The headlines following the debate SHOULD be about how much disinformation Trump spread. They SHOULD be about how he refused to take accountability for January 6. They SHOULD be about how he was convicted of 34 felony crimes…so far.
And for any other candidate running for president, this debate SHOULD have been a "gimme." Trump did what he always does: he lied, he pushed an authoritarian agenda, he avoided answering questions he should been made to answer...and he smirked through all of it.
But Joe Biden isn't just any other candidate. And he's certainly not the same Joe Biden that ran for president four years ago.
These are not the words I want to write. I wish I could say that it's clear and obvious for whom anyone should give their vote to in November. And honestly? It's still clear to me whom I'm going to vote for.
But I really wish I had another viable choice.
Joe Biden's performance on Thursday night didn't just leave more to be desired for — it left many people's jaws dropped, myself included.
I heard every excuse in the book tonight from the apologists. Biden overprepared and simply tried to say too much, saying too little in the process. Biden had a cold, and so of course he couldn't say what he meant to say. And so on, and so on.
The fact of the matter is this: Biden didn't do what he does best, which is call Trump out, and explain, in clear terms, why he's the better choice.
Instead, at various points tonight, I saw the current president try to "keep pace" with Trump, who meandered and waded into multiple different topics that had nothing to do with the questions he had been asked. Had Biden simply slowed his pace down, said his piece, and point out how off-topic Trump was, he'd have looked great.
He'd have looked like the mature choice for president. The right one. The only reasonable one.
But that's not what Biden did.
He'd have been better off skipping the debate entirely — which is what he suggested he was planning to do in March. Biden even had the perfect response as to why he would skip the debate: that Trump's "behavior" wouldn't warrant him worthy of debating. The notion rightfully frames Trump for exactly who he is, as a child, an immature imbecile.
But alas, that's not what went down. And now, Democrats have to ask themselves, late in the game: is Biden really their guy?
The clock is ticking to make a decision.
Featured image credit: U.S. Secretary of Defense/Flickr
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