It’s time to say the quiet part out loud: Democrats must replace President Joe Biden as their party’s nominee for president. If Democrats truly believe Trump is a threat to the constitutional order and the rights of Americans, then they will need a better candidate to make the argument. At Thursday night’s debate, Biden looked and acted old, tired and feeble. He struggled to cite facts and statistics to bolster his arguments. Some of his responses were incoherent and rambling, like one early in the debate that elicited a rare truthful and accurate statement from Trump: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
I feel dumber after watching and listening to that debate.
I feel dumber after watching and listening to that debate. For many months, I have argued that Biden is too old and Trump is too dangerous and crazy. Thursday’s dismal performance from them validated and reinforced that opinion, which is shared by a large swath of the American electorate. No one will unsee or unhear what we all witnessed on that stage.
Republicans and Democrats have offered the American people the binary choice they never wanted: a Trump-Biden rematch. How many times must the American people demand the parties turn the page and offer up the next generation of political leadership before they are heard? If either party replaced its candidate, the chances of that party winning the election would increase dramatically. That’s especially true for the GOP. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, for example, would mop the floor with Biden. Of course, barring a medical disqualification, the GOP will not replace Trump, whose never-ending avalanche of prevarications Thursday were stunning. He just makes things up. Every bit of brain flatulence was released. He speaks in superlatives and cannot articulate any substantive policy arguments. Remarkably, however, he did not lose the debate. President Biden did.
As a former Republican member of Congress who was sure Biden was the better candidate in 2020 and endorsed his election, I’m just as sure now that he needs to step aside.
Biden’s debate performance was beyond terrible. It might have been disqualifying. To all those Democratic spinmeisters telling us Biden is a wise old man at the top of his game, please stop insulting the intelligence and sensibilities of the American people. Acknowledge your mistake and act before it’s too late. By nominating Biden, Democrats will make Trump’s election much more likely. Stop blaming RFK Jr., Jill Stein and Cornel West for being spoilers. And apologize for smearing No Labels for attempting to offer up a centrist fusion ticket. It would have been refreshing to have an articulate, centrist alternative on that Atlanta debate stage. Instead, we got a depressing debate debacle. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash deserve praise for how they moderated that debate. It’s not their job to fact check the candidates. It’s the job of the candidates to fact check each other in their responses. But Biden failed miserably to provide coherent responses to Trump’s many lies.
When my late mother was over 80, she had a car accident near her home that injured no one but did take out a lamp post, a mailbox, some shrubs and a tree. At the accident scene I told the police officer who responded to insist on suspending her driver’s license and demand a driver’s test. My mother resisted and insisted that she simply needed a new car. I told her that she was a menace to the motoring public and that someone could have been killed. My brother and sister supported me. Mom never drove again. That’s what families do to protect their loved ones.
Someone in Biden’s family needs to tell the president to hand over the keys — not to his car, but the nuclear codes — for the good of the country. This election, with respect to Vice President Kamala Harris’ comment last night, is not about the past three-and-a-half years, but about the next four and beyond. The Biden family has experienced terrible tragedy and somehow managed to carry on with dignity and grace. Joe Biden lost his wife and a child in a horrible car accident many decades ago. His beloved son Beau sadly succumbed to cancer and, most recently, the president witnessed Hunter, his surviving son who has battled addiction, be convicted on three felony charges. I can’t imagine the cumulative weight of all the pain that Biden carries. Or how hard the loss of stepping away from a presidential re-election campaign would be. But he needs to do it (and those close to him should encourage him to do it) because it’s what’s best for the country.
Democrats will say that it is too hard and too late to replace Biden. Nonsense. The Democratic National Convention is in August. They can do it. But do they have the guts?
Charlie Dent
Charlie Dent is executive director and vice president of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program, where he leads bipartisan, bicameral policy education programs for members of Congress. He is a board member of the National Archives Foundation, CARE USA and Research America and an advisory board member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Previously, he served seven terms in the House representing the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.