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The stories that matter about money and politics in the race for the White House
The presidential debate that unfolded on television screens Thursday night was a sad spectacle for the United States and the world. The city shining on a hill of freedom and democracy looks shattered and dilapidated. Both presidential candidates are older than any previous holder of the office. Joe Biden seemed fragile and at times confused, losing his train of thought mid-answer. Donald Trump lied repeatedly and demonstrated the complete absence of a moral compass. Democratic partyand for all those who fear that Trump poses an existential threat to the American republic, Biden’s faltering performance is cause for despair.
Each candidate is the opposite of his rival in two important ways. Although Biden He struggled to communicate, the gist of some of his responses indicating that his mind was still sharp. That suggests that, for the moment, she is still fit to govern. The problem is that in the performative world of American politics, carried out through media clips that can be ruthlessly edited, it does not seem suitable for campaigning.
Trump remains at least vigorous enough to campaign, though his responses were also often disjointed or simply wrong. However, his wild distortions of facts and his dangerous desire for revenge make him clearly unfit to rule. The focus on Biden risks distracting from how much this encounter also revealed about the convicted criminal who is his opponent. This is a man who claimed that Biden was a puppet of communist China and had “encouraged” Russia to invade Ukraine, and who refused to state unequivocally that he would accept the results of the November election. In a flawed format, moderators often failed to call out his falsehoods.
Biden has seen his political mission as above all preserving American democracy, driven by the belief that he is uniquely equipped to do so. He defeated Trump in 2020 and served a presidency that has pushed through some of the most substantial legislative measures in recent memory. History will remember him for these achievements. But he now appears too fragile to carry out his mission of beating Trump a second time. Debates can tip the balance in favor of an election, and this one—like Richard Nixon’s sweaty exit against John F. Kennedy in 1960—can go down in history as the moment when hope was lost.
It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of the crisis for Democrats. Any decision to stay away would be detrimental to the president aloneIn an ideal world, he and senior Democrats would recognize that the situation is unsustainable and that an alternative solution needs to be found. The failure of Kamala Harris, the first female and first non-white vice president, to win voters’ support is a complication. But Biden could release Democratic delegates who have promised his support; The competing slates could then spend seven weeks courting delegates and the public, and the party convention would then vote on who to endorse in late August, in the first open convention in decades.
At best, this could become an affirmation of the party’s internal democracy and energize voters, but it could also lead to acrimony and division. While many are untested nationally, there are several plausible and capable young candidates in the party, and plenty of time to support a ticket that might have a better chance of beating Trump. Polls have suggested that a generic Democratic opponent would be better able to prevail than Biden. The president faces an agonizing choice, but stepping aside now would be a dignified and statesmanlike move, and could prove the best way to achieve his overall political goal of preserving American democracy.