My Thoughts On Where We Are
Greetings from DC! I’m here for the summer board meeting of the Human Rights Campaign, where we’re working to turn out millions of Equality Voters this November.
I’m off to a breakfast fundraiser for Angela Alsobrooks, who is running to be Maryland’s next U.S. senator. If she wins, she will be the first female Black Senator from the state. This is a MUST WIN seat for us. Alsobrooks is facing former Republican governor Larry Hogan, who remains popular especially among independents and GOP voters. If Hogan wins, the chance we hold the Senate plummet—which is why we’re here to bat for Alsobrooks!
Many if not most of you, along with folks from our HRC board whom I spoke with last night, have deep concerns about where we are as a party. Our candidate had a terrible debate performance two weeks ago, and nothing he’s done since has quelled calls for him to step aside.
Things may have shifted last night, however, as Biden held a one-hour open press conference at the NATO summit. He wasn’t perfect. He had verbal flubs that people are still pointing to, including saying Vice President “Trump” instead of “Harris” and earlier referring to President “Zelenskyy” as “Putin.”
Not great.
On the other hand, few could say he wasn’t in full mastery of policy, or that he lacked the wisdom to be president. Even the NYT begrudgingly admitted this in its morning newsletter,
Biden offered detailed, complex answers about world affairs, and he talked about both his economic record and his future agenda. He passionately criticized gun violence and Donald Trump. “There’s so much we can do still,” Biden said. “and I’m determined to get it done.”
I’ve certainly heard from many who continue to express doubts. “Biden clearly isn’t the guy he was four years ago,” one person said. “So this is where we are? Rating each public appearance… Love him, but we deserve better,” a friend wrote.
But others who want him to stay in the race were excited by his performance. “There we go, Joe!” one said. “This guy can beat Trump,” another opined. Many Democratic officials rushed to support him.
So what should we do now? Over social media, a friend from the UK commented, summing up what many folks are thinking:
I know you’re reluctant to say anything different since you don’t have control over it, but would it not be best to just be honest that Joe Biden is no longer at the top of his game and everyone should be uniting to ensure Trump has the best chance of losing?
After all, we are not the Trumpists who pretend their candidate didn’t say or do something and try and bury it and call it all fake news. We are all better than that.
The latest gaffe that just happened in calling Zelensky “Putin” when introducing him is just farcical and downright embarrassing and ridiculous right at the time when he’s being scrutinised most.
At this point, it’s surely just selfish for Joe to not step back for the good of your country….
This is a fair question, especially coming from someone who isn’t a citizen here but, like the rest of the world, has a stake in who leads our country next. He is fearful of a second Trump presidency, as are we all.
I answered with many U.S. readers in mind:
Asking whether Joe Biden should step down is something we might do privately. But I think it’s unhelpful to read him down publicly. If he digs in, no one is happy. If he steps down, it won’t be from anything a pundit said or a post on social media. It will be his closest advisors and family telling him to.
If you believe he should step down or that should stay in, by all means let your representative know. But public pronouncements only raise not lower the temperature and risk aiding Trump as we fight with ourselves.
The situation is far from ideal. But people are probably going to vote against Trump no matter what. There’s been no indication that much has shifted on that. It’s still a tie race, as it was in 2020.
Indeed, the polls—which I cite with all the caveats they are likely not true in any absolute sense, but can show movement within the same flawed methodology—are still showing a tied race and less movement than normally occurs after a bad debate performance. That most likely means that Biden’s advisors are telling him he can still win the race—meaning he’s unlikely to drop out because of any disastrous polling.
And with a B grade performance last night—showing a mastery of policy that Trump couldn’t show in any similar setting—the pragmatist in me knows that the chance that Biden will withdraw is now lower than before. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington post was complimentary when she had been a “show me” critic leading up to last night, tweeting, “Best outing since the debate.”
And journalist David Shuster wrote, “I appreciate that many journalism colleagues and pundits still think Biden should drop. But watching his news conference tonight, I thought President Biden was solid, compelling, and articulate. I also think the showing tonight will help him with voters.” I concur.
Rachel Maddow gave a positive assessment, too, noting Biden had a “startlingly impressive command of the issues” last night.
For many others, however, nothing from last night changed their opinion that he should withdraw. But that’s now beside the point. Those who were hoping for a catastrophe big enough to “break the dam” simply didn’t get it. Instead, most Biden watchers came away with greater respect for him, acknowledging that had he shown this level of comfort and experience at the debate, we wouldn’t be having this discussion today.
In my view, Biden should do more of these pressers. People will get more used to his verbal gaffes, which admittedly are cringey but in fairness have been happening for decades. Making them commonplace is the best way to remove their sting. Just ask George W. Bush.
Biden should also challenge Trump to do similar press conferences and answer the same questions. U.S. voters would get to see for themselves, and in stark contrast to the President, that Emperor Trump has no clothes at all. (Sorry for that mental image.)
By the way, Trump, who mixed up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi in a far more telling way, tried to capitalize on the Harris/Trump flub. It didn’t go well.
Have a great weekend! I’ll be back here tomorrow morning with an abbreviated Xeets and Giggles.
Jay
Angela Alsobrooks will be the first Black woman elected to the senate from MD, but Barbara Mikulski was the first woman elected from MD and became the longest-serving woman in senate history serving 30 years before she stepped down.
I didn't see anything unusual about Biden's gaffes last night; he's always been known for making them, and that should have been baked in by now. The problem is the media is magnifying every misstep on his part since the debate to a degree that's 1) out of proportion to his overall performance, which was masterful, and 2) out of proportion in comparison to his opponent who, unlike Biden, makes gaffes without immediately recognizing it [as Biden did with the Putin/Zelensky mix-up].
Probably not a popular opinion, but I think everybody needs to take a deep breath and settle down. Joe Biden on his worst day is still light years better than Donald Trump on his best day.
The gaffes, while unfortunate, are still only a part of his stutter. But the policy is strong, and that's what we needed to see with all the talk of him withdrawing.