The democratic establishment is positioning a sundowning Joe Biden to sustain some of the most brutal political haymakers in American history.
A careful clarification.
It is not, in itself, unethical to vote for Biden in the democratic primary; it only becomes unethical once you have become fully cognizant to the rapid degree of his mental decline and what that may entail.
If you agree that Biden is experiencing a sharp cognitive decline (you will), and also agree that Trump and the media will ruthlessly exploit this to an easy victory (they will), then this argument makes itself.
A second important clarification is in order.
Alzheimer’s, dementia, and age-induced mental decline are no joke. I have zero intention or desire to mock or leverage Biden’s situation. I sympathize with him. I may disagree with him politically, but I have always liked Biden personally and I still do. The fact remains that the Biden of 2012 and the Biden of 2020 are cognitively light years apart.
Recently, at a campaign rally, Biden stated, “My name is Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. Look me over, if you like what you see help out, if not, vote for the other Biden.” Let’s ignore the doddering claim that he is running for the Senate and instead go ahead and agree with him. Voting for a notional, ci-devant Biden is fine; voting for today’s incarnation is not.
For now, let’s place his policies to the side, marginalize the fact that Biden is about as close to Hillary 2.0 as one can possibly get, and instead examine evidence of his cognitive decline.
Joe Biden has dementia- Let’s go to the replay booth:
We don’t need to look far; this footage is from yesterday:
“We cannot get reelected. We cannot win this reelection. Excuse me, we can only reelect Donald Trump.”
Taken alone, this is a typical Biden gaff. Fine. It’s a humorous brainfart that rightfully shouldn’t sway many votes. Although this one is pretty extreme, we are all prone to these kinds of slip-ups. The problem is that this is not an isolated incident but has instead become a daily occurrence for a man who, if elected, would become the oldest person of all time to be inaugurated president.
This is from only a moment later… in the same speech:
Yes, Biden just got his own name wrong. That entire stump speech was only 7 minutes long, which is notable in its own right.
Here is another difficult compilation video that illustrates the high-degree of decline from which Biden is suffering. This one is required viewing.
It’s honestly hard to watch.
Even worse is the rambling and incoherence. I really don’t enjoy writing about that aspect so I will leave all remaining evaluation of his cognitive state to the reader.
Despite occasional gaffs, VP Biden used to be sharp and well-spoken. He was a formidable debate opponent. He trounced Paul Ryan in the 2012 VP debates. He ate Palin alive in the 2008 VP debates.
A crowded 2020 Democratic primary has provided happenstance camouflage for Biden’s campaign to discretely minimize his appearances. With 20+ candidates running and eight or more on a debate stage at a time, Biden was able to stay out of the spotlight. He didn’t need to speak much so he didn’t; he is near the bottom of speaking-time for almost all the debates. He has barely appeared on TV. His crowd sizes are small. His campaign is strategically limiting his exposure.
But with all the dropouts after Super Tuesday, that strategy is no longer tenable.
With all of this in mind, what makes it unethical to vote for Biden in the Democratic primaries? A vote for Biden is the equivalent of slapping a helmet and some pads on a confused, senile man and asking him to line up at RB and carry the ball 30 times. He is going to get seriously hurt and everyone who votes for him shares in that responsibility.
There is literally ZERO operable strategy that makes this work
Like him or not, Trump is a formidable debater and political opponent. He goes straight for the jugular and is more than happy, delighted actually, to drive as deadly and poisoned a political dagger into any and every oppositional weakness he can find. Biden can no longer deal coherently with any of these attacks in real time. He will be flummoxed and defenseless.
In fact, give Biden the smartest campaign experts of all time and even they wouldn’t be able to craft a good defensive strategy here. It simply doesn’t exist. Even if they could devise some kind of workable strategy, he won’t be able to execute it.
If Biden is the 2020 Democratic nominee this election will be difficult to watch unfold. We are in line for some of the most cringe-inducing presidential debates and campaign performances of all time. The DNC will require cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Biden is going to get pulverized.
The absolute worst aspect of all of this is that political insiders are acutely aware of all of this. Buttigeig knows. Klobachar knows. Beto knows. Kamala knows. Yet they endorse him anyway, enthusiastically escorting him into a humiliation-centric political and personal slaughter. It’s a foregone conclusion. Their endorsements are morally indefensible and border on inhumane. The DNC is leading a frail, 78-year-old man into the ring with Mike Tyson. Does anyone really want to watch that?
I am reminded of an awful Youtube compilation video I once saw of old people falling down and getting hurt. We shouldn’t all have to watch that together.
If Biden gets the democratic nomination, a hangdogged nation will face a compunctious ethical test. An already corrosive national debate may very well end in the widespread, public mockery of a dementia patient… for which the democratic establishment will have to take full credit.
