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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
The presidential debate that played out on TV screens on Thursday night was a sad spectacle for America, and for the world. The shining city on a hill of freedom and democracy is looking tattered and rundown. Both presidential candidates are older than any previous holder of the office. Joe Biden appeared frail and sometimes confused, losing his train of thought mid-answer. Donald Trump lied repeatedly and evinced the complete absence of a moral compass. For the Democratic party, and all those who fear Trump represents an existential threat to the American republic, Biden’s halting performance is cause for despair.
Each candidate is the inverse of his rival in two important senses. Though Biden struggled to communicate, the substance of some of his answers indicated his mind is still sharp. That suggests he is, for the time being, still fit to govern. The problem is that in the performative world of US politics, conducted via media clips that can be mercilessly edited, he does not appear fit to campaign.
Trump remains at least vigorous enough to campaign — even if his responses, too, were often rambling or plain wrong. Yet his wild distortions of facts and dangerous desire for vengeance make him clearly unfit to govern. The focus on Biden risks distracting from just how much this encounter also revealed about the convicted felon who is his opponent. This is a man who claimed that Biden was a stooge of Communist China and had “encouraged” Russia to invade Ukraine, and who declined to state unequivocally that he would accept the results of November’s election. In a flawed format, moderators often failed to call out his falsehoods.
Biden has seen his political mission above all as preserving American democracy, driven by a belief that he is uniquely equipped to do so. He defeated Trump in 2020 and delivered a presidency that has pushed through some of the most substantial legislative measures of any in recent times. History will remember him for these accomplishments. But he now appears too frail to pursue his mission of beating Trump a second time. Debates can swing elections, and this one — like Richard Nixon’s sweaty outing against John F Kennedy in 1960 — may go down as the moment hope was lost.
The extent of the crisis for the Democrats is hard to overstate. Any decision to stand aside would be for the president alone. In an ideal world, he and senior Democrats would recognise that the situation is unsustainable and an alternative solution needs to be found. The fact that Kamala Harris, the first female and first non-white vice-president, has failed to win over voters is a complication. But Biden could release the Democratic delegates who are pledged to him; competing slates could then spend seven weeks wooing delegates and the public, and the party convention would then vote on who to endorse in late August — in the first open convention in decades.
In a best-case scenario, this could become an affirmation of internal party democracy and energise voters. It might equally descend into acrimony and division. While many are untested at national level, however, there are a number of plausible and capable younger candidates in the party, and enough time to endorse a ticket that could stand a greater chance of beating Trump. Polling has suggested a generic Democratic opponent would be better placed to prevail than Biden. The president faces an agonising choice. But to stand aside now would be a dignified and statesmanlike move — and might yet prove the best way of achieving his broad political goal of preserving US democracy.