Here at “Brandon’s Two Cents”, it is rare that I give my “two cents” in my posts. If you are a long-time reader of my blog, you will notice that as most of my posts are describing something, whether I am writing about local governance, or whether I am profiling someone in my “When Politicians Do Good Things” series.  I also avoid writing for the most part about Trump, or the presidential race because those topics are covered ad nauseum by scores of media outlets.  But in this post, I am going to provide my “two cents” on the presidential race, specifically on the topic of President Biden’s messy debate and the aftermath.

            I was at work when the debate between Trump and Biden happened, so I had to record it.  I avoided news consumption for the last 2 hours of my shift and went home to watch my recording.  I started to watch the debate, and I could only watch 15 minutes of it.  Throughout the 15 minutes, I wanted to tell President Biden to step off stage to take care of his coughing, to stop staring blankly at the camera, and to stop fumbling his words.  I could not concentrate on anything he was saying, so I turned it off, proceeding to read the news to see if the rest of the debate went any better.  I found out that it did not.  I unhappily I went to bed, and I avoided all news for almost 24 hours, only gradually resuming my news consumption over the next 3 days.  Even after the terrible debate, I was encouraged by President Biden’s boisterous rally the next day, and that his campaign was working overtime to calm the donors down.  But then I listened to The Focus Group podcast.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/derangement-vs-impairment-with-tim

            The Focus Group Podcast is hosted by a former Republican, Sarah Longwell who is a publisher at The Bulwark, both who I describe in a previous blog post here.  The format of the podcast is that she invites different reporters, politicians, and even other Bulwark writers to watch focus groups that she conducts.  They listen in, and discuss the results, with audio of participating members saying their thoughts. She quickly convened an “Emergency Focus Group Podcast 4 days after the debate.  Groups of swing voters and Democrats were asked about who they were leaning towards, and what they thought about Biden’s debate performance.  Person after person after person expressed shock and alarm at what they saw out of Biden, and I could not disagree with them because I shared their exact sentiments.  Some were leaning towards Trump, and others were hesitant about whether they would vote for President at all.  The podcast was a turning point in my thoughts on this whole affair, and I concluded, and still think, that President Biden needs to drop out.

            I am aware that the mainstream media covers President Biden’s age more than the amount of time it covers Donald Trump’s Authoritarian tendencies.  But frankly, the rally Biden did the day after the debate on June 28^th should have been the start.  He should have arranged interviews with multiple news outlets on June 28^th, or 29^th instead of the one interview he did with George Stephanopoulos on July 5th.  He should have done an open-ended news conference in the White House press room where he not only could refute questions of his age but point out in immediate fashion examples of Trump’s senior moments.  Those actions are what are called driving the news coverage, and it worked when he gave a great State of the Union address.  His varying excuses for why he did so poorly at the debate, saying that he A; Had a cold, B; Was jetlagged from traveling overseas (which happened 11 days prior) and C; Was tired and does not function well after 8 pm(!), are not sufficient.  The Stephanopoulos interview where he said that he “may” have not watch the debate and merely said that if he lost to Trump, he would have done his “goodest” job possible was not exactly a confidence booster.

            People raise a good point when they argue that it is too late to replace Biden as the nominee. But since the earliest deadlines in states for Presidential Candidates to get their name on the ballot is early August, if Biden were to drop out before the Democratic National Convention, it would not be difficult to replace him.  No matter who replaces him, the age question is gone for Democrats, and we can guarantee that the next debate will feature a nominee who can forcefully make the case against Trump.  There will be no holding one’s breath as to whether they will stare blankly into the camera.  I also think that this is a great opportunity for the Democrats to take decisive action in the face of a crisis, something that the G.O.P failed to do with Trump on many occasions especially after January 6^th.  It would be a great selling point for Democrats to say that unlike the G.O.P, they do not shy away from making hard choices for the betterment of the party.  They can also say that no one is unassailable, and that even the leader of the party will be held account for failures.

            Unfortunately, I think Biden will continue to be the nominee.  He has an uphill road ahead of him.  I used to think that the main burden was on We The People to vote against Trump and his vision of fundamentally changing the character of the United States.  It still is.  But right now, the burden is on Biden to convince us that he is the best messenger to inform The People about Trump’s desires to be a “Day One Dictator”, or to pardon January 6^th rioters.  Since the debate, I take more seriously and accept more readily new reports on Biden’s aging.  Biden needs to campaign without a teleprompter constantly until November.  He needs to do town halls, he needs to do interviews, and he needs to do press conferences at the White House.  He also should give be filmed unscripted doing his job as President. His allies say that he is smart and can handle complex problems? Then show us! He needs to knock it out of the ballpark every single time doing all of these tasks.  Lastly, he needs to watch his debate performance!  Even if he is spectacular from here on out, maybe the best he can do is to not run too far behind Democratic Senate and House candidates because I am not sure that Biden can win.  Mr. President, I am going to vote for you, but you need to convince me you can be Trump.  The burden is on you!