America’s gerontocrats are more radical than they look

By Christopher Caldwell

The discombobulated performance that President Joe Biden gave at the first presidential debate on June 27th sent Democratic Party loyalists, and the journalists who staff the television stations they watch, into a state of shock. It shouldn’t have.

Biden’s condition has been no mystery to those who work closely with him, nor to daily reporters who have had ever less access to his ever less frequent public appearances. His administration has been marked by malapropisms, confabulations and confusion. “Incidents” have multiplied of late – staring emptily amid a frenzy of gospel music and dancing on the White House lawn in mid-June, “freezing” on stage before being led off by former president Barack Obama at a Hollywood fundraiser. Indeed, the Biden who appeared before more than 50m Americans at the debate has been with us for quite some time.