The President Forgot to Wear Any Clothes

Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a favorite for social commentary, but has it ever had more fitting application than last Thursday’s presidential debate? “The President is senile!” cried the Democrats. And so he was. But unless old Joe chooses otherwise, he, like the emperor in the famous tale, will shuffle stiffly on in stubborn, naked shame and the procession will continue to its inevitable, unbearable conclusion.

A few short weeks after Joe Biden was sworn into office (I still can’t say “won the election”), the main drag in downtown Scranton, Spruce Street, was suddenly renamed Biden Street, much to the chagrin of local businesses like the Scoops on Spruce ice cream parlor and all those who had to suddenly change websites, signs, and business cards all to honor the greatest son of Scranton. 

The Central Scranton Expressway was also rechristened the President Biden Expressway, as the Electric City grasped at this chance of some sort of gasping relevancy, now that The Office is a thing of the past. So, President Biden rode rough-shod over Scranton, just as he seemed to do over the election. But now his procession and his presidency seem to be ending as unceremoniously as Spruce Street became Biden Street. The gig is up. The president isn’t wearing any clothes.

Last week, the first debate of the 2024 presidential election was held between the presumptive nominees, Joe Biden and Donald Trump: a rematch of their contemptuous spectacle four years ago. And the whole world is talking about what happened—especially the Democrats in Washington and on social media and every Leftist news network. It was an unmitigated disaster. 81-year-old Joe Biden tottered at the podium, frail, hoarse, pale, incoherent, confused, slack-jawed, squinty-eyed…but enough of this. It’s enough that the poor man has been humiliated not only by his poor debate performance but also by the unexpected rejection it prompted from his own party. 

The one thing the Democratic base and swing voters wanted to confirm, as he is seldom in public, was that Sleepy Joe (to use Trump’s moniker) was not too advanced in years for the job. The debate proved the exact opposite. The arguments Biden tried and failed to articulate were just as shaky as his voice and just as shallow as his Catholicism. Trump was restrained for Trump, and he let Biden destroy his own presidency; not unlike the president’s First Lady, Jill Biden, who has set a wild precedent for wives, pushing and pulling the tottering Commander-in-Chief about to his downfall, praising him all the while like a child, saying things are all good when they’re all bad. 

But such indignities and obscenities don’t deter the Democrats—especially not given their unutterable hatred for Trump, a hatred which is a good sign if there’s anything significantly good about Donald J. Trump. Until last Thursday, it was anathema within the Democratic Party to question the ability of any Democrat to serve in public office, whether they were as ancient as Representative Nancy Pelosi or as mentally ill as Assistant Health Secretary “Rachel” Levine or as perverse as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg or as blundering as Senator John Fetterman. 

Hale representation, let alone wholesome representation, is secondary to casting the electoral votes to maintain power. And now, despite the “love is love” open arms of the Left, it seems that Biden’s presidency is being terminated. That the octogenarian was allowed to debate Trump at all is strongly suggestive of his candidacy being premeditatively canceled by the Democrats. His incompetency is no longer manageable or concealable or usable. End of presidency.

Consider how this debate went down: CNN proposes hosting long before the election, allowing the Biden campaign to set the rules, knowing full well what to expect. And then, the stage set, after the president mumbled and stumbled before millions, all the talking heads at CNN sat in a row and, with tears in their eyes, called for his resignation. It was so obviously scripted, so obviously planned, and so obviously the way the coldhearted, seemingly-compassionate Left would run the show. Though replacing Biden won’t be easy (he would have to bow out willingly), they may be able to unveil their newly anointed candidate without the process of primaries and usher in the next Leftist savior. (Michelle Obama, anyone?)

The ongoing Biden debacle serves as a stark emblem of the Democratic Party. What matters is their liberal agenda and ideology, which allows people to define the terms of their own existence. Men can be women. People of the same sex can marry. Babies can be disposable. The dysfunctional can serve in the highest functions. 

What matters is the party and progressive politics. Not people. Not principles. Not truth. But, in the same pick-and-choose relativist vein, when the truth of an old man who can’t stand up to the task anymore must be acknowledged, it is acknowledged forthwith. Though it is surprising that there aren’t more accusations of ageism or ableism or MeThree or whatever the watchword—neither were there accusations of elder abuse a few days ago.

The falsehood that Biden is not impaired was shameful, and his sudden rejection is shameless. Seven days ago, there was little-to-no sense of embarrassment over the president, but rather a shrug-off and a carry-on-as-normal attitude. Seconds after the debate, it was off with his head. Of course, no one could deny that Biden struggled and humiliated himself, but the Left was often fine with that and fine with him—and even willing to call Biden cognitively with-it and fit as a fiddle—because, after all, abortion, that sacrament of the Left, is burning on the ballot.  The falsehood that Biden is not impaired was shameful, and his sudden rejection is shameless.Tweet This

If the Democrats win the election, Joe Biden or his replacement will do whatever can be done to re-enshrine abortion on a federal level. A Democratic president will toe the line, and that’s all that matters—not Joseph R. Biden’s health or his dignity or his doddering presidency that has made the world’s warmongers bold. (Brace, Taiwan.) It’s all part of the plan. The military-industrial complex must grind on, and Joe Biden is the next to be cast out, like an ancient leper. It’s the plan and the party that counts, not the person. Is it any wonder that abortion is so sacred to the Left, as it dismisses personhood for the sake of power?

Catholics have a political duty to remember that politics is first and foremost about people. Man is a political animal, Aristotle coined, and his politics should be inseparable from his humanity. Joe Biden’s presidency reveals a Democratic derision for its members and for democracy itself by putting up pawns and puppets to promote their purposes, while unleashing an exploitive media to force the vote instead of winning the vote. Individual cogs are of little individual concern so long as the wheels keep turning. 

Furthermore, from a Catholic perspective, one of the most important things to conclude from this sad “debate” is that there should be great pity and prayers for secular slaves. And Donald Trump is one of them. He touted his support for abortion pills on the debate stage and has washed his hands of the unborn now that abortion has returned to the state level (with all due thanks to him for the overturning of Roe v. Wade). Trump is not a pro-life candidate. He’s better on this issue of issues than Biden, no doubt about it, but neither of these candidates are on the side of life. 

The whole attitude and atmosphere surrounding Joe Biden underscores the disregard for human life, whether in abortion clinics, abortion pills, “affirming care” for transgender people, using the plight of immigrants for political gain, or, case in point, allowing a blinking old-timer to pretend to be sharper than he is—until, of course, it is inconvenient for the powers that be to uphold that narrative.

Putting people first in our politics is a matter of the corporal mercy we owe our fellow men, from womb to tomb. We should have empathy for Joe Biden, a baptized Catholic, and pray for his release and his conversion. We should feel sympathy for those so out of touch with truth and human dignity that they would put a weak, old man like Biden forward to keep their abortoria churning and say he’s doing a fine job—until, again, it suits them and their agenda to say he’s not and should be removed. 

Biden is a tragic president, but just because he has dementia doesn’t mean anyone should vote for him. Quite the opposite. Catholics have a moral obligation of simple decency to remove this burden from this overburdened man who is unable to perform the office he occupies, making himself pathetic and ridiculous and his countrymen vulnerable and exploited. The president isn’t wearing any clothes. For once, I agree with the Democrats. End the parade with a Shakespearean lament, for the seventh age of man comes for all:

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]