The main takeaway from the presidential debate on June 27 seems to be that President Joe Biden is too old and feeble for another term. Actually, scratch that — it seems like the only takeaway.
I watched a portion of the debate and, possessing eyes and ears that still operate fairly well, noticed Biden’s very poor performance. You’d have to be in some form of denial not to realize that he looked and sounded all of his 81 years, seeming to confirm every stereotype about people of a certain age. (How many “take the car keys†jokes have you heard since then?)
But why is that the only thing some people saw and heard during the debate? I suppose for many it might’ve been shocking to the point of overriding anything else that occurred, but I’d like to give everyone’s eyes and ears (and brains) more credit than that.
I certainly noticed former president Donald Trump seemed much more spry and energetic. Then again, he didn’t utter a single truth the entire time I watched the debate. So, congratulations to him on being a nimble, compulsive liar or a slightly younger senior citizen who is grossly detached from reality, I guess? (I think it’s probably both. Trump has been so warped for so long he wouldn’t recognize the truth if it kneed him in the groin.)
Trump is an utterly corrupt, self-centered villain who has been exhibiting all of that and more right in front of us for the better part of a decade. If you look at that man and see someone who wants to serve his country and make it “great againâ€; if you see patriots or tourists in the form of Jan. 6 insurgents; if you think some deep state conspiracy came up with all of the criminal charges Trump faces; well, guess who else is in denial?
I know not all Trump voters are blind to these things. Not everyone puts a MAGA flag on everything they own and worships Trump as some sort of twisted, American Jesus. I will say that aspect of it makes it harder, for me anyway, to relate to support for the convicted felon. I don’t fetishize Joe Biden, or any politician, in that way.
In any event, while I think Biden’s administration has accomplished a lot of great things over the past four years, what I saw during the debate — from both men — alarmed me.
More than that, though, it made me wonder how we got here. Biden wasn’t an exciting choice in 2020, and he is even less so now. But his opponent is a convicted criminal, a would-be autocrat and, don’t kid yourself, a threat to the republic.
For whatever reason, only Biden could unite enough Democratic voters to prevail as the nominee in 2020. Incumbency granted him a relatively free path this year, when it perhaps shouldn’t have. Meanwhile, Republicans are handed opportunity after opportunity to break with Trump, but they just can’t do it. Too many grifters, in Congress and elsewhere, depend on the voting bloc he controls to go after him directly on what should be really obvious problems.
I think both candidates are unfit, in entirely different ways, but the system we’re locked into makes changing that now highly unlikely. The choice we’re left with is the kind of thing that continues to drive more people from even bothering to really learn about candidates and issues, let alone participate by voting.
That apathy is, sadly, the end goal of many who would like to the cut the people completely out of the process — your Mitch McConnells (also in his early 80s and frequently short-circuiting) and the like. They’ve been telling you to ignore your lying eyes and ears for decades. Unfortunately, they’re getting ever closer to hanging their “mission accomplished†banner.
