The Bidens Need to Have a Talk
Let’s be candid about what happened in last night’s debate.
BY NOW IT’S BECOME A CLICHÉ in pro-democracy media circles to say about this election that everyone needs to focus on the stakes, not the odds. And clichés become clichés because they contain an inherent truth.
The stakes of this election are unlike any in the modern era. One of the men on stage Thursday night is a convicted criminal who promised to enact retribution on his political foes and pardon the rioters who attacked our Capitol carrying his flag. If he is elected, in four years he may feel that he has to stay in power to avoid the consequences of his crimes, including the possibility of spending his golden years in jail.
If we want to ensure our democratic republic’s survival, a man such as that must be defeated. If we want to protect ourselves from his worst impulses—internment camps for migrants, pulling out of NATO, codifying a regime where poor women in red states are denied medical care they need—he must be defeated.
Given those stakes, it is incumbent on the Democratic party to ensure that its nominee is capable of beating back this threat.
On the debate stage, Joe Biden didn’t look like a man who can do that. And depending on how the polls shake out and how confident Donald Trump feels, Biden might not get another opportunity to change that perception.
So that leaves us with this uncomfortable reality: Joe and Jill Biden need to have a very serious conversation about whether he is up for the monumental task at hand.
THE ONLY REASON THE BULWARK EXISTS is that we all want to speak frank truths about Donald Trump. Some of us bailed on political careers over it. Others had their voices silenced by a billionaire who only wanted a mouthpiece for the Trump regime.
For that reason, it is our obligation to be as forthright as possible about the threat a second Trump term poses, what we think is the best way to stop it, and when we think the current approach isn’t working.
Given Joe Biden’s historically disastrous debate performance, there is a real question about whether he can handle the job.
I heard that question from dozens upon dozens of people on Thursday night. Black and white, young and old, political insider and casual observer. Liberal Democrat and Haley Republican.
To dismiss that question would be hubristic—not to mention unhelpful.
I want to be clear about something. I’m angry that I have to write this. I’m angry at everyone who has let us down to lead us to this place. I’m angry at every glib MAGA asshole who smirked at me in the debate hall last night.
We’ve had so many off-ramps that we didn’t take because nearly all of the people who knew better in the Republican political class were weak or scared or calculating. It is enraging.
But here’s the thing. What comes next? This choice. It isn’t about any of our feelings. It isn’t about me. It isn’t about you. It isn’t even about Joe Biden.
It’s about the stakes.
And given these stakes everyone in the pro democracy coalition needs to do everything in their power to stop Donald Trump.
That begins with the person charged with carrying out the duty that is in front of us.
Joe Biden needs to talk with his family.
And he needs to come out of that conversation either with a plan to pass the torch to a new generation or an unwavering commitment to change course.
Here’s what changing course looks like. He must summon an energy and a spirit and a forward-looking message that was absent in Atlanta. He must be committed to never letting what happened on Thursday night happen again—never putting on the kind of mumbling, robotic, incoherent performance that the whole world witnessed.
He must show that he is willing to do everything in his power to win this election. Go out and campaign among real Americans. Demonstrate that he has the vigor and will to earn their trust. He must take the fight to Donald Trump clearly and directly in interviews and on the stump. And he’s going to have to do so in the belly of the beast—on Fox News and in MAGA America to show that he is up for it.
Only he and Jill know whether he is capable of doing that.
The stakes require that they are honest with us about it. And that starts with President Biden being honest with himself.