The larger lesson of Biden’s debate debacle: Two opposing visions of America’s future

Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump (L) looks at U.S. President Joe Biden during the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images

Joe Biden’s stammering, scatterbrained, unpresidential performance in Thursday’s debate with Donald Trump actually helped him in one way: Everyone paid attention to how bad Biden looked and sounded — not what he was saying.

Between the memory lapses, the president did have a message, even a vision.

But the America he wants to see looks nothing like the one voters want.

This election’s biggest issues are inflation, immigration and insecurity in foreign affairs — three things Biden can’t campaign on, because he’s responsible for the mess Americans are mad about in all those areas.

So instead, he turned to the oldest tactic in the Democratic playbook: blaming the rich.

Biden’s message was recycled from the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011, perhaps the last year Joe felt like he was in full command of his faculties.

Unable to run on his own dismal record, Biden on Thursday tried to channel the class-war spirit of Bernie Sanders, without a glimmer of the senator’s curmudgeonly appeal.

Biden went hard after Trump’s tax cuts — and Trump couldn’t have been more pleased.

The ex-prez was happy to boast about the tax relief he delivered and the prosperity it ushered in.

Trump upped the ante on Biden, too, reminding viewers he slashed regulation as well.

This was a classic clash between a confident, free-market Republican outlook and a Democrat’s dream of winning elections by capitalizing on resentment of the rich.

Trump may not be Ronald Reagan, but he’s learned the lessons of the Gipper’s success.

He’s also learned how to appeal to conservatives and centrists at the same time, leaving Biden to pitch his rhetoric to the envious left.

On abortion, Trump branded Democrats as the extremists and put himself on the side of democracy — legal limits on abortion would be for voters to decide, state by state.

Biden insisted on imposing a one-size-fits-all policy on the whole country — and while he claimed that wouldn’t include late-term and partial-birth abortions, his party’s record on the issue tells another story.

His hardline commitment to abortion rights, like his old-time scapegoating of the rich, was a reflection of the narrowness of Biden’s vision: He’s not so much the president of the United States as he is the president of America’s blue states.

Trump, on the other hand, has a message that isn’t just a replay of partisan prejudices.

One of his strongest themes on Thursday was basic competence and responsibility in government — including a willingness to fire the inept.

“This guy hasn’t fired anybody,” Trump pointed out.

“He never fires.”

When Biden’s withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan turned into a debacle, costing American lives, who was fired for the foul-up?

“The most embarrassing moment in the history of our country,” Trump declared.

“He didn’t fire?”

Who in Biden’s administration has paid a professional price for immigration crisis?

“Did you fire anybody that’s on the border — that’s allowed us to have the worst border in the history of the world?” Trump wanted to know.

Voters across the country would like to know, too.

Biden reacted with indignation every time Trump hit him over the descent of America into chaos and self-doubt.

“We are the most admired country in the world,” the president insisted.

“We’re the United States of America. There’s nothing beyond our capacity. We have the finest military in the history of the world. The finest in the history of the world. No one thinks we’re weak.”

Biden’s right about our military, but even the finest military can’t fulfill its mission with weak leadership — like Biden’s.

Trump’s fundamental message is about making America great again by firing failed leaders and turning more responsibility back to the people — responsibility for their economic lives and for the laws under which they live.

Biden’s message is that America is already great and doesn’t need to change anything: It just has to re-elect him.

Yet if things are so good, why are they so bad?

Why are prices sky high, why are wars breaking out, why’s the border wide open to lawbreakers?

Blaming the rich for everything won’t get Biden off the hook for his own record.

America is great, but his presidency is lousy — and everyone knows it:

His leadership is as decrepit as he is.

And even if the Democrats swap Biden out, his replacement will undoubtedly retain the same suite of failed policy prescriptions — so whoever tops their party’s ticket, voters will face the same choice of divergent paths for America’s future.

Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review and editor-at-large of The American Conservative.