Even as a highly political person, I almost didn’t watch the first presidential debate. I expected to hear only a set of rehearsed sound bites and learn nothing new. The debate would then be followed by spinning surrogates, each claiming their side won and twisting the facts to weave their story. One candidate or another would get a temporary bump, which would disappear in a couple of weeks, and I would have wasted my time. I tuned in at the last minute because I had nothing better to do.
My first clue that things wouldn’t go well for Joe Biden came as the candidates walked to their respective lecterns. I was prepared for Biden’s unsteady gait, which I’ve been told is the result of a series of injuries and a pair of foot fractures immediately after his election in 2020. My visiting granddaughter in an emperor has no clothes moment, passed through the room and said, “Why does President Biden look so wrinkly?” Biden’s face indeed looked wrinkly in some areas and unnaturally taut in others. Former President Trump has never looked good to me, but he looked strong and hale compared to Biden. Trump had several other looks during the debate but never looked weary and lost, as did Joe Biden.
President Biden received the first question, and things immediately started going downhill. He appeared confused, tongue-tied, and unable to recall information, sometimes giving up on answering the question. I’m a baker’s dozen years younger than Biden and have moments when I can’t remember a word or a name I know. It doesn’t make me unfit to make decisions or to write a story, but my moments don’t occur on national television with millions of people watching. I could argue that Biden got better throughout the night, and by the end of the debate, he seemed fine, but I can’t unsee the first part of the debate where if Biden had dropped dead, it would have been horrifying, but not a complete surprise.
I could argue that Biden got better throughout the night, and by the end of the debate, he seemed fine, but I can’t unsee the first part of the debate where if Biden had dropped dead, it would have been horrifying, but not a complete surprise.
Then there’s Trump, who never had to worry about recalling facts and statistics because he just made them up as he went along. His actual record didn’t matter because everything he did was the best in the world's history, and Biden was the worst president ever. When he wasn’t lying in response to questions, he was avoiding them entirely. While the CNN moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper never did any fact-checking, they did at least repeat the original question to point out that the question had been evaded. This was a debate where both candidates lost, and given our binary choice as to who will be the next president, I’m truly fearful for what will become of America in the next administration.
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As a Democrat, some would say my responsibility is to find a way to declare Joe Biden the winner and ignore the performance I witnessed during the debate. If the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys or the Los Angeles Lakers came across in a press conference as Biden did, I would call for them to be replaced. If a Fortune 500 company CEO looked that bad at a shareholders meeting, they would, at best, be given a leave but more likely replaced. There is no basis for Biden to be impeached, but there will be calls for his removal based on a 25th Amendment clause. Democrats are openly considering the possibility that Biden should be replaced on the ticket.
No such discussions are taking place on the Republican side, where all they once stood for has been thrown out the window. Who would be safer during a Trump second term? Not women, people of color, women, LGBTQ, youth, or the poor and middle class. There was a time when the government contained checks and balances, and the Executive Branch was arguably the weakest of the three branches of government. That ship has sailed. The Supreme Court is now the strongest branch, doing whatever the right-wing majority believes it can get away with, swatting away laws passed by Congress and presidential executive orders as it sees fit. Should Republicans take both the House of Representatives and the Senate, there will be no one body willing to stand up to Trump, who already commands the House while out of office.
The question is what Democrats should do in light of this crisis. They likely will put their heads in the sand and hope Biden can somehow turn things around in the next debate. To replace Biden would require either a change in the DNC by-laws, where enough delegates are already pledged to Joe Biden to ensure his nomination, or Biden would have to withdraw from the race to be replaced, which isn’t likely to happen.
Among things wishfully thought is that Donald Trump will go to jail before the November election. He will be sentenced on July 11 for the New York hush-money case. Each of the 34 felony counts carries a maximum sentence of 4 years, possibly totaling 136 years, but he’ll most likely do no time at all. None of his other trials will take place before the November election, due mainly to the stalling of a federal court judge with several assists from the Supreme Court. The State of Georgia may ultimately get its shot at Trump, but if he wins, which is looking more likely than before. They’ll have to wait until he finishes his term.
If Democrats decide to replace Biden, who would be the replacement? Vice-President Kamala Harris seems the logical choice, yet California Governor Gavin Newsome has been quietly running all along. He’s strongly supported Biden but has been lurking in the background should Biden falter. Guess what? Biden faltered. Should Democrats nominate Newsome ahead of the Black woman, Kamala Harris, it may tear apart the Party.
I don’t know what happens next. I believe the Democratic Party should replace Biden with Harris as the nominee and Newsome as the nominee for Vice President. Of course, the Republicans should have replaced Trump, but that never happened. Could either Harris or Newsome defeat Trump? That depends on the candidate's ability to fundraise and keep the Democratic coalition together. Without Biden’s blessing, changing the candidate would be almost impossible. Laws in some states would make it very hard as well.
I don’t know what happens next. I believe the Democratic Party should replace Biden with Harris as the nominee and Newsome as the nominee for Vice President.
Presidents come and go, and the country usually survives even with bad presidents until the next election. America barely survived one Trump term, and for the first time, we failed at a peaceful succession of power. Another Trump term would be devastating, and if he gets to change the makeup of the Supreme Court further, it would take decades for that branch to recover, if ever. Given the options we currently have, I would vote for Joe Biden in a coma over Donald Trump. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.