Yes, Joe Biden is old and didn’t do well in a debate. Yes, he’s lost a step (or two) and he needs his sleep. Yes, his cooperation in the genocide in Gaza is monstrous. He wasn’t my first choice in 2020–he wasn’t even in the top five on my list of candidates–but he’s been a much better and more effective president than I hoped he’d be. He’s still far from an ideal candidate.

Has there been too much emphasis on his age? Maybe. Has there been too much fuss about his debate performance? I think so, yes. Yes, but…what about the other guy?

Let’s not forget what Donald Trump has accomplished. In no particular order, he…

• tried to block Muslims from entering the country
• instituted a border policy that separated children from their families, then couldn’t find many of those children because of bureaucratic incompetence
• evicted reporters who asked tough questions from the White House press briefings
• hired his daughter and son-in-law, neither of whom were qualified, to work in the White House and ordered they be given security clearances they didn’t merit.
• fired the FBI director for refusing to halt the investigation of his ties to Russia, then bragged about firing the FBI director to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador
• unwittingly revealed highly sensitive intelligence to those same Russian diplomats IN THE OVAL OFFICE for fuck’s sake
• couldn’t be bothered to take part in daily intelligence briefings and wouldn’t read most Intel reports unless they included photos
• refused to release his tax returns
• withdrew the US from the Paris accords to combat climate change
• withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Iranian nuclear deal, designed to check Iran’s fuel enrichment and uranium conversion 
• withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership between 12 Pacific Rim economies designed to reduce their dependence on Chinese trade 
• suggested the US should try to buy Greenland
• reduced environmental regulations protecting the public from mercury and asbestos, and stopping coal companies from dumping toxic waste into rivers
• opened millions of acres of federal lands to development and drilling
• diverted US$3.8 billion of military funding to build approximately 177 miles of fencing/wall
• seriously mismanaged the Covid pandemic, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands
• promoted the use of an antiparasitic medicine used to treat roundworm infections as a prophylactic against the coronavirus
• privately told journalist Bob Woodward that Covid was deadly while deliberately downplaying the risks and dangers in public
• eliminated the White House office of pandemic response
• tear-gassed hundreds of peacefully gathered protesters on Lafayette Square in order to hold a photo op of him holding a Bible in front of a church
• refused to condemn Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia after MBS ordered the execution and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based journalist for the Washington Post
• later bragged about protecting MBS and Saudi royalty after the Khashoggi scandal
• played a shit ton of golf almost exclusively at his own resorts; spent about two days of every week at one of his properties during his tenure as POTUS
• tried to convince the G7 to hold a meeting at one of his golf resorts
• tried to get the PGA to hold the British Open at his golf course
• charged the Secret Service exorbitant rates for protective agents to stay at his golf resorts
• repeatedly lied about winning golf tournaments
• abandoned Kurdish allies after their help in fighting ISIS
• vetoed a defense funding bill because it included renaming military bases that were named after Confederate soldiers
• withdrew US troops from Syria, allowing Russian troops to occupy former US bases, which prompted Sec. of Defense James Mattis to resign in protest
• refused to commit to supporting and defending NATO allies
• called soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, and refused to attend a D-Day event honoring US war dead because it was raining
• banned transgender people from serving in the military
• claimed the US military had no ammunition under Obama
• praised military dictators and authoritarian regimes while criticizing traditional US allies
• did nothing after learning Russia paid members of the Taliban a bounty for killing US Marines
• publicly took Vladimir Putin’s word on Russian election interference over the analysis of the US intelligence community
• held a private meeting with Putin with only a translator present, ordered translator to destroy the notes, failed to disclose the meeting, which became public through Russian news media
• passed massive tax cuts for the wealthiest
• claimed he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• claimed he was offered Time’s Man of the Year but refused it
• claimed he made it possible for people to say “Merry Christmas”
• claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War (AJ died before the Civil War began)
• thought there was an African nation called Nambia
• maybe shit his pants a few times, I don’t know, I’m just saying is all
• stole SCOTUS seats with the help of Mitch McConnell
• called the news media the “enemy of the people”
• was found liable, along with his two adult sons, for fraud and fined nearly half a billion dollars
• found liable for sexual assault and defamation, fined US$ five million.
• found liable for re-defamation and fined another $83 million
• found liable in Trump University fraud and forced to pay $25 million in restitution to students
• was required to shut down Trump Foundation after it was found to have committed fraud and misappropriated funds
• was indicted for a whole lot of felonies relating to the insurrection and fraud and obstruction of justice and illegally hanging on to all manner of confidential and secret documents
• was convicted of 34 felony counts by State of New York and is awaiting sentencing
• gave Rush Fucking Limbaugh the Presidential medal of Freedom
• gave Ed Meese, Reagan’s AG who was involved in the illegal Iran-Contra affair and resigned in disgrace after a corruption scandal, the Medal of Freedom
• had a 92% staff turnover rate in the most influential positions within the executive office
• thought the Virgin islands had a President
• used a Sharpie to ‘correct’ a map in an absurd effort to to justify his claim that Alabama was under a hurricane threat
• suggested using nuclear weapons to somehow stop a hurricane
• threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders who criticized him or failed to thank him
• put Louis DeJoy in charge of the Postal Service even though DeJoy had clear conflicts of interest by being CEO of a company that did business with USPS
• tried to pressure the president of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Joe Biden
• got impeached
• staged an insurrection
• got impeached again
• refused to concede the 2020 election
• refused to even attend Biden’s inauguration
• ordered member of his administration NOT to comply with Congressional subpoenas
• stopped holding press briefings for months at a time
• suggested that wind turbines cause cancer and drive whales ‘batty’
• stared directly into an eclipse like a goddamned idiot
• and did a whole bunch of other awful shit that I’ve forgotten about
• promises to do sparkly new awful shit in the future, especially now that he’d be free from the fear of criminal prosecution

Almost every single day of the Trump administration was a tightrope walk, waiting to see what new scandal, what new form of corruption, what inevitable act of incompetence, what unanticipated moment of galactic ignorance, what novel example of naked greed would lead the day’s news cycle. It was fucking exhausting. He’s ready and eager to do it again.

But, yeah, Biden is old and needs a nap. His knees are brittle and he walks stiffly. The White House probably spends a fortune on Ensure.