An “impaired” president and his wife

Since President Joe Biden‘s debate against Donald Trump on June 27, there has been a media feeding frenzy about Biden’s “performance” on TV. First, that kind of framing turns the position of president into something superficial, and leads to having actors and reality TV hosts vault to the top of voter preferences. No wonder Trump got himself elected once.

Fortunately, in the current presidential election, we have actual experience from history indicating that Joe Biden, who is not only the incumbent president but also the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, is once again the best choice to beat Trump again. That experience can be boiled down here to five lessons from history. The first three such lessons  were mentioned in our post from a few days ago, and we can simply repeat them here:

Moreover, changing presidential nominees — or worse yet, presidents — in the middle of an election is a prescription for disaster. In March 1968, for example, with the country in turmoil over the Vietnam War and amid harsh criticism from Democrats, incumbent President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for re-election. The result was Republican President Richard Nixon. Likewise, in 1972, a lack of vetting of the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Thomas Eagleton, led to surprise revelations about his mental health. After a tumultuous period, Eagleton was forced off the ticket and hastily replaced. The result was a massive Republican landslide, and the re-election of Republican President Richard Nixon. Then in 1980, Sen. Ted Kennedy launched a vicious primary challenge to incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter. The Democrats lost to Republican Ronald Reagan in another landslide. While the mainstream media may love political instability, American voters do not.

These three lessons can be considered cautionary tales, i.e., reasons not to dump incumbent President Joe Biden just four months before the election. Biden was subject to primaries during the first half of this year, and obviously, that would have been the time to challenge his fitness to serve another term. President Biden won those primaries, and more than enough delegates to capture the Democratic presidential nomination, easily.

Donald Trump speaking

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been running a distant second to Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination contest, and even dropping in the polls, for some time. Perhaps that is because DeSantis has chosen to spend his time going after the Walt Disney Company and LGBTQ people. Or perhaps DeSantis has not gained ground on Trump because his criticisms of Trump have been rather tepid. It is almost as if DeSantis was hoping that Democratic attacks on Donald Trump would be enough. The Republican polls, however, indicate that is not the case.

For years, Democrats have observed that Trump is in physical or cognitive decline. This includes his difficulties walking down a ramp, problems drinking water, sniffing, and slurring his words. (As to the latter two, some have speculated that Trump takes too much Adderall, and that he may even have a prosthesis in his palate to cover damage from years of snorting Adderall or cocaine.) In recent speeches, Trump has also appeared confused, even stating that he ran against Barack Obama in 2016 (hint: it was Hillary Clinton), and that President Joe Biden might start “World War Two” (spoiler alert: that war ended when Biden was not even three years old).

Now, finally, Ron DeSantis may be shifting his strategy to tell voters about some of these apparent difficulties for Trump. Specifically, at a New Hampshire campaign event on Tuesday, DeSantis said of Trump:

… [H]e is wedded to the teleprompter. He can’t get off that teleprompter, any time he does, he says things like ‘Don’t vote.’

DeSantis went on to say:

And so I think that it’s just shown this is a different Donald Trump in 2015 and 16. Lost the zip on his fastball, ….

It’s a pretty mild attack compared to everything that DeSantis could say about Trump, but at least he is opening this door a crack. Perhaps DeSantis will be emboldened to go further, especially if he does not otherwise gain ground on Trump in the polls. Note that Chris Christie, another 2024 Republican presidential candidate, also attacks Trump, although more on Trump’s policy failures and inaction rather than physical or cognitive problems.

When it comes to Republican ads for the 2024 elections, we know the GOP, in order to create a false impression, won’t be shy about using video of President Biden tripping on stairs or stuttering. By the same token, Democrats should make full use of Donald Trump’s increasing number of apparent physical and cognitive issues to bolster an impression that seems increasingly true.

Photo by Evan Guest, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/uHekNJ