Before the presidential debate, I had written most of this edition of Our Land, focusing on the issue of democracy protection in the 2024 campaign. I figured by the time you received this the debate would have already been much chewed over. Yet after the disastrous performance by President Joe Biden, the chewing is still going on. And it should.

I saw plenty of instant mastication regarding the article I wrote about the debate, which was posted right after its conclusion. By now, you know that I don’t aim to be part of the politerati consensus. If I did, there’d be not much point to you subscribing to this newsletter. But like most political observers, I, too, viewed Biden’s effort at the debate as a debacle. Fairly or not, his age and abilities had become an issue in this critical election, and from the opening moments of the debate, it was clear his faltering performance would provide plenty of fuel for that attack and confirm the apprehensions some voters have about Biden—and, just as bad, overshadow the lies and demagoguery Trump was spewing from the podium.

I knew this would be the hot take of the punditry, but at times the conventional view is the correct one. So I joined the chorus. On social media, some readers complained, saying I was being a doom-and-gloomer and aiding Trump by going along with the usual media bashing of Biden. They pointed out that Trump’s lies and the threat he poses to American democracy remain the real story that must be told over and over. Some argued that Biden merely had a bad night and that it was wrong to judge him on this one outing, especially when Trump was such a danger. You are not helping, they scolded me.

I wish that every voter who watched the debate focused only on what the candidates said not how they said it. If that were how our world works, Biden’s reality-based comments about his record and Trump’s stint in the White House would have triumphed over Trump’s repeated falsehoods and far-right extremism. Alas, we don’t live in such a universe. A candidate’s performance tends to trump content. Biden cannot escape that.

Clearly, many voters have concerns about Biden’s age. It doesn’t matter whether that’s the right approach to this election. Many of us see his longevity as far less important than Trump’s efforts to destroy American democracy, which included the promotion of his Big Lie, an attempted coup, and the incitement of violence. Yet no one should be blind to the fact that a significant slice of voters doesn’t agree with our perspective and that Biden, in all likelihood, needs to win over some voters for whom his age is a consideration. Ignoring this reality—making excuses for Biden (he had a cold!), assailing the media for fixating on his performance, circling the wagons—does not help the crucial endeavor of preventing a Trump restoration.

I’m not sure what ought to come next for Biden and the Democrats. Were he to leave the race, a mess would probably ensue. Vice President Kamala Harris presumably would seek the nomination. Would she fare better against Trump than Biden in the swing states that will decide our future? That’s an open question. And she might be challenged by other Democrats, which could lead to a civil war within the party and possibly alienate one of its most important blocs: Black voters. As I write this, there are yet no signs Biden is considering an exit—and no signs of a concerted Democratic push to shove him aside.

We’re in unchartered waters. A would-be autocrat with an authoritarian agenda whose mishandling of a pandemic led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands is close to returning to the White House, and the man whose mission is to thwart that has just confirmed for some voters that he is too old to be reelected. How to get out of this? Like you and others who care about preserving American democracy, I will be thinking hard about the path forward.

There’s a basic rule in politics, especially presidential politics: Performance counts more than policy. Biden just created a huge problem for himself and the rest of us. The solution is not obvious. But to reach one, acknowledging the difficult and inconvenient truth of the moment is necessary.

Here's my article on the debate. Let me know what you think.

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Joe Biden had his shot—a chance to dispel concerns about his age and his abilities. But in his first debate with Donald Trump, he stumbled through 90 minutes, muffing answers, often looking uncertain, speaking in a low, gravelly voice that did not convey strength. This was not only a missed chance. It was a disaster. Afterward Democrats had good cause to be in despair and to wonder if disarray was on its way.

While Biden’s State of the Union speech earlier this year showed him vigorously on his game—perhaps a surprise to his detractors—this appearance, within minutes, provided a ton of ammo to those who contend Biden is not up to the job. In the Oval Office, he may be able to do the work of a president well. But if a vibrant public performance is necessary to win the confidence of uncommitted or loosely committed voters, Biden failed miserably.

The bottom line was obvious before the first commercial break: Trump came across as the Trump people know and either love or hate: boastful, brash, disingenuous, demagogic. Biden was not the Biden that Democrats wanted.

Biden accurately slammed Trump for Trump’s stint in the White House: historic deficits, a supersized tax cut that benefitted the rich, mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. Yet he often muddied his remarks with not just his usual stutter but with half-sentences and misspoken words. There’s no denying this: Biden did not come across as commanding. Any voter who has wondered about the abilities of this 81-year-old-man would not be reassured.

Trump stuck to the usual stuff. He was combative and dishonest. He repeatedly stated the United States had the best economy in its history when he was in the White House. He claimed Democrats want to allow abortions after birth. He insisted that he did more for veterans than Biden and that vets “can’t stand” Biden. He hailed his handling of Covid and said he would end the Ukraine war immediately after being elected. (Why not share this plan before?) He blamed Nancy Pelosi for January 6, insisting (falsely) that he had offered 10,000 troops to protect the Capitol that day. He said polls rated him “one of the best” presidents ever. It was his customary blend of lies and bluster.

Biden got his licks in—and it often got ugly. Referring to Trump’s recent New York City criminal trial and the verdict in a civil case that found Trump liable for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll, Biden called him a “convicted felon” and said he had “the morals of an alley cat.” Biden pounded Trump for inciting January 6, doing nothing to stop the violence that day, and vowing to pardon the rioters who have been prosecuted and found guilty.

Trump gave no ground on this front. When CNN host Jake Tapper asked Trump if he had violated his constitutional oath that day by not intervening to halt the rioting, Trump did not answer the question and instead attacked Biden for being a weak leader. And when Biden turned to Trump and asked him to denounce the rioters, Trump would not, showing that Trump remains the champion of violent domestic terrorists.

If the debate was merely just about the sentences said, Biden would have racked up points. But too often his delivery was faltering. He couldn’t stick it. He even looked befuddled, whether or not he was.

Trump more effectively channeled his anger and hatred. For some voters, that will make him seem fierce and forceful. He lied and lied—claiming he had “the best environmental numbers ever” and was responsible for lowering the price of insulin—but he did so with fervor. Just as he relentlessly decried America as a decaying “third-world nation” that people around the world are laughing at.

Trump’s main line of attack was fear: Millions are migrants—from prisons and mental institutions—are pouring into the country and destroying it, and Biden is either orchestrating or allowing this. “They are taking over our schools, our hospitals, and they will be taking over Social Security,” he bellowed. And crime, crime, and crime. “If Biden wins this election…we probably won’t have a country left anymore,” Trump brayed. Moreover, he added, Biden “will drive us into World War III.” And Trump threw in glancing references to made-for-Fox conspiracy theories about Biden and his son Hunter. He called Biden a “criminal” and assailed his competency: “We’re trying to justify his presidency…The worst presidency in the history of this country.”

Biden kept trying to land punches. He pointed out Trump’s falsehoods. “He hasn’t done a damn thing about the environment,” Biden exclaimed. He declared that Trump doesn’t understand American democracy. He noted that many former Trump White House officials and cabinet officers have refused to back Trump in this race. He had a particularly good moment when he turned to Trump and said, “You’re a whiner. When you lost the first time…you continued to promote this lie…There is no evidence of that at all… Something snapped in you when you lost last time.”

But Biden was trodding through a maelstrom with unsteady steps. He coughed. He blinked a lot. His sentences often trailed off. This is not trivial stuff—not when his age, fairly or not, has become a critical issue of the campaign. Voters don’t get to watch a president at work in the Oval Office. Public appearances matter. Shortly into the debate, his team began telling reporters that Biden was fighting a cold. But that explanation will not help.

When the candidates were asked about the age issue they each face, Biden recited a list of his accomplishments: job creation, new manufacturing jobs, investments in computer chips. “We are the envy of the world,” he said. It was not the most convincing retort.

Trump bragged that he had aced two cognitive tests (really?) and had recently won two golf club championships. (Fact-check: He cheats at golf.) He absurdly asserted he was in as good physical shape as he was 30 years ago. He claimed Biden couldn’t pass these tests or hit a golf ball 50 yards. Then the two bickered about golf-playing, with Biden deploying this zinger: “I’m happy to play golf with you if you carry your own bag.” But like most all of Biden’s attack lines, this one bounced off Trump. There was no oomph. No verve. For most of the night, Biden was verveless.

Minutes into the debate, without even checking with Twitter, you could tell what the reaction was going to be. There would be no way to spin this: a bad night for Biden and the Democrats. A debacle. And one didn’t need a crystal ball to know that there would soon be—maybe before the debate was done—renewed chatter about the possibility of replacing Biden as the Democrats’ nominee. (How that can happen without a complete mess is tough to envision. Would Vice President Kamala Harris inherit the nomination? If she went for it and was challenged by one or more other candidates—California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—would that lead to a civil war within the party and offend a key constituency: Black voters?)

Bill Clinton used to say that strong-and-wrong beats weak-and-right. With his performance on Thursday night, Biden created a perfect test case for that proposition.

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.

The judges asked to be excused from watching the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. They were too nervous. And, it turns out, they were right to be. But elsewhere they found strong contenders.

In the run-up to this face-off, there was much nonsense in Trumpland suggesting that Biden would be pumped up with drugs for the event. In retrospect, we can now say: If only! But this was a classic example of right-wing disinformation: Just raise a question, without any basis in fact, to create a negative impression. Rep. Nancy Mace, the erratic Republican from South Carolina, brayed, “How much Adderall are they gonna give him? How many vitamins is he gonna be on?"

So now vitamins are bad? Would you rather have a bicycle-riding candidate who uses vitamins or a Big Mac-gobbling near-octogenarian who doesn’t bother to walk when he plays golf? After the debate, I doubt we are going to hear much from the MAGA right about Biden and performance-enhancing substances.

In the running once again was Nichole Shanahan. Remember her? The extremely unqualified Silicon Valley denizen whom independent presidential candidate RFK Jr. selected to be his ATM…I mean, running mate. (She reportedly pocketed about $1 billion from her divorce from Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder.) This week she shared with us a list of a dozen “Things the uniparty hates” and “most Americans love.” Her roster included democracy, secure borders, honest crime statistics, fair elections, “medical freedom,” and third-party candidates. Her No. 7 item was this: “Questioning if the government might be satanically possessed.”

Satanically possessed? Was this an awkward attempt at humor? Or was it a strategic maneuver for the flailing Kennedy-Shanahan ticket to win supporters from QAnon?

Also back among the nominees was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). She once again expressed her opposition to military assistance for Ukraine with hateful and idiotic rhetoric:

This whole thing is the most repulsive, disgusting thing happening. And the American people are the ones writing the check And I absolutely hate everybody here that is doing this. I mean I seriously hate them for doing this to the American people and paying for the murder and slaughter of people in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has not said he wants to go march across Europe and take Europe…[Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin and the others here more than everything want to send your uncles, your cousins, and your sons and daughters to the frontlines in Ukraine because that is the only country that for some sick, weird and evil reason that they care about.

One certainly can oppose aid to Kyiv on policy grounds. But MTG is nutballs. She’s not only parroting Russian propaganda, she’s suggesting there’s a devilish conspiracy afoot and that the Biden administration and a bipartisan majority of Congress are supporting Ukraine not because they believe the Ukraine fight is important for democracy, the international rule of law, and the global order but because…Well, she doesn’t spell it out, does she? But it has to be something really, really dastardly. Evil, as she said. Perhaps Shanahan is right and the explanation is simple: satanic possession. The two should compare notes. In this close race between a reference to Lucifer and a pro-Putin accusation of nefariousness, Greene edges out Shanahan for this week’s prize.

There was a big response to the issue in which I provided unsolicited advice to Biden for the first presidential debate: Deploy derision against Trump. Many readers responded with a hearty “amen.” But you know what happened.

In the issue in which I wondered whether the GOP would be able to keep a lid on MAGA craziness during its upcoming convention, I referred to the effort of Louisiana Republicans to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom in every public school.

Ann Lamb shared this observation:

There is nothing Christian about posting the Ten Commandments anywhere. It explicitly rejects the New Covenant and Jesus Christ. Would any editor go for “pseudo-Christian militancy”? 

I’m no theologian. But a quick Google search showed me that there has long been a discussion of whether the New Covenant of Jesus Christ superseded the Ten Commandments. Some religious folks say no; some say, well kind of. In other words, it’s complicated. But this debate shows how absurd it is for the Republican fundamentalists of Louisiana to believe a certain Protestant version of the commandments ought to be imposed on every student in the state.

Commenting on a classic right-wing conspiracy theory that I referenced, Alison Rose Parker emailed:

Forever baffling to me that people believe Bill and Hillary had multiple people killed and yet Trump is still alive.

Isn’t that always the problem with the Deep State and its operatives? They can do things like rig a presidential election. But they can’t fudge the results of a few House races to prevent a turnover in control of Congress. They can run an international cabal of cannibalistic and devil-worshipping pedophiles. But they cannot prevent Trump’s stolen-papers case from landing before a Trump-friendly judge. Jeez, these guys.

Speaking of Trump and a criminal case, Paul Roden share this:

I hope Judge Juan Merchan puts Trump in prison for at least seven days on July 11 so he misses his coronation at the Republican convention. That would be the perfect punishment for Trump. No public attention and adulation.

There’s been lots of speculation about the sentence Trump will receive next month. But Paul came up with a good take. But, I imagine, a secretly recorded jailhouse message from Trump played at the convention would go over big in MAGA-land.

“It’s not going well for Biden, Moxie.”
“Do they each have a dog?”
“No, only one of them likes dogs.”
“That’s all that matters. That person will win.”
“You’re obviously a single-issue voter.”
“I just have faith in people. They always do the right thing.”
“Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
“Yes, it is.”