The Silly Old Man Who Fumbled the Presidency Back to Trump
A story that could become true
Last week, I outlined a narrative (at the bottom of this article) in which Joe Biden chooses not to run for another term. It’s a good narrative: Biden gets compared to George Washington, he’s remembered as the selfless civil servant who ended Trump’s political career, and he delivers one last zinger before boarding an Amtrak train, destination: history. Below is a much less-flattering narrative for Biden that could become true, and I believe will become true if he decides to stay in the race.
Believe it or not, Joe Biden used to be known as the hero who defeated Trump. There was a brief window in which he was celebrated as a selfless public servant who neutralized the threat that Trump posed to democracy. Of course, that’s easy to forget, given that history now remembers him as the vain blunderer who ushered Trump back into power.
Biden’s 2020 bid for president seemed like a long shot. Though he had been Vice President in a popular administration, he was 77 and had already run unsuccessfully for president twice. Moreover, the primary that year occurred at the height of the Great Awokening, and the contest had a college-kids-getting-high-and-coming-up-with-”solutions” vibe that seemed to leave Biden behind.
Ironically, Biden’s inability to get with the times may have won him the nomination. As his opponents battled for territory well outside the mainstream, Biden emerged as the most viable Trump alternative. He eventually won a head-to-head matchup against Bernie Sanders, who happened to be one of the few people in the country older than Biden. Biden then beat Trump in a bizarre election year that included a global pandemic and a racial reckoning spearheaded largely by white graduate students. The January 6 riots served to reinforce Biden’s case: Trump was a threat to democracy, and Biden would restore stability.
This story seems borderline-unbelievable in light of subsequent events. Biden was the electable option? Biden was the selfless Trump-slayer? Yes, that was once true. Though, the chapter of Joe Biden’s life that history remembers began to take shape in the summer of 2024.