As the days pass after Biden's disastrous debate, I'm reading more stories from people I respect, saying that Biden needs to withdraw from the presidential race.
For a time after the debate, I dithered about this. But the problem as I see it now is this: Trump is a terrible person, and Biden is a great one. But Biden's awful debate performance demonstrated that he isn't able to rise to the occasion anymore, he has apparently lost the ability to lead, to be a president. Americans have never voted for a leader they consider weak, and the way things are going, Biden will not only lose himself, he will drag down the whole ticket with him:
Then again..The narrow current conversation about how Biden polled right after the debate obscures a much broader, much more relevant conversation about the next four months. Every Biden glitch, every misstep, every senior moment will spur another news cycle, more leaks, more recriminations.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 30, 2024
"The president may be too old to fill his function in his next term" is a worry Americans had about Reagan, Eisenhower, FDR, and so on. It's comfortable to talk about.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 2, 2024
"The would-be president tried to seize power in a coup once and wants to try again" - is not so comfortable.
