Who To Believe Going Forward?
In one memorable scene in the classic Marx Brothers comedy movie Duck Soup, Chico Marx asks a skeptical costar: “Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”
In the movie, that was funny. In real life, it is not.
In the 2024 presidential election, there have been several pivotal events, with many more likely.
One of the most consequential pivotable events was the June 27th presidential debate.
In a world where consensus in the political arena is an increasingly rare occurrence, there is almost universal consensus that President Biden’s debate performance was very poor. The reasons given were simply not credible and made a bad situation for President Biden worse.
Even before the debate was held there were questions over Mr. Biden’s physical and mental ability to serve a second term. After the debate, that issue was largely settled.
Despite efforts by his campaign staff, White House staff, his family, and a substantial number of his supporters to explain away or minimize Biden’s debate performance as a one-off experience, that debate ignited a political firestorm. In relatively short order, there was a massive and measurable drop off in public support, donor support, and Democratic Party support for Biden.
That ultimately led to Biden’s sudden and unexpected July 21st announcement that he was withdrawing from seeking re-election. The aftershocks from that decision are still being felt.
Questions are still being raised about the timing of his announcement and his ability to perform the duties of his office until his term ends in January.
I suggest there are two much larger questions that should not and cannot be ignored.
One is who to trust going forward on campaign messages from former Biden supporters who vigorously defended him until they suddenly chose not to defend him.
Voters also need to know what did former Biden supporters know and when did they know it?
Are we going to trust President Biden’s White House staff or his former campaign staff? Are we to going to trust the many elected officials who steadfastly maintained Biden was physically and mentally healthy and deserved re-election? Are we going to trust any members of the President’s cabinet who, to a person, publicly and unequivocally maintained that he was doing an excellent job? Are we to going to trust the Vice President?
All of them have varying degrees of culpability in denying or minimizing suggestions from anyone who expressed concerns on the steady deterioration of President Biden’s mental and physical health.
Perhaps most troubling are the reasons given by so many of President Biden’s supporters just before he suddenly stepped down from his re-election bid.
They said he needed to step down because he could not win re-election. They also said his candidacy would hurt Democratic candidates in competitive U.S. House and U.S Senate races.
What they were really saying was keeping him in office was more important than an honest appraisal of his ability to effectively perform in what is the most challenging and consequential job in the world.
In almost every post-debate poll, large numbers of the American public (Democrats, Republicans, and Independents) did not feel Joe Biden should run for a second term.
They did so after they watched, listened to and/or read about President Biden’s debate performance. They decided they could no longer believe all they were told pre-debate, but did believe what they personally saw, heard, or read about his performance at the debate.
Only when polling showed a drastic collapse in voter confidence in President Biden, did his longtime supporters and the much of the media decide it was time for a new candidate. These longtime supporters were all in on him running for re-election until they were all in on him not running for re-election.
Americans need to know who promoted and allowed an elderly and increasingly ill person who is clearly in need of help and compassion, to become a shell of his former self.
Just as importantly, Americans need to know why. Did they want and need a malleable person in the Oval Office to take and execute orders without questioning or even fully understanding them?
Their actions were nothing less than elder abuse and were a grave disservice to America.
Regarding a once robust elderly person’s irreversible mental and physical decline, I have personal experience as do countless others with aging family members. My father suffered from the ravages of dementia for almost ten years prior to his death. His mental decline was not subtle or slow. His family did not need a physician to confirm what was obvious.
We knew early in his decline he needed to be placed under medical care to prevent him from causing serious harm to himself and to others. As is often the case with dementia, he did not realize that reality and fought us regularly on any suggestions that he needed to leave his home to be in an assisted living facility. We prevailed. As difficult as it was, we knew it was the right thing to do and we did what needed to be done, when it needed to be done.
The lesson learned is simple.
Between now and the November election, be very suspicious of any messages from those who were not forthright in their previous and often disdainful responses to countless concerns raised about President Biden’s health issues. We now know their previous messages simply did not match what many of us saw with our own eyes before and during the June 27th debate.
David Reel is a public affairs and public relations consultant who lives in Easton.
Chris Gordon says
Who to believe? That’s not always easy to determine. Who not to believe is much easier. That would be Donald Trump, always.
Nancy L. Callahan says
Oh, Mr. Reel, you are grasping. In regards to the “supporters/enablers” in your (Republican?) party, I quote the late George Carlin, “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in a large group.”
Ron Jordan says
So, is David Reel your “real” name, umm? No worries about what has ensued since Biden has effectively retired from being a public servant and finishing his term. I do know this to be “real” David. Trump and Vance are truly the real fascists and anyone that votes for them are throwing this experiment called Democracy out the door and ushering the opportunity for fascism to be the law of the land. A world war that your Grandfather and my father fought against. Want to believe something, read, the “2025 manifesto by the Heritage Foundation”. If after reading that, if that is the nation you want to live in, thank you my dear neighbors for throwing anyone that is not “white and wealthy” under the bus. Is that “real” enough for your David Reel?
James D. Holmes says
Well, who am I gonna believe? Certainly not Joe Biden’s crude and egotistical opponent,
who has difficulty speaking the truth, harshly disparages anyone who disagrees with him,
and demands the loyalty of his supporters only to himself, rather than to the principles
set forth in the Constitution by our founding fathers.
By way of contrast, President Biden has devoted his life to serving the American people.
Having witnessed his own aging father’s decline, David Reel should be embarrassed for
spending so many words demeaning the President’s recent performance as he has carried out
the duties of his office.
Instead, he should acknowledge that Donald Trump’s behavior has become even more extreme
as he approaches the age of 80. It is hard to understand how any individual citizen, or any representative of another nation, could rely on promises he makes.
So, “who am I gonna believe?” Not much that Trump or J. D. Vance will say. What they say
is not funny. Instead, like Chico Marx, I will trust my own eyes and ears as the campaign
enters its final weeks.
Joan Elburn Farley says
Thank you, David Reel. I do note that not one of the responses so far has addressed the issue of our being purposely lied to about Biden’s health.
Bob Moores says
Long before “the debate” many of us were hoping Biden wouldn’t seek another term. Give it up and let a younger, more energetic, mentally sharper person be our nominee. But Biden’s ego, like that of Ginsburg, blurred that reality.
What could his inside supporters do? He had already garnered enough delegates in the primaries to secure the nomination and guarantee he would be our candidate. Thus, it was up to Biden, and Biden alone, to stay or give it up. His closest friends had no choice, at least publicly, but to back him. Were they supposed to say “Oh, our candidate, who has already won the nomination, is not worthy”? Get real, Reel.
That said, Biden is still a patriot who loves his country more than himself, isn’t he? He still respects our democratic institutions, doesn’t he? He had not disqualified himself by thumbing his nose at our Constitution and urging the violent overthrow of an election fairly won by his opponent, did he? His ego is still small in comparison to that of his self-promoting opponent who wants to be king, dictator-for-life, isn’t it?
You support an authoritarian who has no moral guidance, no principles other than keeping himself in power, a man the likes of Putin, Kim, and Xi. It shows that you, like Trump, do not value fair play or the rule of law that our founders established and our veterans and civil rights activists gave their lives to uphold.
History will show Biden to be one of our best presidents, both in character and accomplishments. Trump has little competition for the worst.