I’m one democrat party voter out of millions who chose POTUS Joe Biden in the 2024 primary elections to be our standard bearer, despite having observed him showing signs of old age. Many of the same Washington moguls, the millionaire/ billionaire donors, business titans, other elites were beating the drums about POTUS Biden’s ageism issues in 2022, but the voters as part of a democracy had the last say in 2024. Disrespect them at your peril, especially his major constituency of Black voters.
See: Joe Biden’s Doctor Releases Results of Annual Physical Exam/ People 2024
Now, here’s a test for those professional political armchair quarterbacks who have started the drumbeat again just 4 months before 2024 November elections, about the president’s age issues because of POTUS Biden’s admittedly lousy debate performance. I want them to hire an actor who imitates Trump and his debate style well, and then try to parley against this actor subject to the same debate rules used by moderators on June 27. After taping the debate, have the video reviewed by an audience. Then try to withstand the feedback. Remember Trump’s previous debate Roadkills of competitors like Jeb Bush, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. You get the picture.
Meanwhile, the voters who cast their ballots for the president want to know, why isn’t there equal focus on the unfitness of the felonious professional TV reality star ex-president who without being subject to any evidentiary checks, spewed out lies from start to finish? Anyone who’s viewed the numerous rally videos sees the GOP MAGA ex-president’s ageism problems in spades that are more frequent and much worse than those exhibited by POTUS Biden.
As per the June 24, 2024 pre-presidential debate, Media Matters reported, “in total, among the five major newspapers, nearly 10 times as many articles focused on just Biden’s age or mental acuity as focused on just Trump’s.” This is why the media’s concern about POTUS Biden’s age issues lacks credibility with me. The numbers belie the rationalization that the press can point out the president’s signs of aging while sharing with voters, the dangers of a Trump presidency.
On July 7, 2024, the overly zealous press corp at a White House briefing behaved abominably while seeking explanations regarding a Parkinson’s expert’s 8 visits to the White House because they refused to believe the response that his visits had nothing to do with treating POTUS Biden.
See: Top newspapers fixate on Biden’s age | Media Matters for America
See: Letter from Biden’s doctor seeks to dispel questions about Parkinson’s / Hill…
With so much media attention spotlighting the president’s age on every public occasion, there’re more serious problems not being adequately covered that threaten the continuation of US democracy. There’s the very real possibility of the future subjugation all Americans under autocratic minority rule based on the recent Supreme Court’s (Trump v. United States) ruling that vastly expands US presidential powers and the Project 2025 900-page far-right’s blueprint on how to revolutionize government institutions to support a dictatorship.
Read Biden’s Letter to Congressional Democrats/ NYT
As per a July 8, 2024 Forbes report by Brian Bushard, “Biden Strikes Back: ‘I Don’t Care What The Billionaires Think:’
Excerpts:
“In a call with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden claimed he was confident “the average voter out there” still wants to see him in the race against former President Donald Trump, even as a group of at least five sitting House Democrats call on him to end his campaign.”
“Over the past week, those calls to step down have come from billionaire IAC founder Barry Diller (worth $4.1 billion, according to Forbes), Walmart heir Christy Walton ($15.2 billion), crypto mogul Michael Novogratz ($2.5 billion) and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings ($4.8 billion), while “Shark Tank” host and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban ($5.4 billion) pushed for increased polling to determine which potential Biden replacement could beat Trump in November.”
There was a post-debate CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, which is a quality, well-regarded poll. Its findings were less useful in establishing certainty about how the party might move forward than they are in demonstrating that any such certainty is unwarranted.
The GOP MAGA ex-president has been trying to distance himself from the Project 2025 manifesto…
As per the July 5,2024 Intercept article by Shawn Musgrave, “Trump’s Camp Says It Has Nothing to Do With Project 2025:“
Excerpts:
Despite Trump’s claims to have “nothing to do with” Project 2025, his administration and campaign personnel contributed to the project, including Karoline Leavitt, his campaign’s national press secretary, as the Biden campaign quickly pointed out on X.
“Former Trump administration officials wrote and edited massive chunks of the manifesto. One of its two primary editors, Paul Dans, who directs the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project, served as the White House liaison for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, among other positions.”
“Rick Dearborn, who was briefly Trump’s deputy chief of staff, wrote the White House chapter. Russ Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote the chapter on OMB and similar executive offices.”
“Gene Hamilton, who served in the Trump Justice Department and is now the vice president and general counsel of America First Legal, wrote the DOJ chapter. Similarly, the chapter on the Department of Homeland Security was written by Ken Cuccinelli, who held multiple positions in Trump’s DHS. The list of Project 2025 playbook contributors includes former Trump administration officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, among other departments and agencies.”
Peter Navarro — who advised Trump’s 2016 campaign, served as director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and recently reported to prison for refusing to cooperate with a Congressional inquiry into January 6 insurrection — drafted a chapter on trade policy.
People close to Trump also contributed to the Project 2025’s effort to recruit conservatives for administration positions, including appearances in promos and training videos.
“Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, is featured in a promotional video for the Project 2025 academy, along with Stephen Miller and other former Trump administration officials. According to the Project 2025 recruitment website, “The Presidential Administration Academy is a one-of-a-kind educational and skill-building program designed to prepare and equip future political appointees now to be ready on Day One of the next conservative Administration.”
“Other former Trump administration officials listed on the Project 2025 academy syllabus include Dearborn, Roger Severino, Hugh Fike, and Bethany Kozma.”
There’s great news regarding July 2024 election results in the United Kingdom and France as conservatives lost bigtime.
Even in Iran, voters on July 6, 2024, elected a reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili. He accomplished this by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests.
As per the July 5, 2024 Reuters report, Labour surged to a landslide victory in Britain’s parliamentary election, ending 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government and propelling Keir Starmer to power as prime minister.
WHAT WERE RESULTS (OVER 12%)?
“While the winner was a surprise, the result is as expected: a hung parliament of three opposing blocs with hugely different platforms and no tradition of working together.”
(Peoples were scared as polls predicted a huge win for far right)
“A nervous energy rippled through the crowd gathered at Lyon’s Place de la République. As the final polls closed in the most momentous election in recent memory, hundreds of people milled about, waiting to find out what lie in store for France.
“Just after 8pm, Florent Martins came running through the plaza, mobile in hand. “We won,” the 23-year-old yelled out, his voice shaking with disbelief as those around him exploded into cheers and hearty applause. “The left won!”
“Exit polls suggested that a broad leftwing alliance was on track to become the biggest force in the French parliament in a shock win.”
“It’s so good,” said Martins. “I’ve been in a panic all day.” Nearby, Veronique Leporte, 69, described the results as stunning. “It’s a huge relief,” she said. “We were so scared.”
“It was a sentiment echoed across the country. In Paris cries of joy rang out in République plaza, as the projections sparked spontaneous hugs among strangers and applause.”
It’s true that Biden has low approval numbers and that the president’s age is a matter of concern to voters. The problem is there simply is no way to jettison POTUS Biden unless he wants to step down. And Democratic voters don’t seem eager to push him out.
As per a 2024 MSNBC article by Michael A. Cohen, “Democrats are sticking with Biden — no matter what the pundits say:”
Excerpts:
According to Silver, “academic studies of modern political parties” show that “party elites, which include e.g. elected officials, donors, WH staffers, labor and interest group leaders, and influential media members, have a lot of power.”
“Yes and no. But what party elites definitely don’t have is the power to oust an incumbent president if he doesn’t want to be ousted. A century ago, in the proverbial smoke-filled rooms at national conventions, party bosses could push an unpopular incumbent by the wayside. But those days are long gone.”
“The tumultuous 1968 election led to reforms creating the open primary nominating system we know today. Since then, the choice for presidential nominee has been up to voters.”
Reminder of the Trump-Biden first debate in 2020 and Biden won….
As per September 30, 2020 NYT report by Matt Flegenheimer and Maggie Haberman, “Of Course, the Debate Was Always Going to Be About Trump:”
Excerpts:
President Trump did for the Tuesday debate what he has done for the political life of the country in his four years: supply as much rampaging volume, custom-busting obtrusion and outright fiction as necessary to impose his will on the proceedings.
“He declined to condemn white supremacy and let fly dark conspiracies about the voting process.”
“He mocked Joe Biden’s mask-wearing and intellectual firepower and seemed more interested in running against the caricature of his opponent than the man himself, once insisting that Mr. Biden supports defunding the police moments after the Democratic nominee made clear he did not.”
“And with inveterate interruption and well-practiced grievance, the president complained incessantly about the unfairness of it all, ensuring that the conversation — even on a subject as universally experienced as the coronavirus pandemic — turned back to his personal feelings and treatment at every opportunity.”
“He ticked through promises and boasts that strained credulity: about the velocity of vaccine availability, the lives he purportedly saved, the safety of his rallies, flashing more passion on the topic of Mr. Biden’s academic record than a virus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.”
“Mr. Biden steered through an uneven rebuttal, recalling the president’s sunny projections of a largely virus-free Easter before settling on his thesis for the night.”
“Biden said, “he still hasn’t even acknowledged that he knew this was happening.”
Gronda Morin 
You are to be congratulated on a comprehensive post Gronda, in particular the unbalanced reporting of Biden’s ‘issues’ while not making much of Trump’s egotistical and thus distorted view of the world. What does concern me is that if Trump does get back in and The Right then encouraged try to carry out all that they claim they will, there is going to be a an extreme reaction. If you bear with me here.
Using hypothetical figures near to the last voting figures.
70,000,000 American vote Democrat. 10% are furious that Trump wins- 7,000,000. 10% of that 10% think that ‘something needs to be done about this’ – 700,000. 10% of that 10% believe that there is a case for taking up arms in defence of the Constitution- 70,000. 10% of that 10% firmly believe it is time for ‘affirmative extreme action’ to be taken against a government which is totalitarian- 7,000. 7,000 folk with easy access to arms and working on IED will cause a reaction of the Right, which would cause a response and counter response and the ranks growing. We saw it happen in Northern Ireland, although that was a centuries old issue, there were not so many guns to hand.
Taking about issues on this side of the Pond. Words of caution
The UK vote was essentially against the Conservatives, Labour’s vote did stay still (ish) and the Far-Right Reform polled 4,000,000 votes. There is much to do done, and quickly before discontent seeps back in and Reform gains more votes.
France – is another story. It’s very complicated and very French.
Keep up the good work
Roger
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Hi Roger,
It’s crazy land in this side of the pond. You’ve figured it out. The US is in the midst of a Civil War with enough under currents indicating that it can get worse.
When things don’t make sense, I usually say that I must be missing a key piece of information to fill in the puzzle where I can see the complete picture.
The unequal coverage between the 2 US candidates’ ageism issues has raised a red flag for me because anyone who watches videos of Trump’s rallies, sees a candidate who shows negative signs of ageism on a more frequent basis that are much worse than anything ever exhibited by Biden.
And with all of this negative piling on against Biden, there’s the most recent WAPO/ ABC IPSOS poll showing that both candidates are tied at 46% and the same percentage of democrats being concerned about Biden’s age, as they were pre-debate.
So, these are murky times on both sides of the pond.
Hugs, Gronda
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I fear this issue may be eroding Biden’s focus on the campaign.
It is a standard ploy in many a confrontation by some means to make the opponent question themselves, it also serves as a distraction from the other’s own shortcomings of which Trump has a book full.
History is filled with examples of folk who for the majority of their time have served well, even wonderfully, but one stumble in the present and all that can be forgotten.
This doesn’t apply to Trump because his following is a cult and therefore without reason.
(Sending this in hopes it reaches you
WP has really screwed up this time.
When I log in most of my information is missing, and there’s no access to posts or anyone’s replies either to my posts or replies to my replies.
I did contact the Engineers whose AI promptly told me it could not help.
By good chance I think I can access by e-mail notifications.)
All the best.
Roger
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