"The President Has a Cold"

-De Standaard (Belgium)

Last night's eagerly awaited presidential debate was a shocker, not because Biden performed like a befuddled old man, but because even the Democrats, the left, and the media are admitting that Biden cannot continue to be president of the United States. From Spain to France to Germany to Sweden, the European newspapers are ablaze and unanimous that it was a catastrophe for Biden and the Democrats. The blank stares, the gaping mouth, the "15,000 new jobs" he had created, seemingly confusing Trump with Putin when discussing the Russia-Ukraine issue, these were strong visuals. Frankly speaking, at times, the president looked like a man on his deathbed (albeit standing), and I don't say that in jest.

I should state at the outset that I have no complaint as to how CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash conducted the debate. They are no fans of Trump, but in my view, they conducted the event fairly.

After watching the debate on Fox, I kept it on that channel to watch the predictable commentary. Former congressman, Harold Ford, a Democrat, even conceded that it was a terrible performance by Biden. After 15 minutes or so, I switched over to CNN and MSNBC, fully expecting to hear them claiming that the president "knocked it out of the park". To my surprise, even they were saying that Biden was a disaster and that all their Democrat insider contacts were texting them saying that Biden could not win the election. Naturally, the CNN and MSNBC commentators all agreed that Trump lied throughout the debate about this or that and that he was a horrible human being, etc. To me, the most dishonest thing about last night was the feigned shock on the part of CNN and MSNBC over Biden's state of mental health. It was as if the president had suffered a stroke 15 minutes before airtime. We have all been witnessing the cognitive decline in his health since he was campaigning from his basement in Delaware 4 years ago. The mainstream media has studiously ignored the issue-until now.  For most if not all of the CNN and MSNBC commentators, it was the first time they had ever addressed the issue publicly. 

Many believe that the Democrats and the media were all ready to jump ship if Biden performed poorly-as he did. But how did the White House respond? Within minutes of the end of the debate, they put out a statement that "the president has a cold". Wow.

Also surreal was the spectacle of First Lady Jill Biden dragging her poor old husband into a room full of supporters yelling, "4 more years" and calling Trump a liar before mercifully taking him back home and putting him to bed.

Both CNN and MSNBC had Kamala Harris on for a few minutes. Fox had extended an invitation to her as well, but naturally, she didn't accept. Gone were the word salads and the silly laughter. She was angry, defensive, and honestly, the most articulate I have ever seen her-even though she was speaking pure poppycock. To CNN's Anderson Cooper, she parried his questions asking her if she was concerned after Biden's performance. She admitted that he had a "slow start" but a strong finish, and went on to talk about how Biden is doing such a great job. In a shorter interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, she mostly attacked Trump.

What about Trump? As was easy to predict, he came out attacking, and clearly, he came out ahead. In contrast to Biden, he was more vigorous, spoke more clearly, and had much more energy. Yet, what frustrated me was his reluctance to directly answer questions. His tactic seemed to be to use his time to go back to the previous topic and rebut Biden's statements, on occasion, using up all his allotted time. When he was asked about the environment, he avoided the question. Finally, he said that, of course, he wanted "immaculately" clean water and air. He did not go into details. When asked if he would accept the results of the election, no matter who won, he again reverted back to the previous topic to rebut Biden's statement. Finally, he said, he would accept it as long as it was a fair and honest election. But it was like pulling teeth. As for the subject of how he would deal with the fentanyl crisis and addiction, a topic he should have "hit out of the park", he ignored the question and never did say a word about what he would do preferring to insist that things were getting better under his presidency until the Covid crisis hit. The Fox commentators ignored all that, and from what I saw on CNN and MSNBC, they seemed to mostly overlook it as well, preferring to concentrate on pointing out Trump's "lies" and his "bad character". (I may have missed some references to this since I was switching back and forth among the three channels.) In addition, he did not defend himself well in the January 6 issue. If he made any misstatements, they were probably in referring to his own time as president. His accusations against Biden were valid. In my opinion, Trump's worst statement was that if he was elected, he would bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war as president-elect, even before taking office. He didn t elaborate on how he would do that, and he wasn't asked, but Biden is president until he isn't president, and a president-elect has no authority to do anything. It was a reckless statement on Trump's part.

So what happens now? Where do we go from here-or should I say, where do the Democrats go from here? It would appear at this point that there will be enormous pressure on Biden to withdraw from the race. The obvious problem here is what they do with Harris, the next in line and a minority female, the first who would ascend to the presidency. She has been a laughing stock during Biden's entire term. Every time she has opened her mouth she has embarrassed herself, at least until last night. Even MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, a man given to theatrical exaggerations, remarked after the post-debate interview, that in his view, the Democrats need to put her out on the campaign trail front and center. Harris, in my view, can tell whatever whoppers she wants about Biden, his health, and his accomplishments as president, but if she can avoid the word salads and silly laughter, she may just convince her party that they can put her up as the candidate. (It won't convince me. Being in California, I have watched her "political career" pretty much from the start. She would be a disaster as president.)

It's the morning after the debate. Next week, everybody may be singing a different tune, including myself, but right now I feel that Biden will, indeed, drop out of this race, especially if Harris can put up the illusion that she is up to the job. If Biden remains on the ticket, the question is what effect last night will have on the election. It's hard to say because most voters already know how they are going to vote. As for those "undecideds", the only thing I can say now is that whatever flaws Trump showed last night (whatever the "fact-checkers" turn up), that likely will be forgotten by November. Biden's pathetic performance last night, however, will not be forgotten so easily.  No matter how much the "fact-checkers" refute Trump's statements last night, they cannot replace what our "lying eyes" witnessed.