Rachel Maddow Must Be True to Brand and Tell Biden Not to Run

Biden Hacks do a Disservice by Gaslighting America

In March 2020, presidential candidate Joe Biden gave his sales pitch to voters who were uneasy about his advanced age, “I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else.” We thought this meant a transitory bridge to younger leadership, not a bridge on which to jump like mindless lemmings to commit national suicide.

The right-wing coup of the U.S. Supreme Court, which today ruled Donald Trump had immunity for some of his treasonous actions if they are considered official duties, makes the decision for Biden to step aside more urgent. If the only thing standing between fascism and freedom is the frail old man who mumbled and meandered in last week’s debate, I suggest renewing your passport.

In 1968, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite told the truth about the Vietnam War to a national TV audience. President Lyndon Baines Johnson, dispirited by Cronkite’s report, said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”

Tonight, we need a “Walter Cronkite Moment” from MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. She must tell the truth to Joe Biden and his democratic enablers: Joe Must Go.

Maddow is our best hope that someone trusted by Democrats and revered by progressives, doesn’t blindly follow the party line to oblivion. The New York Times and Atlanta Journal Constitution editorial boards opined that it was time for Biden to retire. While their cases were persuasive, editorial boards are faceless institutions that lack a personal relationship with voters.

Rachel Maddow possesses the gravitas and has earned the trust necessary to buck the bull being shoveled to us by Democratic Party hacks and flaks. The MSNBC legend has a reputation as a thoughtful truth teller—and I implore her to use her platform to protect democracy and save our civilization by emboldening Democrats to do what must be done. This could be Maddow’s shining, defining moment where she tells the truth to her base. Such bravery would likely be the most difficult decision she has made in her career—but this is no time to go-along, to get-along.

Maddow has the rare combination of financial security, party popularity and editorial independence to stop the madness. Her unique stature also offers relative immunity from standard democratic attacks.

If the Biden enablers question Maddow’s loyalty, they are entering GOP territory, where apparatchiks viciously attack dissenters as “RINOs” (Republican in Name Only). If Maddow is condemned in such a crass and undignified manner, it’s fair to argue that MAGA malignancy has filtered down to infect the Democratic Party.

Sure, political tribalism and disdain for Trump could still lead to a Biden victory. A narrow win, however, would in no way vindicate those propping up his sagging candidacy. Trump is a twice-impeached felon with a poor presidential record and a grating personality, who incidentally is also a very old man. A younger democratic candidate, with the energy to poke at Trump’s weaknesses, exploit his ignorance and rebut his firehose of lies, would likely be able to win by a comfortable margin. (Trump told a lie every 100 seconds during his debate with Biden)   

Instead of dealing with reality, the Biden campaign and its surrogates are gaslighting America, telling the 51.3 million Americans who tuned into the debate to unsee what they all plainly saw. Their undignified, delusional behavior reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

As it stands, we are told to believe party apparatchiks when they call the Biden debacle a “blip” or a “data point” in the campaign. Right, and the space shuttle that exploded was merely an uncomfortable ride.

The problem with downplaying this disaster is that it was one of the few, if only opportunities, that America will see both candidates standing side-by-side. The country had a direct comparison—and our man didn’t stack up favorably.

The party parrots inform us that Biden did better than the brutally critical media suggests because the country saw Trump repeatedly lie. But your average American who doesn’t closely follow politics can’t discern whether Trump is telling the truth. He’s a con man and spits out rapid fire falsehoods faster than CNN’s seemingly absent fact checkers could factcheck. What your normal viewer does understand is gauging energy levels and general mental acuity—and Biden failed on both accounts.

When faced with legitimate criticism, the party faithful go on the attack and try to turn support for Biden into an act of loyalty. Personally, I love Joe Biden, but my loyalty is with democracy, human rights and liberty, not an individual, no matter how much I admire their career and success as president (That’s MAGA behavior). Biden does have an outstanding record, but voters who saw him debate will doubt he has the energy to duplicate such success for another four years.   

Most outrageously, we are arrogantly scolded as bedwetters that have no spine. But it takes real backbone to tell the truth and if democracy is on the line, as the Democrats tell us, isn’t bedwetting the appropriate response to a faltering presidential candidate?

Is the LGBTQ community supposed to be cool knowing a Trump presidency likely means a retrenchment of rights? Are women supposed to be calm with Trump and his Project 2025 allies eying a ban on all abortions and salivating to eliminate IVF and birth control? Should African Americans remain collected knowing a movement of Confederate flag-loving white supremacists are coming to Washington? Are voters expected to remain chill, realizing this might be the last time they cast votes in free and fair elections?   

We are reprimanded that it’s our duty as Democrats to remain steadfast and supportive, even if we know we are on the Titanic and headed directly toward a November iceberg. The Biden lackeys would compare those speaking out to rats abandoning ship. A more apt analogy is that his stalwart defenders are the fools serenely enjoying classical music on the deck as the ship sinks to the bottom of the sea.

Another silly argument is comparing Biden to Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who won his election despite being verbally impaired. Ezra Klein puts this nonsensical analogy to bed:

I have heard some Democrats point to Fetterman, who suffered a debilitating stroke during his Senate campaign, as a kind of grim model. He also turned in a bad debate performance, but he won his seat anyway. But he was recovering from a stroke. It was reasonable to expect his capacities to return, as indeed they have. Biden will not age in reverse.

Klein also points out that the Biden campaign is hiding the candidate to mask his inability to articulate himself in live format settings.

In polls, he is losing badly among voters who get their news from social media and YouTube. Why not sit for a long interview with Lex Fridman or Joe Rogan or Charlamagne tha God? Why didn’t Biden do the Super Bowl interview? Biden sits for fewer interviews than any other recent president. He gives fewer news conferences than any other recent president. The idea that this is all just coincidence, that none of it reflects capacity, isn’t plausible. Not anymore.

The final argument is there is not enough time to choose another nominee and that trying to do so would lead to chaos. But, if Biden were to suddenly expire, no one would suggest we couldn’t find someone to replace him. It would occur quickly, and we’d have a new nominee, proving that it is possible.

Other countries have significantly shorter campaign seasons and the avalanche of media coverage, for 15 weeks prior to the election, would ensure the new standard bearer would be a known quantity to voters.

Finally, does having Biden as our nominee mean less chaos? Is the party really united behind him as his defenders assert?

If Bernie Sanders was the leading alternative, perhaps this would be true and there would be a nasty fight for the soul of the Democratic Party. But those most likely to replace Biden have similar policies and records.  

Furthermore, a big story prior to the debate debacle was how left-wing radicals planned to cause massive disruption in Chicago, ignorantly calling President Biden “Genocide Joe” and recreating the nightmarish Chicago convention of 1968.

It seems like chaos is already baked into the process this year no matter the nominee. Given this reality, we must reasonably ask, “who is a less contentious choice for the must-win state of Michigan, Biden or Gov. Gretchen Whitmer?”

Easy answer. Whitmer. Clearly, a new candidate does not necessarily mean more chaos and might mean less.

If you regularly read my column, then you know that I have strongly supported Biden. On March 8, my column praising his State of the Union address was titled, “Biden’s Speech for the Ages Eases Concerns About Age”. I predicted that the president would win in a landslide based on his speech, the GOP underperforming in the 2022 midterms, anger over the overturning of Roe v Wade and strong economic indicators.

I no longer hold such optimism. Do you?

When Rachel Maddow sits at her anchor desk this evening she can speak out or she can check out and regurgitate talking points from Biden cronies. Unlike the enablers, her future doesn’t depend on gaslighting America into pretending Biden simply had a bad debate. Maddow must be true to brand and do justice to her viewers by telling them that Biden should turn over the reins to a younger Democrat who can do what Biden did in 2020: Save our nation from a madman and his fascist flunkies.