#WTH The Biden Presser

Two takes

Thanks to everybody for your support for our last collaborative post. Turns out, Cosmopolitics queen Elise Labott and I enjoy watching Joe Biden together. At least, as much as anyone can enjoy watching Joe Biden. What you’ll see from our interchange below is that it’s increasingly clear to us that there’s nothing Joe Biden can do to change the narrative. Even if he looked up, performed a jig, and actually knew the name of his vice president, he’s probably finished. But he’s not gonna make it easy. We saw that as we waited… and waited… to watch his Thursday night presser

EL: Dany, as I sit here waiting for Biden's presser, I can't help but marvel at the irony our President is swimming in. Biden, is the self-proclaimed "democracy" champion, right? You know, democracy vs. autocracies, democracies deliver, and all that jazz. It's been the hallmark of his foreign policy and the heart of his campaign against Donald Trump.

Yet, there's a growing chorus in his own party suggesting he shouldn't be the nominee, and his response? Essentially, "piss off." He insists the voters decided during the primary, and that’s how democracy works. Never mind the new info that's surfaced—like his debate performances and a whole parade of red flags before then. (On a side note, why the media still hinges everything on the debate performance is beyond me, especially when the signs have been glaring for some time.)

As Jon Stewart so elegantly put it, “Shut the fuck up and get on board,” isn't exactly the kind of Jeffersonian slogan you'd slap on a bumper sticker.

Now, our dear readers might be tempted to compare Biden to Trump here. But face it, there's not exactly a comparison. Nobody, including Trump himself, would ever accuse Trump of being a democracy champion. I'm holding Biden to his own high standard here . 

DP:  I’m overseas, and watching this from afar. (Highly recommend.) As we said in our last colloquoy, the debate was just the streak – the naked emperor running across the field as if he thought that all the idiots supporting his lie would just go on. But the reality is that the press has been sustaining the lie of Biden’s mental health for years now.

Am I going to stay up? I’m trying. And I feel icky saying why, but I know I’m not alone: We’re waiting for the decisive moment when Biden realizes, actually, c’mon man, I can’t do it.

As for that bit about Donald Trump being a champion of democracy, he got here the same way Biden did, because the American people chose him. Are they the chumps Biden thinks they are? Would they vote for Trump if he shot someone in broad daylight? Perhaps. But that’s not their fault. That’s the fault of the system that elevated these two men.

EL: I feel icky too. Look, anyone with an aging parent knows how heartbreaking it is to keep them from getting behind the wheel. Biden is the leader of the free world. So multiply that by a billion. It’s a sad moment.

But it’s inevitable. Look at what just happened at the NATO summit today. When introducing Ukrainian President Zelensky, he called him President Putin. He quickly recovered, but now every little gaffe, which used to be chalked up as a “Bidenism,” will be viewed through this new lens. Though I think it’s a fair point about a double standard in which everything Biden says is a headline, yet when Trump says all matter of cray, it’s just another Tuesday. 

It’s unfortunate that this “crisis” is completely overshadowing NATO’s big 75th birthday party. Not that it was ever going to be the grand celebration members wanted. As I wrote earlier this week, it’s more like a gathering of wounded animals given the results of recent elections in the UK and France and  Biden’s woes. Plus, the specter of a Trumpian return loomed over the festivities. 

OK, this press conference is 45 minutes late and the tap dancing -  dare I say agonizing - on cable news is excruciating. It’s like the dance of the Democrats: “He’s unfit” vs  – “it was one bad night.” What is coming out now is that Biden hasn’t had a full cabinet meeting since November. And can’t remember his last press conference. It’s a blinding understatement of the obvious that his inner circle has been running interference between the president and the public for some time. Now that the polls are bad, Democrats took their heads out of the sand to pile on. Whatever. It’s pretty clear this is a runaway train. 

Thankfully (my spirit animal?) James Carville just came on CNN (again looking like a scarecrow and sounding like he is talking out of a paper bag) and essentially said it’s a “done deal.” I agree. I’m going to mute the TV until Biden comes out. 

DP: Other than the fact that I have tears running down my face thinking about James Carville as your spirit animal, we’re all in wait and see mode. It’s painful to watch journalists focus on Biden with all the intensity they lacked before the debate. But about NATO…

Alliances that lack a raison d’etre have trouble staying afloat. Until Trump came along – and Elise, I firmly believe this – European leaders treated the Atlantic Alliance like a red-headed stepchild. Every other priority was more important than defense. They liked going to the parties, but in the guns/butter debate, butter always won. And we were headed that way too. Trump scared them in a good way, like a slap in the face. And he reminded them that they liked having the US of A on their side. It’s totally right to criticize his language about NATO, but it’s totally wrong not to credit him with revitalizing the alliance. Between Trump and Vladimir Putin, NATO got a much-needed kick in the pants. I worry about what a second Trump would mean, but I hope it would mean ever-more seriousness about the need for genuine burden-sharing and a common defense of Western values. 

EL: No question. Trump deserves credit for getting European leaders to pay up—something previous presidents have tried and failed to do for years. So, burden sharing in a second term? Absolutely. But I don't know that Trump truly subscribes to Western values, so defending them would be in spite of him, not because of him, IMHO. Because it's not just about having the U.S. bank account on your side. The bottom line is—and many European leaders have acknowledged this—it's hard to get NATO to act unless the U.S. leads.

DP: And here’s Joey…!! Let’s watch. 

EL: I thought he did a “fine” job. He was definitely on top of his brief, answering every question forcefully and in great detail. He laid out what he viewed as accomplishments on the economy and foreign policy issues like Ukraine, China, and Gaza. He was good on substance. On style, not so much: He made a few gaffes and had trouble landing the plane on some answers. However, he was able to draw a sharp contrast with Trump, who, while Biden was speaking, was meeting with Hungary’s Viktor Orban, a leader whose authoritarian leanings Trump seems eager to emulate. I think, just like the State of the Union, he was in his element. 

Overall, this was more of the Joe Biden people were hoping to see. But it doesn’t seem to be changing  the narrative. The post-game chatter was all about how President Obama and Nancy Pelosi are discussing ways to get Biden to step aside.  

CNN had a few senior voters (at an exercise class) and some state party officials who thought he did well and should stay in the race.  But several Democratic lawmakers were on television saying that Biden needs to do more in the coming weeks, and that’s unfair in my opinion. His performance isn’t going to change dramatically, so why put the President through this humiliation and prolong his misery? This is elder abuse. 

He might have bought himself a few days, but I think it’s just a matter of time.  

DP: Let’s me be as blunt as you: I think he’s toast. The problem for Biden is an analog to the problem the GOP had before the debate: Before that disaster, the GOP would point to Biden’s flubs and note his deterioration, but the national and media context was, “Biden is fine.” Now, even when Biden gives a passable performance for an 81 year old, the context is, “Biden is too old.” That means that instead of leading with the substance of his message, the press used words like “rambling,” “confused,” and “defiant,” highlighting every error. I don’t think this is elder abuse, because Biden is clearly one of the main drivers behind the Biden family death grip on the White House. He has always thought he is better than he is, and now is no different. 

EL: To be honest, Biden didn’t seem as defiant as he did earlier in the week. When asked, he praised Kamala Harris as qualified to be president and acknowledged there were other people who could probably beat Trump. And he said his party delegates are free to do whatever they want. 

DP: Don’t you believe that, young Elise. I think he’s as determined to go down with the ship as he was a week ago. The difference is that the crew – the Democratic Party – have abandoned him. How do you see this playing out? 

EL: The buzz now is that he should bow out Monday night in Austin at the LBJ Library, where he will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Imagine Biden stepping up to the podium, the weight of history on his shoulders, putting a capstone on his career and announcing he will step aside. He follows in the footsteps of Johnson, who famously put the country ahead of himself, and passes the torch. There’s a certain poetry to it, don’t you think? The elder statesman making the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the fight against Trump is victorious. 

That’s how I would do it. There’s a certain Texan flair to it, too. The land of big skies, big hats and big decisions. Biden could channel his inner cowboy and ride off into the sunset. (Although he would then have to ride back to Washington to finish his term.) Not only would this eat into Trump’s big moment at the Republican convention on Monday, it could be a first step in uniting the party before the Democratic convention next month, where they can coalesce and get fired up around another candidate.  

DP: From your mouth to God’s ears. I don’t agree with you. I first met Joe Biden in 1992 when I started working at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It’s because of that exposure to him over the course of a decade that I formed an impression of his character: He thinks he is brilliant. He thinks he’s the smartest man in the room. He never does his homework. He is loyal first and foremost to people named Biden. And he doesn’t take advice. Those things haven’t changed one iota. 

To get Biden out, there’s going to have to be a major intervention, and I don’t see that happening between now and Monday. But I sure as hell hope you’re right and I’m wrong… for the country.