Remember when we were worried about Joe Biden's age?

What a difference a SOTU makes

Last week I improvised a guided meditation for those of us who were subject to panic over Joe Biden’s age and by extension, his inability to win the election.

Now, even Ezra Klein (no relation) is walking back what he shouted from the rooftops (well, the New York Times) in “Democrats Have a Better Option Than Biden” calling for that quadrennial unicorn sighting of an “open convention.”

Referring to himself (nice one!) when he links to the fallacious thinking of certain columnists

Ezra Klein

writes,

If the Joe Biden who showed up to deliver the State of the Union address last week is the Joe Biden who shows up for the rest of the campaign, you’re not going to have any more of those weak-kneed pundits suggesting he’s not up to running for re-election. Here’s hoping he does.

This week, the tide turned on the “age problem,” but don’t get too comfortable.

Joe Biden followed up on his SOTU home run with a new campaign video that includes a wink and a nod about his age, but it will take more than a few jokes to make this issue go away. It never will, not entirely, because we’ve never had a president this old and Biden shows physical signs of his age. We have to talk about it.

But not as much as they’re talking about it on right-wing media, where they’ve never met a dead horse they don’t enjoy beating. Or a straw they won’t grasp at.

Biden may be old, but the other guy is stupid. And evil. And stupid.

But voters aren’t stupid. Well, some are.

But for the most part, people who take an interest in politics exercise some degree of judgment about their choice—unless all they want to do is “own the libs.” Before Trump, most of them were non-voters, and I suspect after Trump (which may be sooner than you think) they will return to that lifestyle choice.

Last week, panic over Joe Biden’s fitness for this campaign was the hot topic. This week, it’s how Biden is looking stronger and Republicans are slipping on more banana peels, like IVF and Hunter Biden.

It’s going to be a long eight months from now until November. The age issue will come back, and you’ll see more polls that make you worry. But please, don’t panic.

If President Biden’s State of the Union reminded you that politics can make a difference, that some things are worth fighting for, and that elections matter, good! Hold on to those thoughts. Go back to them when you start to get nervous.

Things are about to get very bad for Donald Trump. He has to come up with half a billion dollars by March 25 or Letitia James starts seizing assets:

"We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day," says the Attorney General.

And in two weeks he goes on trial in New York, where we’ll see how Trump behaves during long days of detailed testimony revealing his dirty deeds and secrets.

Trump thinks glowering from the defense table helps his campaign. But the witnesses (I can’t to hear from the National Enquirer’s David Pecker!) and the evidence may be too much for him. Trump may dump a bowl of spaghetti on his head and run screaming out of the courtroom—or he may just take to Truth Social, which amounts to the same thing.

Biden’s bounce back from the age issue may take a dent or two—from right wing media and the testimony of the special counsel, Robert Hur, not to mention the people you talk to at the gym—but consider this:

If you don’t believe that there are five votes on the Supreme Court to give Trump immunity, consider that Chief Justice Roberts may recognize the hot breath of history on his shoulder and not keep us waiting for this historic opinion.

DOJ has already said they have no problem with a trial during the fall campaign, and thanks to the Supreme Court, we may get one.

But no matter what happens with Donald Trump’s federal trials, he will still go into the election as the most damaged presidential candidate in history. Just like Joe Biden’s age can’t be ignored, neither will the fact that someone with 91 felony counts is running for president—and likely to have been convicted for some of them by November.

Don’t you think that’s going to take even a little dent out of his standing in the polls? A little dent and a couple of points is all you need in a close election.

And Donald Trump isn’t picking up votes in PA, WI or even MI, despite the vote “uncommitted” got in the primary.  They won’t vote for the guy who wants to ban Muslims.