A Serious Time For Serious People: It's Time For Joe Biden To Go

It's shameful that we're here. Shameful.

A queer friend of mine reached out a couple of weeks ago. We don’t usually talk politics. My friend is anxious and the worsening climate of the past few years is triggering on a level that’s hard to fathom. But recent times have brought harassment. Intimidation. Their community has been systematically targeted, their state has passed laws meant to erase and criminalize their existence. They wanted to know about Project 2025.

And why would my non-political friend even know the name of a political agenda created by an ecosystem of billionaire-funded think-tanks and institutes when their very existences are shielded from public awareness?

Because this is a serious time for serious people.

I have too many people I care about in the crosshairs of the authoritarian machine. Queer people. Trans people. People of color. Women. Children. Immigrants. People who have been squeezed so far for so long that their lives and livelihoods are as precarious as precarious gets.

These are people who might not very well survive a second Trump presidency.

People who deserve to live and vote and control their own bodies and destinies.

The threat of Donald Trump as a stooge and enforcer for the billionaire elite, who have already co-opted the United States of America and are poised to decimate the progress of the 20th century, is very, very real. This is a generational crisis and how it is answered will determine so much for so many.

What we saw last night was an affront to all of us.

It was an affront to those people whose lives are on the line.

And what’s more, the last four years have been an affront as well.

Joe Biden is not fit to run as the Democratic nominee for president. There’s reason to question whether he is fit to serve as President of the United States of America.

It would be one thing if we were living in some period of tranquility and prosperity, an Era of Good Feelings-esque time. But we aren’t. We’re facing a rise in authoritarianism here and around the world. We are living in a hinge point in which neoliberal capitalism is evolving into its next brutal form. Vulnerable people of all stripes are facing the consequences. Climate change threatens to exacerbate everything.

It is bad enough that Joe Biden served as president as Roe v. Wade was overturned, as the Supreme Court hacked away at our rights and protections, that he has aided horrific war crimes in Gaza, that he has done little to present plans to protect our rights and progress, much less expand them, that he has worsened climate change, forwarded anti-immigrant agendas, and added happily to the growing police state. Those things are indictments of his presidency.

They would be bad enough. But the justification we have been given - “just wait, we want the same things you want, but we have to deal with Trump and Biden is the only one who can do that!” - has always been false. We were told to accept four years of Biden as president in exchange for “moving on” from Donald Trump. Then, we were told to accept four more years. Because, as “the experts” and sycophants told us, Biden was some sort of specialized Trump defeater.

Well.

Even the most diehard Biden supporters and media apparatchik are coming around to the death of their convenient fictions. That’s how bad Biden was last night. I’m not going to present this as political analysis because what happened was beyond politics. It was sad. Tragic. A sobering moment for those people still in denial about Biden, his acuity, and the state of our country, to recognize the clear evidence of exactly what was happening.

Biden is diminished. After half a century in the halls of power, a time in which he served as one of the most influential senators, a vice-president, and now president, he has lost his ability to serve in the highest levels of influence. This happens. I’ve seen it with loved ones, with mentors, and I’m sure you have as well. It’s time for Biden to not only leave the race for re-election but possibly the presidency itself. He deserves to rest. To spend time with the family he so obviously loves. To exit the stage and entrust it to someone else. To refuse to do so is a folly of pride and a decision that puts all of us at risk.

I’ll discuss more what I think should happen in the near future, but this morning, I want to make it clear. Joe Biden is not up for the job and needs to go. Now.

If it were merely a matter of speaking slowly or appearing older, that would be one thing. His grasp of issues is nonexistent. We watched him on live television confuse several important and vital topics, twisting them together as he grew more and more confused. Witnessing his freezes in real-time should give everyone pause as to how pressing crises are being handled in the White House when effective, decisive, and informed decisions are essential. We should, if we were serious people, ask questions about how much the administrative state is running essentially unchecked in this environment. We should demand better from our president, especially in times of rising crisis.

As constituents, we should demand better representation. In addition to struggles comprehending the very nature of what he’s discussing, Biden is supposed to be an advocate for the American people in carrying out their business. This involves comprehension of the issues, which is obviously a huge problem, but also communication of them. On that front, we saw less than nothing. A disturbing and saddening mess.

And, as stakeholders in a liberal democracy, we deserve a better fighter. Donald Trump was abysmal last night, but he was aided by the fact that Biden was unable to challenge him. Trump is one of the most underhanded and ruthless human beings on the face of the planet and he seemed at times concerned for the wellbeing of his blood rival and unwilling to prosecute his case beyond a certain point. Biden could not process what Trump was saying, much less push back. Multiple times he stumbled over prepared attack lines and handed one opportunity after another for Trump to seize the moment.

Not to mention what is most damning. It took over forty minutes for Biden to mention Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions. Over forty minutes for January 6th, an attempted coup led by the former president, to be mentioned. The Supreme Court that is running roughshod over our rights and is currently historically unpopular was not addressed. When it came time to make his closing statement, Biden talked about reforming our taxes. Not reproductive rights. Not voting rights. Not the threat to democracy. Not Trump’s convictions or Project 2025 or the gravity of our situation.

He was tired. Exhausted, really.

Not only can Joe Biden not articulate the danger of Trump and the authoritarian movement in a way that informs and motivates Americans, I’m not even sure that he, himself, understands or grasps the severity of the situation. Or that, at this point, he is even capable.

My friend deserves better. All of my friends and loved ones deserve better. Our children deserve better. You deserve better.

We all deserve better.

For many years now we have been ill-served by unserious people. This runs much deeper than those who pushed Biden for re-election. It includes those who aided the neoliberal turn in the 1980’s and 90’s. Those, including Biden himself, who got in line with the Iraq War. Those who treated the GOP as “normal” as it got worse and worse, and the Democratic Party as something other than a centrist body moving to the right. Politicos and commentators who treated it all like a game on ESPN as they enjoyed their wealth and privilege. Those who laughed about Trump in 2015 and then made their money and built their platforms in 2016 as they helped him win. Those who sold their books and booked their appearances on cable TV during his presidency, spending years upon years telling everyone he was just an abberation and to quit being hysterical. Those who downplayed the threat of rising authoritarianism here and around the world. And those grifters and cult members who memed their way through Biden’s presidency while pretending there was “a plan,” if only we would shut up and be patient and watch it all unfold.

Well, it didn’t unfold. It unraveled.

None of this is a game. It’s not a fantasy sport, no matter how much these unserious people try and tell you it is. Politics can make lives better and it can ruin them. There are children who will live in the consequences of what we do now. Future generations at stake. There are people in your life who could suffer immeasurable cruelties. This should be a moment of clarity. For their sakes and your own.