King Leer
The Debate Aftermath
To call this a “post-mortem” seems cruel. But everyone could see with their own eyes what happened. In this phase of his career, Biden has never seemed hale; last night, he seemed moribund. Trump ran circles around him. It doesn’t matter that most of what he said wasn’t true; that’s what he does—he lies. He seemed relatively energetic and composed. My belief was that Biden’s age was always his biggest liability, but that he’d somehow make it to the finish line. Now, I’m not so sure.
There are now two equally undignified reactions from Democratic opinion-makers. The first is denial, that the fault is with CNN or the media writ large, that there was not enough fact-checking, or some such nonsense. Another absurd take one I saw blamed the “ableism” of the American people. First of all, sure, okay, what are you gonna do about it? Scold the public on how that isn’t right up until the election? Second, I think wanting the President of the United States to be an able man (or woman) is not an unreasonable expectation. And if Americans are so hopelessly ableist, how did they elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt four times way back in the far less enlightened 30s and 40s? Please. The second big reaction is panic, which seems more justified, but also is typical Democratic bed-wetting. These are many of the same people who shouted down any concern about Biden’s age or abilities and now are terrified. They are jumping ship in a way that seems cowardly. Will any of them say they were wrong? Unlikely.
We have institutions to handle this. Biden could just step down. But we could also have an open convention. The party could nominate someone else. But the institutions are as moribund as the candidate: they have not seen use in many years. And herein lies the problem: the entire democratic republic is in bad shape. The system has failed and spat out two bad options. Impeachment didn’t work with Trump. Nor has the criminal justice system, so far. Will the modern political party, arguably one of America’s contributions to democracy, work still? Again, this is unlikely. The risk of replacing the candidate may seem too high. So, we’ve got one party that is willing to take any risk and hazard the country for the ambitions of a criminal and you have another one that has brought us into peril because they can’t break with the past and take any bold move. It seems that all the “norms” we were told to cling to are collapsing from dry-rot.
But the craziest response by far is to suggest that the problem is that the Democrats are weak and pathetic for not displaying the blind loyalty that Republicans do with Trump. Roughly: “He’s a criminal, and they stick with him, but our people panic and run.” Yes, again, it’s unseemly. But come the fuck on. Trump is clearly unfit and a criminal. He tried to overthrow the government of the United States. It’s a scandal that his party still supports him. So, should we just do the same? Detach from reality? Adopt this weird totalitarian cult energy where we deny what’s right in front of our eyes? I thought Democrats were supposed to be the “reality-based” ones. At least Republicans are selling their souls for a guy who might win. What do we really gain by pretending this is all fine?
Still, there’s a lot of time before the election. Maybe Biden will spring miraculously back to life and thrash Trump in a later debate. Maybe one day we will all laugh about how everyone pissed their pants. But then again, maybe not. God does have a sense of humor, but it often seems at our expense.
In better news (for me at least), When The Clock Broke made the The New York Times Bestseller list this week. I’ve been totally blown away by the enthusiastic reception the book has received: It’s exceeded my wildest dreams. So, once again, thank you so much all for your support and interest.
I’ve had some great conversations with friends about the book in recent days, which, if you are reading it, might make good companions. First, on the Know Your Enemy podcast with Matt Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell. Then, on
with Jay Caspian Kang and Tyler Austin Harper. I also really appreciated economist ’s consideration of the book’s economic and sociological side over at his Grasping Reality Substack.
I don’t think Biden needs to “spring miraculously back to life and thrash Trump in a later debate.” Because I don’t think there’s much evidence the debates matter for the election outcome in the first place. I’m frustrated that we’re in a place where someone as old and declining as Biden is the best we’ve got, but the people calling for him to step down now I think are out of their minds. There’s zero evidence anyone else would do better and the stakes are too high. Biden is doing a perfectly fine job as president now and he can always step down if that changes *during* a second term.
I know it was an obvious and easy prediction to make, but I totally called “debut as bestseller“ the second you announce the book. Great work!