Biden Derangement Syndrome

Democrats, I am begging you, don't take the Biden bait. It's past time for a new media game plan.

Maybe you've heard that political/media insiders Jake "Tapped Out" Tapper of CNN & Alex Thompson from Axios+ are pimping a new book breathlessly revealing that former President Joseph Biden is old. I haven't read it because I'm old, too, and I don't want to waste any of my remaining minutes. 

Maybe they wrote it because they feel guilty about their coverage of Biden and they're trying to get themselves off the hook. That would be painfully ironic. In her excellent Guardian piece, Margaret Sullivan asks the question: 

As a media critic, I’m always happy to see a good reckoning for the mainstream press. 

But this one makes me wonder. When is the reckoning coming for the failures to cover Trump effectively? 

Maybe Tapper Thompson are trying to juice up their careers. That would be on-brand. Maybe, like eight year olds, they just figured it out and think maybe nobody else knows what they know. Yeah, we know. 

But the book is whatever. The real thing is how it's being used. Yes the Club is bending over frontwards to fluff up a life member, and that's gross, but then the uninterrogated nominal? topic of the book--not just Biden's decline but an alleged "cover-up" of his diminished capacity to be president--is being weaponized and pointed at Dems in a "what did you know and when did you know it and didn't you have a duty to speak out" kind of way.

Joe Biden is old and was when he was running for a second term. The best way I've heard it handled is by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, this morning on NBC's Meet the Press. 

"By 2024, the American people had decided that they wanted somebody new. They wanted somebody younger,” Murphy told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“And it was a mistake,” the senator said. “It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier and set up a process that would have gotten us in a position where we could have been more competitive that fall.”

Simple. Honest. Contrary to some commenters, I think it would be dumb to deny the obvious. It would just reinforce Democrats as being out of touch or dishonest. 

Instead, when the moderator pivoted from the indisputable to the alleged, from the decline to the story she really wanted to get to-- the scandal! the cover-up!--Senator Murphy simply said, "Well, I haven't read the book and so I don't know what to say about the allegations they make." Granted, he should have stopped there. Instead, when the moderator pushed ever so gently, he reverted to the usual Demsplaining about "my experience" and policy. Lesson learned, I hope.

If this sounds familiar, it is. It's the "swift boat" "but her emails!" playbook that Republicans run like Student Body Right, and scandal-sniffing media dig up and swallow like my dog who eats her own poop. And Dems, desperate to appear reasonable and accommodating, feel compelled to debate the quality of poop and end up covered in it. Every time. 

Not this time, Democrats! I'm begging you to try something different. I agree with Ron Filipkowski in his very good "Dems Must Not Let Media Make 2026/28 About Biden" at www.meidasplus.com  that "This is a trap for Democrats," but I don't agree that "American voters simply don't care." I think American voters largely care about what they are told is important (I almost wrote "sold as important"), and therefore answering Biden questions in every appearance tells voters that Republicans, media, and even Democrats care about it, and that it's important.

Instead, I urge Dems to run a different play from the Republican playbook: The Reverse. No Democrat should ever again answer a single question about Joe Biden except, when the time comes, "Are you going to the funeral?"

Instead, immediately pivot to Donald Trump and Republicans and the damage they're doing and the danger they pose to every single American. 

News Talker: When did you first notice President Biden was slowing down.

Dem: Tariffs 

News Talker: But regarding President Biden--

Dem: Due process

News Talker: Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson in their new book suggest--

Dem: Medicaid is a lifeline for people's grandmas!

It will require Dems to do something hard. They need to ignore opinion, risk looking obstinate, and stay focused on their message. Particularly shaken Dems might use a bridge phrase like "I'm not here for ___, I'm here to talk about Donald Trump and the damage he and Republicans and their DOGE Musk lieutenants are doing to veterans."

Dems, I am begging you, do not take the bait. You don't have to lie like they do, but you don't have to answer every question. Make them talk about what you want to talk about. And don't mind the eyerolls or sour faces or big sighs. You'll be invited back. The Republicans always are. Politics ain't beanbag, and our lives are depending on you.

Otherwise, Biden will still be the story when Trump begins his third term.

*This post has been updated to, among other things, give the indispensable Margaret Sullivan the credit she deserves and which I omitted inadvertently.