Slowly, then suddenly: the sad story of Joe Biden’s decline 

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. 

“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” 

Those were Hemingway’s words in 1926’s The Sun Also Rises.  

A century later, they apply to Joe Biden, not financially but politically. For him, the sun is not rising. It’s setting.  

“Gradually and then suddenly” is the story of Joe Biden’s physical and cognitive decline. “Gradually and then suddenly” is how his army of enablers in the media, the Democratic Party and the donor base abandoned his defense. “Gradually and then suddenly” is how he gifted his party and his country with a full-scale political crisis, centered on a president who no longer appears fit for office and whose vice president (and presumptive successor) is widely disliked. 

Years ago, Ronald Reagan wrote, elegiacally, that the sun was setting on his life. But by then, he was a former president, living in retirement on his ranch. He was not occupying the Oval Office, holding down the most powerful and demanding job on earth. 

Joe Biden is. The public no longer thinks he is fit to do that job. They reached that firm conclusion after watching the debate Thursday night and then hearing nothing from Biden’s allies to convince them otherwise. Whatever voters think of Biden’s performance for the last three-plus years, they simply don’t think he can continue. They are certain he won’t last another term and wonder if he will make it to the end of this one. They didn’t vote for the country to be governed by his staff. 

That situation is a tragedy for Joe and his family and a source of anguish for his friends. He deserves our sympathy. But what doesn’t deserve sympathy is Joe’s decision, backed by his family and close associates, that he should stay in the race and remain on the job. 

That decision affects all Americans. We depend on the president to lead the country and keep us safe in a dangerous world. That’s why Joe Biden’s decline goes far beyond a family tragedy. It’s a national tragedy and a palpable danger. 

The debate made that danger conspicuous, unavoidable and indelible.  

The “indelible” part is devastating politically. Most voters think, quite rightly, that the president is impaired, not temporarily but permanently. He may have good days and bad days, but he didn’t just have one bad night, as his defenders say. It was a bad night, certainly, but it was more than that. Joe Biden is visibly frail and forgetful, suffering long-term decline. 

That impression has taken hold over the past few days and may already be set in concrete. If Joe cannot break it — a nearly impossible task — then he is doomed politically. Since he is currently atop the Democratic ticket, his fate will doom a lot of down-ballot contests as well. 

In the past, the media would have helped, spinning relentlessly for Joe. Not this time. Why? Mostly because the debate was telecast and Joe’s performance was painfully evident to viewers. That meant the media couldn’t mediate. It couldn’t stand between voters and the candidates. 

Media commentators immediately recognized the catastrophe. On left-wing channels, anchors and commentators were almost in tears after the debate. They knew viewers would no longer accept Karine Jean-Pierre’s earlier claim that multiple videos of Joe’s infirmity were “cheap fakes.” 

The result is like a scene from the great 1933 Marx brothers’ movie, Duck Soup. “I saw you with my own eyes,” says Mrs. Teasdale, played by Margaret Dumont. Chico Marx, playing Chicolini, gives the immortal reply, “Well, who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?” That’s the White House’s problem, now that the public has seen Biden’s infirmity with their own eyes. Knowing that, the media finally refused to play Chicolini. It marked their first refusal since Biden won the nomination four years ago. 

The media are hardly alone. Biden’s other enablers are backing away. Reports are that Democratic donors and elected officials are in full-scale panic behind the scenes. Expect more reporting on that as pressure builds for Joe to step down. Who knows, some may even use their names. 

That leaves only Jill, Hunter and the White House doctor denying the obvious. The doctor, who turns out to be a little-known osteopath, signed a letter on February 28 saying that “President Biden is a healthy, active, robust eighty-one-year-old.” Yeah, sure. 

Healthy, active, and robust as Dr. O’Connor claims Biden is, the president may decide to hang on. It’s his decision to make, unless his cabinet invokes the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. 

But Biden’s departure wouldn’t solve the Democrats’ problems or the nation’s. His vice president, Kamala Harris, has achieved the near-impossible: lower ratings than Joe Biden. She earned it. She has accomplished nothing as vice president, driven her staff away and treated the public to speeches that are best described as “insulting to the intelligence” and “word salads.” 

Democrats know Kamala won’t be effective atop the ticket. But they also know that replacing her would likely alienate black women voters, who are essential for Democratic victories. The party has played identity politics for decades — and they are stuck with the results. 

If Kamala doesn’t head the ticket, then who? There are lots of potential candidates, mostly governors of blue and purple states, but none of them dominates the list. In fact, none may want the nomination, which looks like a sure loser and would doom any future run.  

The result is a first-class mess, with no easy solutions. The best summary is a line that closed each episode of a 1950s situation comedy, The Life of Riley. The beleaguered father of the family, Chester A. Riley, would sit on the front steps, a hangdog look on his face, and mutter, “What a revoltin’ development dis is.” That phrase should emblazon the welcome mat at the Biden White House.