The Witness Chronicles, June 30, 2024

I debated but the stakes are too high. Joe must go

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Trump is Beatable, But Not By Joe Biden

Pride goeth before a fall, but the fall would be catastrophic

Democrats have to face facts and deal with this reality. Age does matter, and before you accuse me of ageism, I am 69 and I know a lot of people Joe Biden’s age. Most of them have not carried the burden he has over the past four years, and he has carried it very well.

But another four years is another story and we saw that story start to play out last week. Despite months of planning, training, and practice, Biden fell apart almost immediately during the actual debate, recovering too late. The first ten minutes told most of us we are facing a disaster.

The so-called bounce back the next day, where we saw a defiant Joe pushing back, was not comparable for one huge reason. He was using a teleprompter. There was no teleprompter at the debate and having the words you want to speak spelled out in front of you keeps you from going off track.

It’s a script and it’s written by pros.

In fairness, we know that when Donald Trump loses his teleprompter or goes off script, he is completely bonkers, as he was at the debate. His lies on national TV exceeded anything he has done to date, and it was an effective strategy to throw Biden off.

But Biden was off before Trump even got started on his truly scary cascade of lies. And that’s the problem. One problem. But there is a far larger one.

This election is about the future of our democratic experiment, a system of government and law that has outlasted any other in modern history and provided us with freedoms never seen before, all of us.

We have to defend it.

This is a highly contentious issue. A lot of us feel loyalty to Biden for good reasons, but a majority of us have a real issue with his age. Those with concerns include voter groups that he has to win, including people of color and younger voters. The reality that he would be eighty-six years old by the end of his term should frighten anyone.

It appears that he is surrounded by loyalists, led by his wife, who are fiercely loyal, as expected. But they also have self-interest in his remaining in office, self-interest that must be set aside for the greater interests of the country. It is questionable whether Biden is getting pragmatic advice from those closest to him.

Those calling for him to step down are not extremists, they are mainstream authorities in the party and the media. The stakes are simply too high to risk defeat over the reality of aging and, to be frank, pride. Joe Biden needs to be told he is not the only one who can beat Trump, as he has said multiple times.

The reality is that polling shows that nearly any younger, competent, moderate Democrat with experience would beat Trump handily. A majority of voters want that option to choose someone else.

It was apparent at the debate that while Trump looked and sounded strong, he is mentally ill, trapped in a narcissism that cannot fathom losing again and that will say or do anything to avoid it. He is mentally ill. The same mental illness has him obsessed with revenge against those he sees as having wronged him.

The scale of his lies last Thursday night showed us clearly that he has no self-control and now lives in a world of paranoia, fear, and anger combined with total denial of any responsibility on his part for the crimes he has committed.

When you add these things up, this is a man who can never be trusted with power over others, a man who has devolved into a sociopath no longer connected to his fellow humans. But also a man who has a weird ability to draw others to him, something we have seen over and over again in despots throughout history.

Their stories ended badly for them and their followers, but they did incredible damage in the process, destroying countries and civilizations in their wake. Trump seeks to be such a figure and can no longer see anything outside his own self obsession.

It’s terrifying but it can be easily ended and Joe Biden has the means to end it, by stepping away from his quest for a second term. The honorable though difficult choice is not just the right one, it is the only one.

~ I write The Grasshopper, an occasional letter on the creative life and it’s sister, mostly daily publication The Witness Chronicles, a place for my articles on politics and climate. They share a free and paid subscription. I also write The Remarkable, a recovery letter, about my addiction and reentry experience. I don’t paywall any content in these, however this is how I live and I strongly believe all writers and creatives should get paid, if we provide value. Your support with a paid subscription helps make that happen.

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