It is an article of faith among Trump and his followers that Joe Biden is too old, feeble-minded, and physically weak to be president. (File this under “pot calling the kettle black”.) I see MAGA folks saying this all the time, and maybe they believe it, but I’m not sure Trump himself believes it. In this case, he might just be more cynical than delusional, using anything he can to cast doubts about Biden’s fitness.
Of course, Biden is all-too aware of Trump’s attempts to paint him as an old geezer (a whopping three-and-a-half years older than Trump!). At public events, Biden seems to make a point of jogging out to the podium. Trump never jogs, Trump lumbers onstage.
I can’t ignore the fact that Joe is an old guy and he apparently does sometimes say goofy things. But it’s hard to be greatly disturbed by that when the alternative is a man who has made incoherency a defining feature of his persona, virtually a trademark – Covfefe ®. Many people note that Trump’s slandering of opponents is a form of projection, basically accusing his rivals of the very thing Trump is guilty of. I think it certainly applies here.
In any case, it seems like a weird strategy for Trump to be downplaying Biden’s mental state, especially before a debate. Normally, politicians play the “expectations game”, stressing how sharp and capable their opponents are and how tough it’s going to be going up against him (or her). You set the expectations low, so that when you outperform them, if only by a little bit, it looks like a big win for you. Trump isn’t doing that with Biden, and he may regret it if it turns out Biden appears NOT to have one foot in the grave, as Trump has been promising.
You almost think Trump’s followers truly expect Biden to totter around the debate stage, confused, disoriented, drooling, literally drooling. This is what they have been led to believe in their MAGA echo chambers. And if Biden comes off as alert, well-informed, coherent, even presidential (as I hope he does), then Trump’s followers will have some conflicting feelings to deal with.
Or not. They may, rather than admitting they have been misled, simply refuse to believe their eyes. Or they may make excuses for a good performance by Biden, excuses which Trump and his allies have already helpfully provided beforehand with accusations such as Biden will be "fed" the questions before the debate or that Biden is taking drugs to sharpen his mind.
You would think the first claim would be harder to make for the first debate, which is being hosted by Fox News. But I'm already seeing folks on social media hinting that Fox moderator Chris Wallace will be teaming up with Biden to rake Trump over the coals. It's as if they see the writing on the wall and are bracing themselves for a dismal performance by Trump, which will be (in their minds) entirely no fault of his own. Of course.
The anti-dementia drug claim is also a little desperate and especially telling, since many people see signs of abuse of the cognitive enhancing drug Adderall in Trump’s own behavior, with some people even accusing him of “snorting” the drug. That could explain the chunks of white stuff that came flying out of his nose on camera recently. Pieces of Adderall, perhaps? Or maybe it was just snot. He is, after all, almost as old as drooling Biden.
Anyway, I guess we’ll be able to judge all this for ourselves in the debate tonight.
