Biden’s ‘Condition’ Is ‘Almost Irrelevant’ Against ‘Existential Threat’ Of Loss, Says MNBC’s Velshi: ‘Whether It’s Tiredness Or Something Else’
MSNBC host Ali Velshi said that, whatever is going on with President Joe Biden, “whether it’s tiredness or something else,” doesn’t really matter compared against the definite and definitive end to “American democracy” he says is the alternative.
Both on the air and on social media, MSNBC’s Velshi over the weekend stressed his point that concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health don’t matter in the big picture.
There are valid conversations about Biden's debate performance. But — without dismissing their legitimacy — this election is about one thing, and one thing only: the threat of losing our democracy. THAT is where our efforts at convincing one another need to be spent. #Velshi
— Ali Velshi (@AliVelshi) July 6, 2024
The MSNBC host said more than once that he was not “dismissing the legitimacy” of concerns about the president’s competence or fitness, but also followed each such caveat by saying that those concerns don’t really matter in light of the necessity to defeat Donald Trump.
It’s the duty of Americans, he stressed, to vote for “whomever” it is on the Democratic ticket.
“This election remains about one thing and one thing only: the threat of losing our democracy. And that is where our efforts at convincing one another need to be spent,” he said on Saturday’s Velshi on MSNBC.
He made the point more than once that the election is between “any Democratic nominee” and “the downfall of American democracy,” admonishing against focusing on Biden’s flaws and arguing that addressing any failure by the party or the press in informing the public sooner should be put off.
“None of this absolves the media and the Democratic establishment of their failures,” he said. “But American politics right now is a big building on fire, and discussing whether the building had enough sprinklers in it is not the discussion for right now.”
Between insistences he was not dismissing concerns, he did at one point literally dismiss concerns as “almost irrelevant” before his monologue was complete.
Today, our great American experiment is at risk of collapse. Rid yourself of the notion that this is simply a race between two parties. This is a fight to preserve our hard fought freedoms. We have two candidates. One stands for democracy and one doesn’t. That’s the beginning and the end of the realization that voters need to have.
Biden’s condition, whether it’s tiredness or something else, is certainly not irrelevant, but it’s almost irrelevant.
[…]
Our effort now is nothing less than the preservation of democracy. More than two centuries after the Founding Fathers rejected tyranny, we find ourselves summoned to a similar call to defend and uphold the principles of democracy. Our job as citizens is to choose democracy. Whomever is carrying that flag into the next election.
Contrary to Velshi’s advice, many elected Democrats and Democratic strategists are in fact worried about Biden’s fitness, and the effect the appearance of unfitness at the top of the ticket could have down the ballot in November.
On the other hand, Donald Trump agrees with Velshi that concerns about Biden topping the ticket should be ignored.
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
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