In a Star Trek episode, titled "The Deadly Years," Captain Kirk, Mr Spock, Dr. McCoy and Chief Engineer Scott all begin to age rapidly after beaming down to a planet to resupply a scientific expedition that had been stationed there. Of the members of the landing party, Kirk begins exhibiting signs of senility that eventually interfere with his ability to command.
Over the objections of his first officer, a competency hearing is called in which witness after witness is forced to concede that Kirk is unfit to continue as captain of the Enterprise. When Kirk finally takes the stand in his own defense, he cannot even remember what planet they're orbiting. It was a painful scene that many sons and daughters of elderly parents can sadly identify with. The loss of memory is further compounded by the refusal of the afflicted to admit what everyone around them already knows: that they have lost the capacity to discern the difference between reality and fantasy. For many, the golden years can sometimes become a cruel joke.
Of course, we all know what happened. McCoy, with the assistance of Dr. Wallace - an old flame of Kirk's - comes up with a serum to reverse the aging process. Kirk and the landing party are restored to their youthful vigor, and all is well with the universe. Even in the 23rd century, happy endings are necessary, especially when you're going up against Gomer Pyle in the same time slot.
Too bad there are no magical elixirs to reverse aging in the 21st century. The White House could certainly use one.
When Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, I wrote the following:
I am under no illusions about what the future holds. Joe Biden was not a transformational candidate and he will almost certainly not be a transformational president. Make no mistake about it: the country did not elect Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama. Instead it elected a caretaker; someone who can manage the triage room long enough for the wounds to heal. If you're looking for any major legislative accomplishments over the next four years, my advice to you is to not hold your breath because it ain't happening. Apart from a short-term stimulus and keeping the lights on, it'll be business as usual. If, as expected, the Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act, you might see some slight reforms to the law, but that's about it.
Now I do have to admit that I was wrong about one thing: Biden's administration has been far more consequential than I thought it would be, and in a good way. With the exception of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, no president has passed more meaningful legislation than Biden. The man said he would reach across the aisle and he meant what he said.
At 77, Biden was the oldest person ever to win the presidency. The understanding was that he was going to pass the torch to either Kamala Harris or perhaps some other Democrat in 2024. Well, here we are four years later and Biden is poised to become his party's nominee against Donald Trump, the man he defeated in '20. But this time around, age has finally caught up with him.
I will not mince words here. What we witnessed on that debate stage last month was deeply disturbing. Stop calling it a bad night. It was not a bad night. Barack Obama had a bad night against Mitt Romney in that first debate in Denver in 2012. Biden looked as if he had no idea where he was. A cold? Jet lag? What next, alien anal probes? The fact is, according to his own campaign, Biden had twelve whole days to prepare before the debate against Trump and he resembled an escapee from a rest home.
And please stop telling me he's done better since the debate. Thursday night at a press conference that was supposed to assuage voters concerns, he referred to Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump, and earlier that day, he called Volodymyr Zelenskyy Vladimir Putin while Zelenskyy was standing next to him. If this is what better looks like, I'd hate to see worse.
For most of the last two years, I, like so many of his supporters, made excuse after excuse for behavior that was becoming increasingly alarming. His flubs, I rationalized, were just Bidenisms. Nothing to worry about. He's been mauling the English language as far back as the '70s. You can look it up, I said.
I can no longer do that. I can no longer pretend that "these aren't the droids you're looking for," as Jon Stewart adroitly pointed out on The Daily Show. And I can no longer stomach this inane and insulting attempt to brand those of us who can tell the emperor has no clothes as enablers of fascism. We will not go along with this charade anymore, nor shut the fuck up just because the rest of you are too blind or obtuse to acknowledge the obvious. If anyone is an enabler, it's Biden's wife, who as a doctor must certainly know what her husband is going through. Shame on her, and shame on his inner circle for not having the guts to confront him. He's the fucking president, for Christ's sake, not the Pope.
There are those who are concerned about Biden's legacy. I could give two shits about his legacy. I'm more concerned about what will happen to this country and the world should this sociopath get back into the White House. We barely survived four years of Trump; another four years and Western democracy as we know it will cease to exist.
I cannot predict with any degree of certainty that a Harris candidacy will fair any better against Trump than Biden. What I can predict is this: every day Biden stays in this race is another day we are not talking about the existential threat Trump poses to America. Like it or not, for the remainder of the campaign, every time he gets in front of a camera, the number one topic of discussion will be his age and his fitness for the office. And for those who insist that Trump's corruption is far worse than Biden's mental health, I would point out that's not much of a strategy. If this election comes down to a choice between Weekend at Bernie's or the Sopranos, I've got news for you: Tony Soprano is winning.
Right now, roughly 35 percent of the electorate will vote for Biden regardless of what happens; another 35 percent will vote for Trump. It's the 30 percent in the middle that will determine who gets to call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home for the next four years, and right now Trump is getting the majority of those voters. The fact that the polls are still relatively close in some of the swing states suggests that voters are not yet sold on rehiring the guy they fired four years ago. But it also suggests they aren't too keen about keeping the incumbent either. As evidence of this, the gap between the top of the ticket and down-ballot Democrats is startling. In Pennsylvania, a state Biden must carry, it's 9 points. You can't say the polls are wrong, but only partly wrong.
The stakes could not be higher. If Trump wins, he will hand over Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter, and he will likely pull out of NATO. He will use the Department of Justice and the I.R.S. to target his enemies. And he will exhaust every legal avenue to remain in power for as long as he wants. Reproductive rights, voting rights, the EPA, the Department of Education, the courts, you can kiss them all goodbye. The Christian Right will literally cum in its pants.
Joe Biden has a decision to make over the next few days. Does he want to be remembered as the man who kicked Trump out of the White House, or does he want to be remembered as the man who let him back in? Captain Kirk was unable to make the right decision regarding his command, so Starfleet made it for him.
Unfortunately, there is no Starfleet equivalent in the 21st century.
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