Why Biden Has to Go:

Senior Democrats are trying to spin their way out of having supporters needing to face the reality that the incumbent President, and 2024 party nominee, is experiencing the considerable cognitive decline that was evident at the debate. They don’t want Democrats to believe their lying eyes, they want Democratic supporters to believe them. The spin goes something like this: “Biden had a bad night, he was tired and had a cold, and that his confusion is still preferable to Trump’s constant lies and wannabe dictatorial tendencies.” This spin is intended to thwart any coup attempt from inside the party.

This is not an idle concern. There does seem to be a large desire among many prominent Democrats to replace him at the top of the ticket. However, White House staffers, and certain DNC elites, who have a vested interest in keeping Biden as nominee will be offering various reasons for why Biden should stay in the race. All of them will boil down to this: He can still beat Trump. But….. that’s not a good argument.

Here’s the thing, he might actually still beat Trump. Enough Americans might prefer a mentally incapacitated President to Donald Trump for Joe to actually pull it off. After all, my grandfather with a case of Alzheimer’s that was already pretty developed managed to pass his Senior’s driving test. A comparatively monumental achievement, given Trump’s unbelievable weaknesses as a general election candidate. Accordingly, if the only thing in the world that mattered was beating Donald Trump, leaving Biden as the Democratic nominee for President might actually be an acceptable outcome. But, it isn’t.

I can understand why Democratic partisans, steeped in 8 years of pitched warfare against Trump, might have deluded themselves into thinking that beating Trump is the only thing in the world that matters…. But, there are other parts of the job. There are aspects of the job at which a President in cognitive decline is doomed to fail.

I don’t know if Democrats have noticed, but there are a few crises going on in the world right now… and likely to be more in future. So, let’s grant the premise that a Joe Biden in the throes of significant cognitive decline can beat Donald Trump. BUT, that same guy still has to deal with the crisis in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin, Xi’s China, an immigration crisis, a drug overdose crisis, climate change, a NATO in transition, a domestic society riven with ideological militancy, and like ten million other things.

So, maybe Biden can beat Trump. I’m willing to grant that is more than a remote possibility. But a cognitively diminished President cannot do all of the parts of the job that don’t only involve beating Donald Trump.

When Democrats say Biden should stay on because he can still beat Trump, they are showing you they don’t actually care about governing beyond beating Trump. If Democrats actually care about ensuring their nominee can actually do the job of President, as opposed to just maybe being able to beat Donald Trump, they will put a person at the top of the ticket who can. Because Joe Biden cannot do the job of President. He may have been able to once, but not anymore.