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At the risk of saying something massively controversial, Joe Biden was too old to run for president in 2024. This opinion was held by millions of Americans en masse during the lengthy preamble to the campaign—understandable, given how the incumbent appeared pallid, doddering, and unsettlingly fragile in his duties as head of state. But, nonetheless, elected Democrats and Democrat-aligned media alike held on to the idea that this octogenarian had some gas left in the tank, so long as he could stand upright. The charade ended during the first presidential debate—where a visibly mummified Biden claimed, among other things, to have “defeated Medicare”—while Trump turned in an uncharacteristically subdued performance. It was officially Joever, and everyone knew it.
Since then, the president’s decline, and the (frankly, ongoing) cover-up by abetting aides and family members, has been one of the hottest stories in America. The minute-to-minute particularities of his enfeeblement have been covered with salacious glee, reaching an apogee this week with the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book about the grim pantomiming going on behind the scenes during the final acts of Biden’s presidency. This, combined with the disclosure that the 82-year-old is suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer, is bringing about a fitting end to one of the macabre sagas in American history.
How has the liberal establishment responded to the crisis? By telling us, ad nauseum, how stupid they are.
I mean listen to these guys. Here is Beto O’Rourke solemnly telling Pod Save America that Democrats must admit that they “fucked up, and made a terrible mistake.” Here is California’s Rep. Ro Khanna with some contrition of his own, asserting that it was “painfully obvious” that Biden shouldn’t have run again, and that he and his colleagues “must acknowledge this truth to regain the trust of the American people.” Sen. Chris Murphy told Politico that there was “no doubt” that the president suffered “cognitive decline” in office. “Clearly, in retrospect, we should have done something different,” he added. A similar attitude is pervading liberal media, especially CNN, which employs the tell-all’s author. Van Jones is calling for a flat-out apology brigade from the party, conjuring images of a rowdy town hall chucking rotten tomatoes and beer bottles at, like, Amy Klobuchar.
Look, I understand this inclination. The Democratic Party’s cultural status has rarely been worse, and the radioactive unpopularity of Biden—undergirded by his atrophying cognition—is a major element of that swoon. But you know what? As someone who never liked Biden all that much, and thought he was way too old to run for the presidency in 2020 (much less 2024!), allow me to say my piece: Isn’t all of this self-flagellation a little much? Maybe even embarrassing? Of all the sentiments I’d like to be hearing from Democrats right now, a reminder that they think themselves to be utterly useless has to be at the very bottom of the list.
To be clear, if there is any hope of all of us existing in a shared reality again, the acknowledgment that Biden was rapidly accelerating toward incompetence should become the orthodox stance taken by all elected Democratic officials. But that does not mean such a concession needs to be conjoined with this attitude of perpetual, institutionalized failure. The reasons for this are twofold. First, and most important, the idea that the public will reward this prostration with a raft of goodwill is completely bunk, and utterly out of sync with the rules of engagement as we understand them in 2025. (There is a reason Donald Trump never admits defeat!) I don’t know how the Democrats can rehabilitate their image either, but an extremely needy apology campaign—reinforcing their national character as a band of gullible morons most comfortable when they’re losing, afraid to do anything that could be considered bold until there are absolutely zero stakes—is not the path forward. How much moral territory can possibly be ceded when huge portions of the United States government are controlled by former Fox News anchors and TV doctors? How have the Democrats suddenly become the party handcuffed by absolute fealty to a party leader? Especially when, if I remember correctly, Biden was unceremoniously booted from the ticket over the summer once his brain started leaking from his nose for all to see?
Second, if this is the great tentpole issue Democrats intend to brandish in 2028—a suite of insurgent new candidates who boldly believe that Joe Biden was too old—then we are completely screwed. Congratulations! You’re joining a consensus shared by everyone else in the United States. Do you have any other ideas for how you would like your party to be understood? Plans for a more humane health care system? A substantive effort to reduce the gargantuan cost of living? Or, I don’t know, any signs of breaking with Israel’s psychotic Gaza offensive? You know, the many other things that made Biden, regardless of his age, an extremely unpopular president? If the party thinks the problems with its brand begin and end with the brittle timbre of an 82-year-old’s voice, then it might never win a national election ever again.
