felony and his mind seemed to drift and it’s hard to have a conversation while you are walking with him? That’s all they could get?
I was pretty sure I had read part about him yelling at briefers before. I thought he was supposed to be this grouchy old tyrant in the office, cursing at everyone, but I don’t remember now what the source is. Maybe they are dusting the story off now because it seems more sinister.
Biden has been kept from the press and unscripted forums from the get go. The reason everyone assumed wasn’t age but gaffe-proneness. Now it’s hiding the ravages of age?
Then, I have to ask again — why they heck did they choose this debate forum, or ANY debate at all? They really didn’t have to. Why would his family want him subjected to this if they knew how badly off he is??
Regardless of Biden's actual mental acuity, it will be very difficult going forward for him to ease concerns about it. We know that because Biden has always been a poor off-the-cuff speaker. His best day ten years ago would look pretty bad today when people are looking for signs of sharpness or decline. Few people look good under a microscope.
It makes me even more pissed off with the Dem establishment that chose Biden as our candidate for us - rather than letting us choose from a very talented bench.
Dan why do you think Kamala is the only viable substitute? Couldn’t Biden and Kamala just pick a Senator or Governor or Cabinet official they like and say, “hey delegates, vote for this person!”
I know there is the campaign money issue, but I’d rather have a lot of the potential candidates with $0 than Kamala with $200 million.
It's crucial that those of us (like myself) who are standing with Biden/Harris also recognize the distinct possibility that the President really is too frail to continue.
Here's what that means:
Most of the polls taken since the debate, treat all potential Democratic nominees as though they are interchangeable candidates. But the reality is that only Vice-President Harris (or the President himself) can seamlessly continue the current campaign.
Any nominee not named Biden or Harris would essentially have to build a new campaign from scratch, just months before the election. That is a practical impossibility, even if it were possible to choose such a nominee without fracturing party unity.
Given that Kamala Harris is polling as well, or better, than any other potential nominee, there is only one plausible path to a unified party and victory in November. That is to nominate President Biden, or for him to resign so Ms. Harris can run as the incumbent.
This is the message we have to spread within the Biden-loving activist community.
I’m not American but the way I see it half the country is going to vote Trump no matter what and the other against Trump no matter what. Practically you can ignore them all. It’s the few hundred thousand undecided and strategically located people who are going to decide who is the next President. If at this point in time they can still imagine voting for Trump no amount of additional demonisation is going to make any difference. You need to give them a positive reason to vote for the Dems. Presumably a fair number of them are on the fence because of doubts about Biden’s mental acuity and questions, I’m sorry to say, about who exactly is pulling his strings. Replacing him with a younger person who is reasonably competent and not hated by centrists will also at the very least show Trump to also be an old man who is declining cognitively. It will force Trump to completely change strategy. If that candidate is Harris, as seems likely and the best shot for the reasons Drezner explained, he would also have to be very careful about how he chooses to attack her, not something that comes very naturally to him. At this point frankly that looks like the best chance to beat Trump - which was already becoming more and more unlikely anyway. Am I wrong?
If Biden were to step aside for Harris to become President, am I right to assume that no replacement vice president would ever be confirmed and that she’d therefore serve the rest of the current term with no VP? First, does this seem accurate? Second, how would this affect things? I realize this is probably more speculative than most of us want to imagine at this point, but hey, I’m really curious! Thoughts?
The 25th Amendment seems to lay it out pretty clearly:
Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
I fully anticipated that it'd be Trump who collapsed into gibberish, because every speech by either I'd seen, that's what Trump did. Biden was always coherent if his usual inarticulate self. I thought HRC & Trump were too old eight years & Trump & Biden too old four years. Hell, I'm 76 & can literally run circles around the lot of them & I don't have the energy or desire to chair a cmte at the swim club. But I was shocked to see how much Biden has aged since 2020. That's way getting old works--gradually & then all at once. He's been a pretty good president. It's tragic to see him end this way.
Interesting. I didn’t even get to the end of the Times piece (the bit about not thinking he could face Putin down) which sounds disturbing because the beginning stuff you cited struck me as pretty weak. They describe a grueling travel schedule and say some said he seemed confused at a speech in France or his mind drifted, or whatever and he got the kind of aid we were giving to Ukraine wrong and it struck me that they were having to reach pretty hard for examples of negative things to note. Two back to back over seas trips (granted in a pretty nice plane) with multiple stops and meetups and his son on trial for a felony and his mind seemed to drift and it’s hard to have a conversation while you are walking with him? That’s all they could get?
I was pretty sure I had read part about him yelling at briefers before. I thought he was supposed to be this grouchy old tyrant in the office, cursing at everyone, but I don’t remember now what the source is. Maybe they are dusting the story off now because it seems more sinister.
Biden has been kept from the press and unscripted forums from the get go. The reason everyone assumed wasn’t age but gaffe-proneness. Now it’s hiding the ravages of age?
Then, I have to ask again — why they heck did they choose this debate forum, or ANY debate at all? They really didn’t have to. Why would his family want him subjected to this if they knew how badly off he is??
So many pieces of this don’t make sense.
Regardless of Biden's actual mental acuity, it will be very difficult going forward for him to ease concerns about it. We know that because Biden has always been a poor off-the-cuff speaker. His best day ten years ago would look pretty bad today when people are looking for signs of sharpness or decline. Few people look good under a microscope.
Informative piece - thanks.
It makes me even more pissed off with the Dem establishment that chose Biden as our candidate for us - rather than letting us choose from a very talented bench.
Dan why do you think Kamala is the only viable substitute? Couldn’t Biden and Kamala just pick a Senator or Governor or Cabinet official they like and say, “hey delegates, vote for this person!”
I know there is the campaign money issue, but I’d rather have a lot of the potential candidates with $0 than Kamala with $200 million.
So should Biden stand down for the sake of our Republic or will that just clinch Trump’s victory?
It's crucial that those of us (like myself) who are standing with Biden/Harris also recognize the distinct possibility that the President really is too frail to continue.
Here's what that means:
Most of the polls taken since the debate, treat all potential Democratic nominees as though they are interchangeable candidates. But the reality is that only Vice-President Harris (or the President himself) can seamlessly continue the current campaign.
Any nominee not named Biden or Harris would essentially have to build a new campaign from scratch, just months before the election. That is a practical impossibility, even if it were possible to choose such a nominee without fracturing party unity.
Given that Kamala Harris is polling as well, or better, than any other potential nominee, there is only one plausible path to a unified party and victory in November. That is to nominate President Biden, or for him to resign so Ms. Harris can run as the incumbent.
This is the message we have to spread within the Biden-loving activist community.
.
We will be so lucky if Putin / Xi don’t exploit this moment of national danger
I’m not American but the way I see it half the country is going to vote Trump no matter what and the other against Trump no matter what. Practically you can ignore them all. It’s the few hundred thousand undecided and strategically located people who are going to decide who is the next President. If at this point in time they can still imagine voting for Trump no amount of additional demonisation is going to make any difference. You need to give them a positive reason to vote for the Dems. Presumably a fair number of them are on the fence because of doubts about Biden’s mental acuity and questions, I’m sorry to say, about who exactly is pulling his strings. Replacing him with a younger person who is reasonably competent and not hated by centrists will also at the very least show Trump to also be an old man who is declining cognitively. It will force Trump to completely change strategy. If that candidate is Harris, as seems likely and the best shot for the reasons Drezner explained, he would also have to be very careful about how he chooses to attack her, not something that comes very naturally to him. At this point frankly that looks like the best chance to beat Trump - which was already becoming more and more unlikely anyway. Am I wrong?
If Biden were to step aside for Harris to become President, am I right to assume that no replacement vice president would ever be confirmed and that she’d therefore serve the rest of the current term with no VP? First, does this seem accurate? Second, how would this affect things? I realize this is probably more speculative than most of us want to imagine at this point, but hey, I’m really curious! Thoughts?
A new veep appointment does NOT require confirmation by anyone. So Kamala could name whomever she likes.
The 25th Amendment seems to lay it out pretty clearly:
Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Sorry… I blew it… should have looked it up!