The first blow in the 2024 presidential race has been fired by two of the oldest men in history who have sacrificed their country for self-delusion. The highest-stakes battle in a democratic world is between criminals and old people.
Former President Donald Trump's new criminal record is well known: 34 convictions for falsifying business records. Former Vice President Biden is now unusually willing to use the word “criminal” and to describe Trump as a drunk Jedi with a lightsaber.
He should enjoy this moment, or else the president will oscillate between sanity and a glaring daze that he doesn't need to deny for political gain. A recent Wall Street Journal investigation tracked Biden's cognitive state, interviewing 45 lawmakers and administration officials about him.
The results provide an unsettling story for Americans considering a second term for Biden, who will be 86 in 2028.
Follow this author Kathleen Parker's opinion
According to a Wall Street Journal report, observers (mostly Republicans, but not all) said Biden is no longer who he used to be. Democrats, including members of the president's staff, disagreed, saying he is in full control, in effect. They explained away the president's repeated comments by saying Biden is Biden, even though he was said to have made those remarks repeatedly in those same meetings.
According to the Wall Street Journal, presidents often use note cards to slow down meetings. Staffer: That's completely normal. Lots of presidents do it.
Not really, but that's okay: It's not a crime to refer to notes when the details matter. At least he's not writing them on the palm of his hand, like former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin did.
Some people in the Wall Street Journal article noted that Biden's voice was at times so low, and nearly indecipherable, they had to strain their ears to hear and understand him — as if someone had unplugged the president and he was gradually shutting down.
At least one media outlet called out the Wall Street Journal reporter. CNN reported that there were “clear problems” with the article, noting that most of the critics were Republicans. Fair enough. But those who follow the news and watch Biden on TV and online have seen for themselves his occasional gaffes. Who are we fooling?
The Wall Street Journal report gained momentum almost immediately after the president strayed from his script during an emotional speech he delivered in France this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. Speaking to veterans of the Normandy landings, Biden drew parallels with the Ukrainian war against Russia, said allies should support Ukraine and lamented the hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
“They suffered heavy losses in fighting with the Russians. The numbers are staggering – 350,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded,” he said.
Maybe Democrats have simply grown accustomed to Biden's way of speaking over the decades. It's true that Biden's younger days also struggled to connect his head with his mouth. His famous slip-ups and gaffes fill a doorstopper book. I've heard Biden's slip-ups, his tongue and toes have become so comical that he's hired an agent.
Or maybe people are lying to protect the president because they fear that speaking the truth would empower him. If you think this approach is defensible, I highly recommend reading Jerzy Kosinski's Being There. If that's too difficult, there's also the movie.
This is not to say that Trump is the better candidate. But as recent polls suggest, Trump benefits from human forgetfulness. He is more popular now than he was when he left office in 2021. And data from five recent national surveys by election forecasting firm 270toWin shows that Trump and Biden are tied at 44.2% approval ratings each. About 56% of Americans are dissatisfied with Biden's job performance, according to RealClearPolitics.
Have we really forgotten the events of January 6, 2021? Glued to a few televisions, President Trump watched as protests turned violent and broke into the Capitol. By the time he spoke out against the riots, immeasurable damage had been done not only to the Capitol building and the nerves of those trapped and trapped inside, but also to the nation's faith in the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump's trial over his sexual history with a porn star was a distraction from his far more serious offenses of lies, misinformation, gaslighting and manipulation, but her testimony and others reminded us of Trump's honey badger nature.
Trump, who has also shown signs of cognitive decline, as Republicans including Senator Nikki Haley have noted, has benefited from comparisons with Biden, who has reportedly had at least two conversations with world leaders who are long dead.
This is what happens when you stay in politics for too long.
Biden's aides have always been wary of Trump's declining cognitive abilities, pointing out that he dozed off during the trial. If this was in their best interest, they never watched the trial all the way through, even though most of it was enough to cure their insomnia. (When I can't sleep, I get my lawyer husband to talk me through the events of the day.) Trump's conviction is, unfortunately, not the outcome many were hoping for. He's still a strong contender and could still win. Oddly, there's no law barring him from serving as president from prison.
Republicans must decide soon whether they want to play the short game or the long game. If Biden wins, the GOP has a chance to field a next-generation candidate and win for the next eight years or more, even in 2028. If Trump wins, the GOP may lose its connection to the mother ship and drift in space and time indefinitely.
Given the current makeup of the Republican Party (people who want to block access to contraception?), that long-term option may be the best outcome, unless in an alternate world where Democrats hold power for a long time.
