By Stephen Macaulay

Some of us (present company in particular) probably spend way too much time way too early looking at what’s going on in the political arena. 

But the Biden Imbroglio is something that even those who are not generally aware of things political know at least something about.

As in Joe Biden coming off as an old, confused individual.

That he is old cannot be questioned.

That he appeared confused during the debate against Donald Trump cannot be denied.

In the days since, that there are members of his own party calling for him to remove himself from contention is probably something that not a whole lot of people are aware of.

That George Clooney has called for Biden to step away is something that is more widely known by people who are far more interested in entertainers than politicians, and I’m guessing that there are more of the former than the latter.

And Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart haven’t helped by coming out against the man.

Somehow I think that even those living in the districts of House members Eric Sorensen (D-IL) and Hillary Scholten (D-MI) are more aware of what Clooney, Colbert and Stewart have said regarding Biden’s bid.

Last night Biden held a press conference and managed to pull it off reasonably well.

Were there sighs of relief among Team Biden? Is it thought that answering some questions from reporters showed that their man is solid?

And had the press conference been held after 8 pm, how would he have done?

Here’s the problem that Team Biden has, a problem that is intractable: his age.

He won’t be getting any younger.

In February — FEBRUARY! — an ABC News/Ipsos poll had it that 86% of Americans think Biden is too old to run for another term.

And there have been other polls since, that while not quite as striking, indicate the same.

Even if the margin of error is immense, there is still a non-trivial number of people, including Democrats, who think he is too old.

So let’s say that his heels are inextricably dug in, that he won’t absent himself from the ticket. What then?

Does it become a case of metaphorically holding one’s nose and voting for Biden because the other guy is simply not good? And won’t there be a non-trivial number of Democrat voters who figure that it is simply not a good thing to vote in someone they have little confidence in when it comes to his mental or physical stamina (I find it surprising that more hasn’t been made about Biden’s reported comments to Democratic governors about telling his staff not to book things after 8 p.m. and to give him plenty of time to rest. Some people used to make fun of Trump’s lightly scheduled days: how is this any different?) 

So while the Democrat voters are tentative at most, Trump supporters are pumped up.

Who is going to get more people to the polls?

If Joe Biden truly believes that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, then he ought to do his utmost — limited though that apparently may be — to make sure that Trump doesn’t win the election.

And that means he should end his run sooner rather than later.

Read Stephen Macaulay's column on George Stephanopoulos' interview with President Biden, "Lord, Help Us," in The Gray Area.

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Who Will Be Trump's Running Mate?

Who will Donald J. Trump nominate at the Republican National Convention next week to be his running mate? Remaining candidates are said to be Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. 

Send your predictions (no prizes to be awarded to best guesses, except the satisfaction of showing off skills as an astute citizen pundit) and/or comments on President Biden’s press conference to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.