Allow me to start with the bottom line and work back from there. This particular election is much bigger than Joe Biden. Much bigger. This would not be like losing to Mitt Romney. We, meaning Democrats, are not a cult. The feelings and ego of Dear Leader are inconsequential in this election.

Okay, back to the top.

I’ve consumed way more post-debate punditry than even I thought possible. Here (redundancy alert) is a feeling of the consensus.

Joe Biden has lost the confidence of the mainstream-to-liberal media, the political intelligentsia and, less certain here, the top tier donor class, post-debate fundraising claims withstanding. In order to regain that confidence he has to demonstrate in a public, unscripted way that last Thursday was just “a bad night”, to quote team Biden.

How to do that? Well, do this:

Consent to an interview with some prominent right wing personality. Like say Sean Hannity. And do it … this week. Biden’s utter, inexplicable failure contest any of the entirely predictable bullshit thrown up by Trump last week powerfully suggests he is not capable of prosecuting a case against the pervasive histrionic nonsense motivating Republicans today. So … prove to the consistent 70% of likely voters who think you’re too old that you can play mentally adroit hardball in this age of malignant Tik Tok glibness.

Spend an hour jousting with and rebutting a MAGA sycophant live on camera.

A taped and edited 15 minutes with Lesley Stahl is not the same thing.

Then … do it again … live … in a couple town halls open to any citizen who wants in.

One of the more revealing anecdotes I’ve heard in past few days was MSNBC regular John Heilemann discussing reactions from big time Hollywood donors after a Biden fund-raiser in some mogul’s no doubt palatial home. These would be people fully committed to Biden. People he should be utterly at ease among. The kind of audience were a confident politician happily back slaps, offers candid thoughts on important matters and has to be pulled away.

But, no, says Heilemann. According to his sources in the room, Biden arrived and spent 15 minutes … reading from a Teleprompter. Those in attendance were startled. Point being; Biden is so stage-managed by his handlers (his wife being foremost among them) that they don’t risk even standard issue politician camaraderie with his most devoted, trusted and lucrative audience.

(I’m eager to hear a similar report from the weekend’s bash out in the Hamptons on Long Island.)

Moreover, as we’re hearing from all corners largely muted until now, this is how its been since 2020. The clear inference being that the persistently incoherent Biden we saw Thursday night is a not an anomaly. He may be capable enough among advisors in the Oval Office, but he can not perform in the rude and routinely disrepectful modern political arena. What he projects is anything but reassuring and confidence-inspring.

As we speak the Biuden family is at Camp David having their picture taken by Annie Lebovitz and no doubt resolving to fight on, 70% of the voting public, once supportive media, intelligentsia and panicky donor class be damned.

His most loyal supporters, most of them close personal friends and hardened Democratic activists, are selling the line that bowing out and permitting a two month Hunger Games to select a new nominee would be a kind of death wish for the party against Trump in November. I could not disagree more. I don’t know about you but the sense I get from the public regarding this race is a strong, pervasive desire for … someone new. Someone young enough to know how to reboot a computer and confident enough they’d relish the opportunity to eviscerate a clown like Trump.

And my view, FWIW, is shared by no less than David Plouffe who ran Barack Obama’s two successful campaigns. In a podcast interview post-debate disaster Plouffe who until Thursday night believed firmly that Biden was the only game in town, said he believed a new Democratic candidate, not even discounting Kamala Harris, “would win a walk”. Why? Because the general public is so weary and unenthusiastic about both Biden and Trump.

Team Biden will try to string this current phase for as long as it can, narrowing the window for any option. That’s a cynical, wholly self-serving strategy that places him personally above the far greater interests of the country. A country (and world) facing the restoration of a lazy, corrupt fool.

So yeah, if Thursday was just “one bad night”, prove it to everyone Joe, including your wife, and sit down with an easily rebutted meathead like Sean Hannity and let’s see you take him apart.

If you can’t or won’t that firmly settles any questions we may have left.