Illustration by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
“The sky is falling!”
“We’re doomed!!”
“It’s the end of the world as we know it!!”
And so forth and so on. Such was the fallout from the Democratic Party after the first presidential debate last week. First, former president Donald Trump sauntered out from stage left, smirking like a cat who’d eaten the proverbial canary. And then President Joe Biden came out, taking small careful steps, moving stiffly as he made his way to the podium. He seemed pale and hesitant. The truth is he looked frail and old.
No one knew what to expect for this first 2024 presidential debate. The rules of the debate had been modified so that only one candidate could speak at a time in the hope that the incessant and rude interruptions made by Trump during the 2020 debates would be mitigated, if not eliminated. There was no studio audience. Despite these precautions, the fear remained that Trump would behave badly. During the 2016 debates with Hillary Clinton, he prowled all around the stage, popping up behind her and looming over her as she spoke, attempting to rattle her. Would he try the same thing again? There was speculation he might go after the moderators—which he in fact did, accusing them of portraying him as a liar and a fraud (truth in journalism).
No one knew what to expect from President Biden, either. He is an experienced politician who has participated in dozens, if not hundreds of debates during his lifetime. People were amazed at his State of the Union address earlier this year. He was succinct, forceful, witty, and knowledgeable. He wowed the crowd that night, but the moment he opened his mouth last Thursday, Democrats across the country cringed. His voice was raspy, he was barely audible, and he stumbled over his words. It is common knowledge that Mr. Biden conquered a childhood stutter, but it wasn’t apparent that night. His delivery was fluttery and stilted. He spoke rapidly and squinted, sometimes shutting his eyes, as he seemed to be constantly trying to recall facts. In short, he looked, sounded, and acted old.
Mr. Trump, for his part, delivered his material with a confident and cool air. He almost seemed presidential (until you listened to what he was saying).
When he settled down—aside from a few misspeaks and some wandering—President Biden delivered cogent and pertinent content. He talked about his administration’s positive economic track record, Ex-president Trump’s past and future tax cuts for the rich and famous, American foreign policy in Ukraine and Israel, and plans to preserve Social Security and Medicare.
For his part, Mr. Trump kept hitting the same notes: the disastrous military pullout from Afghanistan, his son Hunter’s felony conviction (a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black), and immigration. The ex-president went so far as to accuse the sitting president of being a criminal and stating that he would be arrested and tried for his crimes (crimes that only live in Trump’s imagination) after the election.
When pressed on policy, Trump ducked and deflected. When confronted with the fact that he said veterans were suckers and losers, he simply denied it, even though the event has been verified many times over. Trump even repeated the somewhat odd statement that nineteen people were there who said he never made the statement. (I could find nineteen people to say that the world is flat or that Santa Claus is real). Trump is a deft and shrewd marketer. He turned every accusation against him back (no matter ludicrous) toward the president.
President Biden did not go for the kill, as he could and should have. He did not press his opponent about his involvement in the January 6th Capitol riot or his thirty-four felony convictions. He did mention Trump’s reaction to the Charlottesville White Supremacy rally when he said there were fine people on both sides, but he barely mentioned Trump’s recently thirty-four felony convictions or his other upcoming trials.
Even though there is a four-year age difference between the two candidates, Joe Biden looked tired—exhausted, really—fragile, shaky, and a little befuddled. These were the worst possible optics for a candidate whose greatest liability has been his age. It looked as if his detractors were correct, that Joe Biden is too old to continue being president. Of course, these are only the optics. Just because he doesn’t look as presidential as we’d like doesn’t mean he has bad judgement, or diminished reasoning skills, or a real compassion toward the middle class, or decades worth of experience being a public servant.
His opponent, on the other hand, uses his smooth and oily patter (along with a fifth-grade vocabulary) to convey a false impression of competence, knowledge, and skill. Truth be told, he possesses none of those qualities. He is a sham who believes he can get away with anything—which so far has been mostly true. During the debate last Thursday, he lied about his attitude toward veterans, his tax-cut policies, his involvement with the Capitol riot, and his liaison with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. His lies were so outrageous, so brazen, and so disgusting that even the Republicans had to be embarrassed—maybe.
Both candidates are well past retirement age. Donald Trump is seventy-eight and Joe Biden is eighty-one years old—only a three-year difference. One shows his age much more dramatically than the other. This shouldn’t matter. The United States should choose the candidate most qualified to be president, not the one who looks most qualified.
Had presidential elections been televised in the 1930s and 40s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt would never have been elected. Stricken with polio, he could barely stand without crutches and spent much of his time in a wheelchair. America would not have elected a handicapped president, even though FDR was probably the only man who could have led the US out of a devastating economic depression and conducted a war to defeat the Nazis and Japan. President Reagan reputedly took naps during the workday. Well, so do I. I suspect the majority of the workforce would if they could. William Howard Taft tipped the scales at three hundred pounds. Would he have been elected today?
Then the boob tube entered the political arena. The 1960 debate between Kennedy and Nixon lost the race for the latter. The camera loved the dashing JFK. Nixon looked rumpled, sweaty, and pasty compared his opponent. Now we have a reality TV celebrity who has spent a lifetime cultivating his brand running against a bright, experienced, and shrewd politician who looks old.
Trump has no compassion, no dignity, and little to no competence. He is rude, he is a bully, he mocks the handicapped, and talks about grabbing women by the genitalia. He is a convicted felon. He has already corrupted the office of the presidency.
Biden has been a public servant his entire career. He has worked to protect unions, the middle class, and seniors. He serves the people, not himself. He is experienced, savvy, and sharp.
Don’t let your eyes deceive you. Joe Biden may look old, but he towers head and shoulders over his opponent, a heartless, soulless, grasping little man.
Vote for the man, the builder, the doer—not the reality TV star.