Uh oh. The Atlantic calls for Biden to step aside

‘The calls are coming from inside the house!’ (If any of our younger readers don’t get that movie reference, you might want to check it out sometime.)

Joe Biden appears to be blithely ignoring his record-low approval ratings and numerous crises that his policies have spawned and continuing to run for a second term. (Or, more correctly, his wife and his handlers are pushing him to continue.) But the rest of the world has clearly noticed his politically perilous position and his rapidly deteriorating physical and mental capacities. The calls for Biden to hang up his walker, step aside, and stumble off into retirement are growing in volume, with one of the latest coming from Eliot Cohen at the very liberal Atlantic Magazine. That isn’t an exaggeration of Cohen’s position, by the way. The title of the article is literally, “Step Aside, Joe Biden.”

Cohen launches into his missive by establishing his progressive bona fides. He expresses his gratitude to Biden for possibly “saving his country” by beating Donald Trump, who the author describes with obvious hatred and contempt. By contrast, he somehow describes Biden as being “a decent, experienced, and entirely normal politician.” (Ahem.) But then Cohen gets to the heart of the matter. Biden is simply too old to be up to the job for another term.

He also has no business running for president at age 80. I say that with considerable feeling, being in my late 60s and knowing that my 70s are not far off. I am as healthy as any late-middle-aged person (admittedly, I cringe at the word old, which tells you something right there) can be. But I know that at this stage, I do not have the energy I had a decade ago. I forget more things, and if my body does not hurt when I wake up in the morning, a little voice in my head asks whether I am dead and do not yet know it…

President Biden is 80 years old. If he gets reelected, he will be 86 by the time his term expires. He will have spent, at the end of that time, nearly half a century as a senator, vice president, or president, positions all calculated to inflate one’s self-image. As president he has surrounded himself with former aides and dutiful technocrats—no peers who can look him straight in the eye and say, with the gravitas born of expertise and self-confidence, “Mr. President, I profoundly disagree.” Perhaps this is what he has always done, but it is particularly striking now.

Cohen does an admirable job of describing some of the infirmities that come with age, offering medical references to back up his claims. He also does an excellent job of relating his own experiences in his late (or later) sixties as compared to his capabilities in his younger days. Being only a few years behind Eliot Cohen, I can absolutely relate to this article. As I’ve said here repeatedly, I’m fully aware that I lack both the physical stamina and mental sharpness required to perform the duties of the Leader of the Free World. (Particularly if something keeps me up past my normal bedtime of 9:00 or 9:30 at night.)

By contrast, even being only a few years younger than Joe Biden, Donald Trump was infamous for being up and tweeting at five in the morning and scheduling meetings late into the night. I couldn’t keep up with the man. But that only goes to show that we don’t all age at the same rate. People like Joe Biden, Eliot Cohen, and myself have experienced various rates of decline heading into our sixties and beyond. Others, like Trump and Bernie Sanders, remain sharp and energetic well into their octogenarian era. And Joe Biden is far, far past his prime. Were any of you to propose me as a possible replacement for Biden, I would suggest that your ideas should not be taken seriously.

We can, perhaps, forgive Professor Cohen for his failure to comment on Biden’s disastrous performance in office. He does, after all, come from deep in the heart of the liberal university system. He is also clearly able to ignore the growing body of evidence that Joe Biden and his family have engaged in decades of corruption and money laundering, potentially leaving him compromised when it comes to foreign adversaries. All of these facts should prove sufficient to give Uncle Joe a nudge toward the door. What comes after that, though?

Cohen certainly isn’t suggesting Biden should resign today and put Kamala Harris in as his replacement. He describes Harris as “a weak backfill” who lacks “the political skills and heft to be a compelling presidential candidate.” That’s certainly a charitable way to put it. He would prefer one of the many Democratic Governors or mayors waiting in the wings. While he doesn’t call her out by name, it’s likely that Gretchen Whitmer is somewhere near the top of the list and Whitmer has been sounding more and more as if she finds the idea appealing.

But as I’ve discussed here previously, anything short of the replacement of Joe Biden next year with a serious conservative Republican who will be ready to start cleaning house on day one will be disastrous for this country. Recent polling suggests that the word is starting to creep out among the general public, despite the legacy media’s best efforts to keep everyone in the dark. We want to be part of the effort to turn that trickle of information into a flood. And we’d appreciate it if you would join us for the ride. Please consider joining one of our VIP programs to receive additional content and a more direct voice in the conversation. And use the promo code “SAVEAMERICA” to pocket some hefty savings in the process. Thanks for considering.