The so-called debates are not debates, they are performances. They offer little about policies or facts, and less about why one should or shouldn’t vote for the performers. Thursday night showed one thing for certain: No one should invite Donald Trump to a “debate.” He follows no norms, lies as often as he breathes, evades or ignores questions, and spews garbage nonstop. The only effect of allowing him on a debate stage is to normalize the behavior of this dangerous sociopathic narcissist.
Joe Biden had a bad night. He said as much the next day. There are four months left until the election. One bad night is not a basis for replacing him. Even on a bad night, he didn’t compare with the spectacle of Trump’s lies and evasions.
Where are the calls for Trump to be replaced?
He’s a convicted felon, has been held liable for rape by one jury and for massive fraud by another. He’s been fined $500 million for tax fraud. He stole hundreds of government files when he left office, including many that were classified and top secret. And what about his rambling and incoherence at his own rallies? Where’s the panic among Republicans?
If I were on Biden’s campaign staff, I’d recommend they cancel the next debate. There is no value in giving Trump any airtime that suggests his legitimacy when he has none.
Instead, we need a full-on confrontation with Trump’s criminality, his indifference to truth or justice, his disastrous term as president, and the catastrophe that will befall all of us if he wins another term. Let Biden sit for as many interviews as possible and hammer away at the convicted felon he’s running against.
Trump and his allies are making no secret of their plans to dismantle our democracy. The end of abortion rights, for which Trump happily takes credit, is only the first step in those plans. With a reactionary majority — thanks to his three appointments — now ruling the right-wing Supreme Court, and a sycophantic following in Congress, nothing will be off the table.
Is this really the time to think about replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket? If we understand this election as a referendum on our democracy and our future, do we really want to shake up the pro-democracy side or do we do everything in our power to make sure Biden wins?
Every so often, Democrats get the notion that the head of their ticket should step aside and let someone younger or more articulate or better-looking step in. Or there is breathless speculation about a “brokered convention.” The last time a convention was “brokered” was 1952. It’s not as easy as it used to be.
Imagine that the “show Biden the door” contingent got their way. Who would take his place? Kamala Harris is the obvious choice, but there are some among the supposed kingmakers who worry that she’s not “liked”– who then?
Who has the name recognition, the familiarity with the public, the trust that comes with those assets? How much time would it take for the voters to learn who the substitute is and what she or he stands for?
For that matter, how much of the remaining four months would be taken up just choosing a successor? All of these complications would distract from the serious work of winning the election. Meanwhile, Trump and the MAGA crowd would be busy cementing their victory in November.
I believe there is only one choice — to stick with the most effective president in decades, who has overseen the most robust recovery from the pandemic of any of the major industrial nations in the world. I’m a climate voter, so I’m sticking with this president who has done more to mitigate climate change than any other world leader.
Stick with a president who implemented a massive infrastructure program to repair our roads and bridges across the country. And a president, above all, who is committed to keeping our democracy safe from the same man who is still lying about the last election and won’t commit to accepting the results of the next one.
If we don’t want this “debate” to define and undermine Biden, we’d damn well better start working to make sure that doesn’t happen. There’s plenty to do, and only four months to do it. Let’s stop dreaming and get moving. This is about the future of the country and the world — it’s time to re-elect President Biden.