Hearkening back to the iconic movie, The Untouchables, it's just like the Democratic Party, brings a knife to a gun fight. In the wake of what was apparently the most important debate of our lifetimes, the Dems have had to weather the calls from inside the house to burn the house down. As I was watching the bedwetting and pearl clutching unfurl over the weekend it finally hit me. The problem is not that Joe Biden was categorically bad at the debate. The problem was twofold. The first problem is the accepted narratives. The second is the very simple fact that the fight is rigged as Trump would say, because the Dems refuse to fight like the Republicans do.
The media driven narrative is simple. Joe Biden is old. The reality however is that both candidates are old, and both have shown signs of the decline that comes with age. Have you listened to a Trump rally lately? Have you heard the insane Hannibal Lecter rant? Have you caught the bizarre batteries and sharks bit? It is true that while Biden could not get facts straight at the debate Trump appeared not as debilitated but let's keep two things in mind. He is a savvy television personality. This is his milieu, whereas Biden is stronger in stump speeches and personal politicking. The second thing to keep in mind is that Trump did not actually have a good debate at all. The estimates for lies told in this debate by CNN themselves was over 30. Not that they actually bothered to fact check any of it during the debate itself. The problem once again comes back to those pesky little narratives that are driven by the media and seem to be widely accepted. We expected Trump to lie, and 30 times seems a little short of expectations. Biden on the other hand had to go out and break dance while solving a Rubik's Cube to prove he was not 81 years old. Except he is 81 years old. Suddenly the narrative feels vindicated. The previous three years apparently go out the window. Has there been any decline in policy? No. Has there been any decline in leadership? No. Keep in mind that while the convicted felon was golfing and pontificating about being eaten by sharks the previous days leading up to the debate, Biden was doing, you know, presidential things. He was in Normandy for the celebration of D-Day and then went to Italy for the G-7 Summit. Was there any reporting of slippage in how Biden did his job on these visits? No.
None of this matters though because Joe Biden proved what the media has been driving for months now - he is old. Mind you this starts with fake media sources like Fox News and OEN but the mainstream, so-called liberal media quickly picks up on it and runs with it. Trump lied 30 times? Yawn, yeah, he's such a rascal! Did you notice however how raspy Biden's voice sounded? Can't have a president with a raspy voice now, can we? This brings us to sunny point number two and back to the gun fight the GOP keeps waging against America. Were there any calls for Trump to step down from his side? Please. Donald Trump could have shot one of the moderators and his gaggle of cosplaying, vice-presidential Bachelorette wannabes would have all said thank God he believes in the Second Amendment. While wearing matching red ties of course. If Donald Trump had made the exact same factual blunder Biden did all we would have heard after is that it was somehow strategic three-dimensional chess, if it really happened at all, and the denouncement of the deep state fake news. There is no wavering from the other side. There are no rogue actors. If they do grow a spine they are quickly excommunicated as "RINOs" and soon there will be calls for them to face military tribunals like Trump did over the weekend with Liz Cheney.
I am not even sure it is fair to claim the Dems bring a knife to this fight. Feels like more of a toothpick. Sure, they try to point to the Trump lies but the media just acknowledges and then pivots right back to the established narrative. Let us not lose sight of the fact that it was CNN that chose to not bother with the truth during the actual debate. The post-debate coverage on the supposed uber-liberal MSNBC started with references to high-ranking party officials debating Biden's removal. Because of ninety minutes. After the G7. After Normandy. After the past three years. Donald Trump was caught saying he could grab women by the genitals because he was famous and after a brief revulsion, everyone on that side got back in line. Trump started an insurrection against this country and after some brief recoil, they all got back in line. Joe Biden says he capped insulin at $15 instead of the actual number of $35 and everyone loses their minds and demands he be put in a home for the elderly. Never mind that in the same debate, Trump actually claimed to have been the one who lowered the insulin prices, a bold-faced lie. One among many.
Look, there is no sugar coating the debate performance on either side. One guy performed poorly and the other was an inveterate liar. We need to realize however that we are being fed a narrative that is as unbalanced as the way the Dems fight their political wars. This narrative starts on the right in their echo chamber. They are the ones driving the narrative to replace Joe Biden because then Trump gets to sit back and mock the chaos of the convention and the Dems lose the advantage of incumbency and the record of the last three years. I am not suggesting that the left become as duplicitous is the right, but can we at least stop stabbing ourselves with that toothpick? I hearken back to The Untouchables again, and the dying gasp of Sean Connery's character. With the debate firmly behind us and the future of our republic in the balance, understanding the narratives and who is driving them there remains only one question:
Now, what are you prepared to do?
