CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

The debate last night between Trump and Biden was one of the worst moments in American political history. Far from being just a pitiful spectacle, that can be mocked, it was (and remains) a terrible, shocking and even terrifying look into an abyss.

The main take-away was that the two main candidates are unworthy to be President, and that a once-great nation of hundreds of millions of people, that can only locate these two for the most important job in the land, and world, is in peril.

But it gets worse.

Trump is more than unworthy - he is a clear and present danger to the world. Not everything he says is a lie, or monstrous, or threatening, but a lot is. He openly refuses to accept democracy, and is likely to side against NATO in the Ukraine conflict, undermine efforts to control global heating, as well as implement radically extreme positions at home. His re-election to a second term would signal a low from which American democracy might not recover.

Biden, on the other hand, did his job and defeated Trump last time - he was a bulwark, and deserves credit for that.

But now, we must not let pride, and one man's ego, or misplaced ideas of loyalty from his team, stop the necessary next steps from taking place: Biden must step down, and let a younger, more dynamic person run against Trump.

Bluntly, Biden's performance in the debate last night was not just poor. It was a disaster. In a world of memes and social media, some of his errors will not go away - and the impression, which was not false, is of a person lost, confused, and incapable of performing their job to the highest level of competency. Biden may be a good man and stand for good things, but he is no longer able to be the standard bearer for American democracy.

Based on what we have seen, which cannot be unseen, Biden cannot win the election now. It's simply impossible. Few if any undecided voters could stomach such weakness in their leader; Trump will be able to make the case, truthfully (ironically) that Biden is doddering and incompetent.

The Democratic party has others capable of taking over - some actually charismatic, intelligent and well-spoken. There is still time. But they need to act fast.

Otherwise, a convicted unrepentant criminal will take power, again, and seek "retribution" against the system that was once known as American democracy.

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