It seems as though we’re at a hinge point in our country’s history. Or, at the least, living through some very strange and scary times. A former president who talks about suspending the Constitution and criminally prosecuting his foes is again knocking at the White House door.
The current occupant is facing unprecedented calls within his party to end his reelection bid after a historically awful debate performance. Times columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria both fear a Trump restoration and agree this really is the most important presidential election anyone alive has ever seen — something we hear every four years.
But they differ over whether Joe Biden should stay on or leave the Democratic ticket after his performance in Thursday night’s news-conference-heard-’round the world. Here, they hash it out. Barabak: Wow.
It took just a few cringe-inducing minutes on that debate stage for Biden’s candidacy to go into free fall. But maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. Adam B.
Schiff, the Burbank congressman and very likely next U.S. senator from California, aptly summed things up last weekend on “Meet the Press.
” “Joe Biden is running against a criminal. It should not be even close,” Schiff said. “There’s only one reason it is close, and that’s the president’s age.
” The debate was supposed to lay to rest nagging concerns about Biden’s mental and physical vitality. Of course, his performance did exactly the opposite. Biden couldn’t have looke.
