Democrats must think you’re stupid — and Biden’s feeble candidacy proves it | Opinion

It won’t be the economy. It won’t be the price of gas. It won’t be the raging wars, the scene at our border, the way white women vote or accusations of being too “woke.”

If the Democrats flop in November — and their unchallenged presidential nominee, Joe Biden, goes down in unholy flames, as looks increasingly likely, putting Democracy itself in peril — the only thing any of us will have to blame is the party responsible for thrusting him into the ring in the first place.

Elitism and brazen arrogance may well prove to be Democrats’ undoing, as foretold in small-town diners and midwestern grocery stores since the beginning of time. Isn’t it ironic?

At the highest levels — the ones that matter, where the levers of power are pulled — liberals, or progressives (or whatever you want to call them) clearly think they’re smarter than the rest of us.

Worse yet?

Party leaders appear to believe that the average voter in America is so dumb — and they’re so brilliant — that with the right mix of messaging, strategy and moxie they can convince enough crucial swing-state voters to ignore what their eyes have long made obvious:

Biden, bless his heart, is too old and frail to battle with Donald Trump with the fate of a nation hanging in the balance. It doesn’t matter if he’s the vastly superior candidate in every way. Perception does, fair or not. This election has never been entirely about facts or reality, which is both terrifying and undeniable.

The first Presidential debate of 2024 put Biden’s biggest weakness on prime-time display.

Now, barring the miraculous or unprecedented — the President finding the fountain of youth or a late-stage, desperation nominee swap — the next five months promise to be even harder to watch.

Debate disaster

I won’t pain anyone with a blow-by-blow recap of Thursday night’s CNN showdown, which like all presidential debates in recent years arrived with a mix of trepidation and existential dread.

Suffice to say: It did not go well for Uncle Joe. He bumbled. He stumbled. He muttered. The president appeared vulnerable, bewildered and unintelligible — far too much of the time.

In short, Biden looked as old and unfit for the task as he has at many times over the last four years, regardless of his administration’s policy achievements, or the job numbers or the straightforward reality that the 2024 election will almost certainly come down to a choice between an accomplished octogenarian and Orange Evil Incarnate.

That’s precisely the problem, isn’t it? We’ve all seen it. But since the day Biden launched his reelection campaign, if not long before, Democratic party leaders have insisted that gaslighting voters into questioning their instincts is the surest path to victory.

For a group largely made up of Ivy League overachievers and career politicians, that’s about as stupid as it gets.

Denying the obvious

Four months ago, I warned of the perils of Biden’s presumptive nomination in a column written shortly after the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s damning 388-page report outlining a federal investigation into the president’s handling of top-secret documents.

Hur, whose controversial report characterized the President as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” didn’t pull any punches.

He’s also a Trump-appointed Republican, as many progressives and diehard Biden supporters were quick to note, including those who filled my inbox and DMs with well-articulated, college-level essays voicing their disappointment.

How dare I question Biden’s fitness for office, they suggested, especially when the stakes are so high?

That’s my point, I responded, as calmly as possible. Hur’s likely bias isn’t.

The idea that Biden is the only Democrat capable of uniting a nation and fending off Trump’s most terrifying play for power to date has always been asinine — not to mention counterintuitive.

Even then it was essentially too late to change course, of course. The party had made its bed with Biden and appeared resolute to sleep in it, for better or worse.

After Thursday night? It all feels like an entirely preventable nightmare.

Mostly, it feels like worse is on its way.

Wake-up call

Here’s the cold, hard truth, provided for the sake of a party pushing us headfirst into the precipice of a potential Constitutional crisis.

I don’t know who Democrats could reasonably pivot to at this point. And I don’t know if this mystery candidate — be it Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom or any other political hopeful — has what it takes to beat Trump. I don’t have to.

What I do know should be basic for anyone who spends time with everyday people outside of the Beltway or the Whole Foods produce department.

Political insiders and elected leaders often know what’s best, even when it runs contrary to popular opinion and the low-brow memes that fill our Facebook feeds. In times like these, they’re obligated to stand up for what’s right.

But there’s a catch, and it’s a big one — revealing an immutable Achilles heel for a party that loves nothing more than to consider itself the smartest in the room.

To be worthy of the power we give them, these same leaders have a responsibility to shoot straight with us, just like Uncle Joe is famous for, even when it’s inconvenient.

The American people don’t know everything, but they can still spot an obvious dupe when they see one.

They also deserve the truth.

Attempting to conceal it — even in pursuit of an all-important goal, like the preservation of our Democracy and keeping tyrant out of the White House — is a recipe for the type of disaster we witnessed Thursday night.