The Surprising June 2024 Presidential Debate

What I witnessed this past Thursday was not what I expected.  At the conclusion of the debate I thought, do Democrats who support Pres. Biden actually believe he is capable and competent to be president? That he can actually serve as Commander of Chief?

I have been watching presidential debates for probably 30 years and I have never seen a presidential candidate—much less an incumbent president—perform as poorly as Pres. Biden did. 

I anticipated we would hear Biden struggle to defend “Bidenomics” regarding our high food costs, high gasoline costs, high interest rates and the punitive inflation we are living with every day.  I expected to hear Biden have to answer about the Afghanistan debacle, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the slaughter of twelve hundred Jews in Israel on October 7, 2023.  I expected Biden to attack Trump for Jan 6th, Roe v. Wade, and Trump’s willingness to abandon any NATO country that has not paid its required funding to the organization.

What I did not expect was to see in a live, literal, and unmistakable manner how cognitively impaired Pres. Biden is.  He stumbled and muttered most of the debate but, most glaringly, at approximately the 12-minute mark he completely froze, completely lost his train of thought.  However, even when he wasn’t speaking his facial expressions and staring were bizarre. 

I actually felt sorry for him. 

But that feeling was tempered by my realization that his egotism and thirst for power have not only put himself in a dangerous and embarrassing situation, but it has compromised our national security and our economic security through his abysmal policy choices which put himself, his family and his own financial interest first, rather than putting America first.

We have witnessed Biden have these moments numerous times before, but the so-called national media always covered it up and explained it away, including labeling these episodes as “deep fakes” by Republicans.

We also recall the report of Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding Biden’s handling of classified documents that he could be charged but he was mentally so feeble that he likely could not aid in his own defense, so Hur declined recommending criminal charges.  

No longer.

Do we think that the Chinese President, Russian President, North Korea, and Iran with its nuclear ambitions, as well as terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, were not also watching the debate?  Pres. Biden is debilitated.  He is simply not mentally or physically able to manage what is arguably the most difficult job in the world. 

CNN and its hosts were not as objectively anti-Trump as I had expected but perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered as I don’t know that Pres. Biden can perform any better.  I acknowledge that later in the debate Biden had a few more coherent, succinct moments but at that point were undecided voters even still open to considering him—or even still watching?

My guess is that the national Democrat Party is panicking now. 

The Biden Campaign asked for this debate and asked for it to occur much earlier compared to traditional presidential debates which typically occur in October right before the election.  I suspect the Biden Team did this because they see the polling in the swing states reflecting that President Trump is leading in all of them and the early debate was a calculated risk to change the narrative and arc of the race.  It clearly didn’t work.

Now, Democrats are faced with a very difficult proposition.  How to replace Pres. Biden.  My understanding is Biden would actually have to agree to step aside and release his presidential primary delegates.  A big “if.”  If he did, the Democrat Party could then nominate another candidate at its convention.  If he were to resign before the election, Vice President Kamala Harris would become president and run as an incumbent president, but polling reflects that she is even less popular than Biden.  

Forget the many stark policy differences between these two incumbent presidents; after tonight, as a matter of national security, do we feel safe and secure about the current state of our nation with Pres. Biden as our leader—and potentially over the next 4 years?  I think millions of Americans will answer with a resounding “no.” 

But forget the election.  Let’s focus on the here and now and ask the scarier question: with Biden deteriorating and likely incapacitated, who is actually running our country?

Millions of Americans pray daily for our country.  This is why.