The Emperor’s New Clothiers

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While we’re waiting for the Lord Almighty to weigh in on President Biden’s political future, we’ve been subjected to a display of Democrat disingenuousness that is not only breathtaking, but also, in the favorite phrase of the left, an “existential threat” to all Democrat politicians’ chances in the November election.

Like Captain Renault in Casablanca, most Democrat politicians and pundits were pretending to be shocked — shocked! — at the sudden show of impairment exhibited by our “sharp, focused, engaged” president in the recent debate against Donald Trump.

Most rank-and-file Democrats, on the other hand, were probably genuinely shocked to see their candidate falter so abysmally. “How did we not see this coming?” one supporter asked me.

I’ll tell you how.

Those who’ve relied solely on the legacy networks or left-leaning cable or internet news media for the past two years have rarely seen this kind of footage because it was hidden from them.

Video clips of President Biden’s verbal and physical stumbles, which were multiplying in the past year, were scrupulously scrubbed from news coverage.

The only mention of possible concern was with the president’s age, quickly followed up by how close in age former President Trump is to him. They avoided any mention of Biden’s mental acuity in those discussions of age.

For Fox News viewers, who have been treated to the president’s physical and verbal missteps virtually on a loop all day, every day, Biden’s debate night word salads elicited moments of glee, and then a protracted yawn.

Their only residual smirking was over the sight of Biden surrogates like California governor Gavin Newsom and Delaware senator Chris Coons trying to spin a new invisibility cloak for a president whose cognitive lapses can now be seen by everyone.

From the first minute of the live debate, the evidently long downward trajectory of President Biden’s abilities was finally being revealed, verified, and cemented into the minds of most of the more than 50 million Americans who viewed the squirm-worthy spectacle.

Eight days later, the president — spray-tanned, rested, and ready to prove that his debate performance was an anomaly — submitted to a second teleprompter-free exchange, this time with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

Perhaps because he succeeded in finishing sentences, administration dream-weavers and congressional allies insisted that his 22-minute performance was strong, energetic, and defiant.

“Delusional” would be a better word.

Biden repeatedly denied the validity of any and all polls that showed him trailing in the presidential race and scoffed even at the New York Times poll, which showed his approval rating among likely voters at 36%.

Categorically asserting that he will have the stamina and mental vigor to meet the daily demands of the presidency until 2029 was another symptom of Biden’s living in an alternate reality.

It disregards the fact that elderly persons who exhibit cognitive impairment decline further over time, often at an accelerating pace. The condition does not improve, and no medication has yet been developed that can reverse its effects.

Most damning, though, was his answer to the question of how, if he loses the election and the Democrats’ nightmare narrative — the destruction of our democracy at the hands of “dictator Trump” and the control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives by Republicans — comes to pass, he will feel.

Without hesitation, the president said, “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the good as job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”

Oh, no, it’s not.

That was the most astonishing moment, and the most disqualifying. In saying those words, he admitted that the Democrat’s mantra of “Donald Trump is interested only in what’s best for himself and not in what’s best for the country” applies equally to Joe Biden.

It confirmed the president’s detachment from political reality as well and should signal his imminent replacement as the Democrat standard-bearer in 2024.

Whether he steps aside, however, is entirely up to him.

He has won all but 43 of the Democrats’ more than 3,900 primary delegates, and he controls a $240-million campaign war chest. Fifty million dollars will be spent before the August convention on a battleground state advertising blitz that recounts his past accomplishments and argues for his future fitness.

In short, Democrats and the DNC are stuck. They did see it coming, but they did nothing.

To be fair, a few profiles in courage on the left were pushing for presidential competition in the Democratic primaries. Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, progressive firebrand Cenk Uygur, and Minnesota representative Dean Phillips were all sounding the alarm a year ago, but they were marginalized and sometimes even accused of aiding the Trump candidacy.

The only question now is whether Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Nancy Pelosi can prevail upon the president to step aside for the good of the party and the down-ballot candidates.

If they can’t, perhaps the man most responsible for Biden’s ascension to the presidency in the first place, South Carolina representative James Clyburn, can convince President Biden that the invisibility cloak his surrogates are spinning isn’t covering up his cognitive issues and that the voting public can see the naked truth about his need to pass the baton, and quickly.

Maybe Clyburn will offer him a metaphorical robe and crown, symbolizing the Democrats’ thanks and praise for what they believe was the most successful and significant four-year term of any modern president.

If it works, and Biden stands down to thunderous applause, Democrats can breathe a sigh of relief — for a few days, anyway — and then start their metaphorical seamstresses working on a beautiful designer pantsuit for Vice President Harris, leading, hopefully, to an open Democrat convention.

Timothy Philen is an opinion writer, award-winning advertising creative director, and author of Harper&Row/Lippincott’s You CAN Run Away From It!, a satirical indictment of American pop psychology.