By Steve Levy
The consensus after the presidential debate was that Biden lost handily. But time may tell that it was Trump who was the biggest loser.
That’s because Biden‘s stammering, cringe-worthy performance now has the Democratic establishment circling the wagons thinking about ways to show Joe the door.
And that’s the worst thing that can happen to Trump.
Ironically, this is a race in which Donald Trump may be the only person that Joe Biden can beat, while Biden may be the only one that Trump can overcome.
For months, the Trump campaign and Republican operators have been pounding on Biden‘s inability to focus or to maintain a reasonably high cognitive level. They criticized the Democrats for keeping Biden as their standard bearer, given his deteriorating condition.
But Republicans may find that, just as in the case of trying to overthrow Roe v. Wade, be careful what you wish for.
If Biden is jettisoned and a fresh Democratic face comes to the fore, the entire Trump campaign playbook is tossed on its head.
The horrific conditions related to an open border, 20% inflation over three years, high energy costs, and a world at war, could all be laid at Biden‘s doorstep. What happens now, if there’s a fresh face that comes in, those issues don’t resonate as they would against Biden.
Of course, the big problem for Democrats is who would replace Biden. Normally it would be an easy decision to just place the sitting vice president in his place. But Kamala Harris has been a disaster and actually polls as low or lower than Biden himself.
And, given the Democrats’ obsession with identity politics, how could they place anyone in front of a Black woman?
Nevertheless, doddering Joe is the Republicans’ best chance of taking back the White House.
Trump was wise to jump at accepting at the debate, but he should’ve pushed it off even later into the campaign season so that Democrats would have even less time to react to a bad performance by the current occupant at Pennsylvania Avenue.
Biden committed an act of egregious political malpractice by being goaded into the debates by Trump, but more importantly, by calling for the event before his own convention. There was always the chance that Biden would flub, but if it was after the convention, there could no longer be a chance of replacing him.
Biden may now be given the boot, and it will be his own fault.
And if the race becomes tighter for Republicans because Joe is replaced, they will shoulder the blame for getting what they wished for.
Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.” He is the author of “Solutions to America’s Problems” and “Bias in the Media.” www.SteveLevy.info, Twitter @SteveLevyNY, steve@commonsensestrategies.com