BIDEN IS OLD! So, Please Ignore the MAGA Revolution.

Our institutions continue to fail us as they ignore the open, violent threats of MAGA and instead concentrate almost exclusively on President Biden's age and debate performance.

Did you all hear that President Joe Biden is old and did terribly at the Presidential debate? He’s 81-years-old. He is the oldest President in the history of the United States of America. If I was back in the Bay Area, I’d say he’s “hella old.” It’s really important for all of us to know that he’s old. 

Thankfully, the corporate media constantly reminds of his oldness. He has a stiff gait. He slurs his words now in addition to his life-long stutter. His voice has weakened. His oldness most likely contributed to his disastrous debate performance where he failed to show physical strength thereby compounding fears and doubts about his health. Maybe it was a one-off performance, or maybe this is who he is right now due to his oldness. In the past week, the punditocracy has been obsessed with stories of his decline and reported gossip that he might step down from the race. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has denied these rumors. Obviously, this is major news. If nothing else was happening in America, I’d say this should be the top news story. 

However, what would happen if, say, at the same time a thoroughly corrupt and rogue Supreme Court, packed with ideological extremists, had just dropped a monumental ruling that gave the future President near dictatorial powers? This ruling would allow a President to assassinate and punish any and all of his critics, including Supreme Court justices, as long as he could show it was done as an “official act.” And what would happen if we had a convicted criminal and twice impeached 78-year-old vulgarian currently running for President who promised he’d be “dictator for a day” if elected? By the way, he also slurs his words, forgets names, goes off on tangents, and he falls asleep in public. But, he isn’t old apparently, he’s just strong and vigorous because he’s capable of shooting lies from the hip. 

And what would happen if his entire political party and conservative ecosystem had behaved like a helpful James Bond villain and informed the world about their dictatorial ambitions in the form of a document called Project 2025? Furthermore, imagine if the president of the extreme conservative think tank that helped write and orchestrate this right-wing authoritarian blueprint went on live television and admitted the plan. In response to this disastrous Supreme Court ruling, imagine what would happen if he said, “And so I come full circle in this response and just want to encourage you with substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Instead of being horrified by this explicit threat and warning, imagine if the interviewer, who was a former GOP House representative in Virginia, actually agreed with the unhinged guest and said, “Right on. Thank you brother.” 

You don’t need to imagine anything. This exchange happened on Tuesday when Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts spoke with Dave Brat, who stepped in as a guest-interviewer on Steven Bannon’s “War Room” because Bannon had to report to prison. This isn’t the leading news. This hasn’t mobilized the punditocracy to write numerous columns. In fact, this is a snapshot of the New York Times homepage on Wednesday.

America’s institutions are perfectly fine with the entire conservative movement openly telling us, the majority, we have to sit back and accept their “revolution” - or else. We’re in “kneel or die” territory and being threatened by a violent, extremist minority that has chosen its champion in the form of a vengeful Donald Trump. We also learned this week that Ed Martin, one of three people leading the Republican National Committee platform committee, once entertained the idea of imprisoning women for having abortions. Republicans have already come after IVF, abortion pills, and birth control. None of this merits as a top 3 news item. I feel like I’m experiencing Groundhog Day. “But her emails” have become “the debate and Biden’s performance.” 

I’m writing this a day before Amercans celebrate their Independence Day. We fought against a formidable British Empire because we wanted freedom from tyranny and the ability to establish our own government - by the (rich, white) people for the (rich, white) people. There’s a lot of work still to be done to ensure there is equity, justice, and fairness for everyone. It isn’t perfect. It’s a flawed democracy, but one that has nonetheless persisted and evolved with time.

What would the Founding Fathers think about Republicans molding this hard-fought system of government into a dictatorship for a corrupt, former TV show host who eats steak with ketchup? 

If they were alive and writing columns, they would probably be talking about President Biden’s age and debate performance. More likely, they’d encourage the majority of Americans to wake up, mobilize, organize, and vote in what could be the last free and fair election of the country.

Happy Indepedence Day, America. It’s a great country - if you can keep it.