Joe Biden Is Like a Young Lover Trying to Avoid Getting Dumped

Many of us remember such a story from growing up – the sad case of someone who fears they are about to get dumped and, to try to push off the dreaded event, keeps making future plans to stave off the breakup. When it comes to this year’s general election presidential debates, Joe Biden appears to be following the same strategy – frantically making plans to keep his own party from saying, “It’s not me—it’s you.”

Since the Biden campaign publicly agreed to two general election debates against Donald Trump in June and September, conservative pundits and political observers have relentlessly speculated about why Biden demanded a debate five months out from Election Day – the earliest general election debate in modern American history – especially after the ailing president initially appeared poised to sit out the debates entirely.

But the reason for Biden’s apparent eagerness to share the stage with Trump this June might be far simpler than most realize.

In recent weeks, Biden has become embroiled in a notable series of political conflicts, bleak polling numbers, and embarrassing senior moments that have instilled serious doubts about his candidacy in the minds of many Democrats and top progressive political operatives. From a growing left-wing mutiny over Biden’s perceived weakness on the Israel-Hamas war to recent New York Times polling with Biden down in nearly every swing state (and losing ground with young, black, and Hispanic voters) to an increasingly humiliating series of gaffes in his public appearances, the Democrat Party machine has officially entered panic mode – and it’s easy to understand why.

Even with the November election less than six months way and campaign season now in full swing, thanks to these conflicts, a growing chorus of left-wing voices are still openly discussing the prospect of abandoning Biden. His historic unpopularity, the thinking goes, could imperil not only Democrats’ chances of retaining the White House, but could also endanger down-ballot candidates who will determine control of Congress this fall.

A May 18 op-ed in The Hill, for instance, postulated that Democrats can still “jettison” Biden as part of an “August surprise.”

“Every night they go to sleep dreaming of having a new nominee, and every morning they wake up to the same old Biden,” the piece states. “A president many now see as gaffe-prone, needing to be told where to stand, where to walk and what to say.”

Leftist political columnist Jonathan Chait agreed: “The point here is that Democrats have a Joe Biden problem, not a partywide problem,” he wrote in a New York Magazine column this month. Other Democrat leaders, too, are surely expressing the same sentiment behind closed doors.

But as these questions continue to swirl, Biden’s agreement to participate in a June debate got an appointment on the books that Democrats can look forward to—a fight with the hated Drumpf.

The June date encourages any rebels in Democratic ranks to wait and see how the confrontation goes. If it goes well, Biden’s case is stronger. If he’s just okay, Biden may still benefit from a rally-around-the-flag effect, propping up Biden because he’s the man in the ring. Even if the debate goes poorly for Biden, he may have pushed off the decision to dump him until it’s too late.

In the absence of scheduling the debate, June media coverage looked likely to be dominated by growing panic and intra-party fights about Biden’s viability.

Now, June’s drama is about the upcoming debates.

Biden also appears to be cribbing another tactic from the playbook of lovers trying to postpone a breakup—going over-the-top to ingratiate himself, fawning over them, hoping to stoke feelings of guilt. “I’ve been so good to you!” Biden might say. “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Never was this tactic more obvious than in Biden’s excessively pandering commencement address at historically-black Morehouse College, during which he demanded to know, “What is democracy if black men are being killed on the streets?…What does it mean to be a black man who loves his country if it doesn’t love him back in equal measure.” He also proclaimed, “You have to be ten times better than anyone else to get a fair shot.”

How cruel and selfish would woke progressives have to be to even think about breaking up with that?

Ironically, to the extent that Joe Biden’s desperate moves succeed in keeping him locked in his engagement with the Democrat Party, the greatest beneficiary may not be Biden, but Trump.

Both candidates have an interest in making sure Democrats don’t leave Crooked Joe standing at the altar.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.