A few things happened last Thursday.

President Joe Biden had a bad debate. For normal people, bad days happen along with the good. Joe Biden is a normal person.

Donald Trump also had a bad debate, though you wouldn’t know it from the coverage. Because he can’t help himself and lies whenever he opens his mouth, Trump missed “a great opportunity to reset his candidacy and greatly strengthen his position.” Donald Trump is not a normal person.

Our national media, which is addicted to clickbait and the priorities of oligarch ownership failed the nation. On the CNN-sponsored “debate,” to give one of many egregious examples, Trump claimed that Democrats allow “after birth” abortion. The moderators’ only response was “thank you.” As Robert Reich wrote: “Memo to the media: Calling out Trump’s lies isn’t ‘biased.’ It’s your job.”

Finally, on Thursday, we continued to see attacks on voting rights as well as a historic power grab by the conservatives on the Supreme Court that are also existential threats to our democracy. Yet the mainstream media barely covers these stories, much less provides the historical context for what is happening.

The guardrails that have been constructed over the years to protect democracy will not hold without a fight against a sustained and decades-long campaign to bring them down. A free press, free-and-fair elections, and an impartial judiciary all require support and hard work by every generation if they are to function as necessary to maintain a government by and for the people.

In the end, it’s up to us as citizens and voters to demand the type of government and institutions needed for all Americans—not just the wealthy and politically connected—to enjoy the benefits of that democracy.

We certainly can’t count on our major news outlets to help out.

On Saturday morning I opened The New York Times and found a full-page onslaught by three Times opinion columnists confident of their own righteousness with the clickbait title: “Is Biden Too Old? America Got Its Answer?” *

I think a better headline would be, “Is The New York Times a disgrace to journalism? America got its answer.” **

Ezra Klein, an opinion columnist who the very wise Joan Walsh has called “unmoored from reality” at critically important times began with the following statement:

I think the problem is that Donald Trump seemed much more presidential than he did in 2020 and Joe Biden seemed much less. 

Seriously.

These opinion columnists weren’t outliers. No, the “news” division of the Times joined with the editorial page to hammer on Biden’s debate performance. It is the “but her e-mails” performance all over again.

Since when do appearances matter when it comes to choosing the leader of the free world? Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt didn’t “look” presidential, but they both did a damn good job of saving the nation.

Let’s just remind ourselves who it is that the oh-so-smart Mr. Klein said seems “so much more presidential.” That would be the convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser who paid hush money to a sex worker, stole classified documents, and is on record believing veterans are suckers and losers. Virtually none of that came up in the “debate,” much less in the Times gusher of coverage against Biden as being “too old.”

The “presidential-appearing” presumed 2024 nominee of the Republican Party—who has promised government by the few and for the few—is a convicted felon. Thirty-four times over. A jury of his peers found that he falsified records to cover up a hush money payment to a sex worker in order to change the results of the 2016 election.

He’s also surrounded himself with individuals who subvert the rule of law for personal gain. Trump’s campaign chairman, deputy campaign manager, personal lawyer, chief strategist, National Security Adviser, Trade Advisor, Foreign Policy Adviser, campaign fixer, and company CFO are also convicted felons.

In addition, his business was found guilty of fraud and a jury held him liable for sexual abuse—rape, in other words—in a civil trial. And perhaps the worst charges against him as a former president—inciting a riot to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election and stealing state secrets—are bogged down as judges and justices forget their oath of office and follow his bidding.

The Republicans seem intent on backing Donald Trump no matter what he says or does and no matter how much of the American public disagrees with its policies. And please send me the link if The New York Times has ever run a full-page editorial saying that Donald Trump should step down from seeking the nomination in 2024.

Oh, we’ve already seen their response. On the day after Trump’s conviction, the Times editorial board published an op-ed—Donald Trump, Felon—in which they made no call for Trump to step down as the GOP candidate.

Seriously.

For 90 minutes on Thursday, Mr. Trump (not Mr. President, as the CNN moderators insisted on calling him) “unleashed a virulent anti-American rant.” To gain a sense of equilibrium I suggest you consider:

• Other voices on the Times opinion page who suggest that “it’s baffling that so many Democrats are failing to rally around a wildly successful president after one bad night.”
• Historians, who remind us that Trump was using “a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them.”
• And journalists who’ve been there, seen that, and understand the preposterous suggestions coming from the Times editorial board.

If you think that one debate four months before the election means anything, I’d like to introduce you to President Kerry, President Romney, and President Hillary Clinton who all “won” their first debates. As Stuart Stevens wrote, “Before Thursday’s debate, the presidential race was about the past versus the future. After the debate, it is about the past versus the future. And so it will be on Nov. 5.”

“My one plea to my new friends abandoning Mr. Biden is simple: Suck it up and fight. It’s not supposed to be easy.”

I’ll vote for the old man who has proven himself one of our most successful and consequential presidents over the convicted felon, lifelong criminal, and sexual abuser every day.

More to come . . .

DJB

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UPDATE: The editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer got it right in an opinion piece entitled To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race. THIS is what a responsible group of editors for a major metropolitan newspaper should write: “(T)he debate about the debate is misplaced. The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.” They noted that he is running for president to stay out of prison. And in a great answer to all the naysayers at tone-deaf papers like the Times and the Washington Post, they write: “Yes, Biden had a horrible night. He’s 81 and not as sharp as he used to be. But Biden on his worst day remains lightyears better than Trump on his best.”

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*I’ve only focused on Klein’s writing here. I never read Ross Douthat who comes from a worldview that believes “the biggest danger to the United States is the cultural left.” And people I respect note that Michelle Cottel makes up facts to make the case for Trump.

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**I’ve said this before: I have a conflicted relationship with the Times. Others have similar problems.

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Please read my disclaimer for politics-related posts before firing off a nasty comment.

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Photo from Unsplash showing the only polls that matter.