Whenever I’m worried, I think back to an old quote I read when I was little: “When I think back on my life, 99% of what I worried about never came true—especially the worst-case scenarios.”
Last Thursday, however, the worst-case scenario happened. Democrats watched in collective horror as Joe Biden shuffled onto camera and promptly imploded on the debate stage.
Let’s not mince words—it was an abject disaster. It hurt—not just during, but also after the fact. It felt like a betrayal of everything we’ve been told by the Biden campaign for the last three years. Biden did not appear as sharp as aides and advisors suggested he was, and after being told for three years that Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump, it’s now unclear if he’s capable of doing so at all.
Even more frustrating is that shortly after the debate, Biden went to a Waffle House and absolutely killed it, cracking jokes and even dapping up a customer. The next day, Biden delivered one of the best speeches of the entire campaign at a rally in Charlotte, NC. Biden was deft and charismatic, concluding the thunderous rally of roughly 2000 people with an acknowledgement of his flaws, but also a reminder of hope.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden said. “I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know—and I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong and how to do this job!”
Biden then concluded the speech by reminding supporters that “when you get knocked down, you get back up!” Why couldn’t we have gotten that Biden at the debate? This version of Biden was inexcusably absent during the debate, the debate during which Trump spewed lie upon lie, completely unchecked by moderators who were almost passionate in their disinterest in moderating.
Immediately following the debate was the worst week for democrats since Dobbs v. Jackson, when Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices made it easier for officials to accept bribes, gutted the federal government’s regulatory powers, and, worst of all, granted limited immunity to the executive office—meaning that no one is above the law unless they’re president.
Not just “we,” but all Americans have taken repeated beatings from the Supreme Court this week. Between Biden’s disastrous debate performance and his subsequent crucifixion by the media, as well as a Supreme Court that no longer upholds the law, we as a nation have reached a make-or-break moment, where either the next election will make America dramatically better, or it will break America.
I am a democrat, registered and reliable in my vote. I love and support Joe Biden, the first democrat I ever backed in an election. I believed in the man who overcame a stutter, something that registered with a teenager who struggled to talk to others; a man who survived an unbearable tragedy in which he lost both his wife and one-year-old daughter; a man who was forced to relive it all again decades later when his son died of brain cancer. Biden’s empathy and strength in the face of unimaginable agony spoke and continues to speak to me in a way that few politicians have.
I remember vividly the moment I became a democrat: It was during the first debate in 2020 when Biden talked about his commitment to veterans and how losing his son, Beau (who fought in Iraq), informs those convictions.
Trump mocked Biden, saying, “Oh, I don’t know Beau,” and proceeded to attack Joe’s other son, Hunter, for having struggled with drug abuse.
An enraged Biden hit back hard: “I am talking about my son Beau Biden!” he yelled. He then said of Hunter, “My son, like a lot of people we know at home, had a drug problem. He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it. And I’m proud of him. I’m proud of my son.”
It was then that I realized why Biden’s “battle for the soul of this nation” resonated so much with me: He is the exact type of father I want to be one day. His reassurance towards Hunter, “I love you and am proud of you,” the memories he shares of Beau, Neilia (his first wife), and Naomi (his deceased daughter)—I knew Biden could be a father for this nation and help us heal from four years of division.
Eight years ago, we were told that 2016 was the most important election of our lifetime, but because of our failure to stop Donald Trump, every subsequent election will be the most important of our lifetime until we finally remove his stain from America.
It pains me to say, but it’s no longer clear that Biden can remove that stain. Joe Biden has to be honest with himself about his capabilities to take on Trump and his cronies; if he fails, history will look back on him and his misplaced confidence as the reaper that damned the soul of America.
2020 is the second of what will be a long series of battles for the soul of this nation.
This is no longer right versus left, it’s right versus wrong. It’s democracy versus dictatorship. It is imperative that we defeat Donald Trump this November—and if voting for Biden will do that, then we must vote for him. If voting for Kamala Harris will do that, then we must vote. But democrats must do serious soul searching to ensure it puts up its strongest ticket to defeat what is, quite frankly, an encroaching cloud of fascism.
Democrats must defeat Donald Trump, with or without Biden.