In one week, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will officially accept his party’s nomination, becoming the standard-bearer for the GOP in November.
Prior to that disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden, it was Trump himself, fresh off a historic criminal conviction, that had many in the media and political onlookers questioning if a guilty verdict would doom his and his party’s chances this fall.
However, the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling combined with a failed debate performance by the incumbent has seen the Republican challenger’s fortunes rise exponentially. Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief’s approval ratings are cratering and the party splintering as calls grow louder for the president to exit the race.
With less than 120 days until voters head to the polls, Biden has fallen into the political sunken place; the same place Trump has found himself in so many times before. Now, for the first time, both candidates are on equal political footing as they each confront a crisis in confidence from the voters.
If a day in presidential politics is considered a lifetime, that demoralizing 90-minute performance Biden turned in on the debate stage in Atlanta has become a death knell. Biden’s horrible showing sent panic through democratic circles and has completely changed the trajectory of this race.
Now, for the first time this election cycle, Trump is no longer the star of the show, replaced in top billing by Biden’s diminished cognitive capacity. Concerns about the president’s age and health are seeing Democrats openly call for his immediate removal as the nominee for the party. Though only a small cadre of congressional lawmakers and candidates have publicly pressed for change, the minuscule yet booming voices have shook the tone and tenor of the race sending the Biden campaign and the entire Democratic infrastructure into a frenzy.
Down ballot candidates are now fearful a listless and frail President Biden could doom their chances to maintain control of the Senate and retake the House in November. Once averse to public presentations and media outreach, the president is now engaging the press and even participating in off-the-cuff outreach efforts to calm a weary public and panic-stricken party. After watching Trump manage a cavalcade of firestorms impacting his candidacy, it is now Joe Biden on the hot seat.
To be clear, Biden’s advanced age has been his Achilles heel the moment he was announced the winner in November of 2020. Moreover, consistently eschewing the stagecraft of the presidency and invoking an uncanny disdain for engaging in the the optics of doing the job, Biden erected barriers that walled him off from the voters.
These same barriers also created distance between the voters and the president's many hard-fought legislative victories. More daunting and debilitating by long absences from the public eye, it made it impossible for the Biden White House to effectively convey a message of success to the American people.
As a result, Biden’s approval ratings fell to alarmingly low levels. Still, the White House stayed the course, focusing on accruing one victory after another, even as millions of Americans remained clueless and even worse, ambivalent about these achievements.
Now, a crisis that could level the president’s hopes for a second term and threaten Biden’s chances at electoral immortality is a very real possibility. Like his political opponent, Biden is now fighting battles on multiple fronts and it is unclear if, at 81 years of age, he has the stamina, clarity, and cognition to muster a viable defence.
A once-powerful donor base now questioning their investment in the campaign; congressional lawmakers and candidates actively pushing for change; and an unforgiving press corps setting the narrative rather than reporting it. These are the many challenges fast closing in on the life-long politician’s re-election ambitions.
Supporters wait for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Trump National Doral Miami on July 9, 2024, in Doral, Fla. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP Photo)
However, unlike Trump, who relishes the fights and even at 78 still shows a penchant for parrying and blocking a multitude of attacks, Biden, ensconced inside the presidential bubble, has yet to show a nimbleness and agility to successfully navigate the unceasing blows that have pierced his tight inner-circle, post-debate.
Since the start of the campaign season, these two geriatric pols have only shared in common the overwhelming disregard by a dejected electorate completely disinterested in the rematch they are now witnessing.
However, as the president is faced with a multi-front war to his legacy, re-election chances, and even his character, he now is on equal footing with his chief antagonist who, until recently, incoming fire was the norm.
The hot seat is so intense that even a stellar record over three years is not enough to shield President Biden from the raging political fire engulfing him. The confidence in Biden’s ability to lead both short-term and long-term is so low, his once reviled and perennially dismissed vice-president is now seen as a potential saviour of the party and mythical Trump-slayer.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris join hands after they watched the Fourth of July fireworks from the White House balcony in Washington on July 4, 2024 (Susan Walsh / AP Photo)
Yet, barring any of that happening, President Biden will need to first slay the lingering doubts dogging him before he can effectively muster an effort to pull himself out of the sunken place he is in right now. Just ask Trump, he knows best. And now, so does Biden.
Eric Ham is a bestselling author and former congressional staffer in the U.S. Congress. He served as a contributor to TheHill.com and The Washington Diplomat. He resides in Washington, DC.
The batteries of the walkie-talkies used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that blew up this week were laced with a highly explosive compound known as PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device's components told Reuters.
The federal firearm buyback program has cost taxpayers nearly $67.2 million since it was announced in 2020, but it still hasn't collected a single gun.
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The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
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B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.
In the middle of the small crowd — near the tents, the lineup of kids awaiting face painting, the snack table — stood a jubilant Chiara Padovani. 'When I say 'tenant, you say 'power,'' she commanded to several dozen tenants, who chanted back with gusto. What looked like a summer block party in front of two north-end Toronto apartment buildings last month was a celebration of what renters who withheld payments for months called a 'huge victory.'
The University of Ottawa's special advisor on antisemitism says he has resigned following posts he made on social media celebrating the pager explosions in Lebanon this week.
B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has lost 205 firearms since 2020, including more than 120 handguns and at least five fully automatic weapons like machine-guns.
The lawyer for a B.C. RCMP officer convicted of obstruction for telling a witness to delete cellphone video following the violent 2017 arrest of Dale Culver has requested a stay of proceedings.
Israel warned U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call Tuesday that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon but gave no details, U.S. officials said Thursday. The same day of the call, in an attack widely blamed on Israel, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah militants exploded.
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A federal law enforcement agency confirmed it's opened an investigation into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he allegedly cut off the head of a dead whale and took it home two decades ago.
A judge in a rural Kentucky county was fatally shot in his courthouse chambers Thursday, and the local sheriff was charged with murder in the killing, police said.
A 22-year-old woman who became an abortion rights advocate after she was raped by her stepfather as a child tells her story in a new campaign ad for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tapped Treasury Board President Anita Anand to take on additional duties as Canada's minister of transport on Thursday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
The head of Via Rail repeatedly told MPs a train delay over the Labour Day long weekend was an isolated incident, despite a similar event two years ago.
The Nunavut government says it will provide immunization against respiratory syncytial virus to all infants in the territory this fall, a policy change that one pediatric infectious diseases specialist has been advocating for decades.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, will donate his brain to research.
Following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems, a new study found.
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
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NASA scientists have successfully replicated spider-like shapes found on the surface of Mars in a laboratory setting for the first time.
Lawyers representing the producers of 'Russians at War' say they may pursue legal action against Ontario's public broadcaster for pulling support for the controversial documentary amid outcry from the Ukrainian community and some Canadian politicians.
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British actress Florence Pugh has revealed that shaving her head for her latest movie role was a 'really bizarre' experience that sent her body 'into a bit of trauma.'
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Nike Inc. said Thursday it has named Elliott Hill as its president and CEO, replacing John Donahoe, who will retire next month.
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Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette returned to the 10-day injured list Thursday due to a right middle finger fracture.
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Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.
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Ontario Provincial Police executed a search warrant in Walkerton.
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A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
Jim Lester’s farm hopped on the cow-cuddling trend in early August, and his time slots have been pretty well sold out ever since.
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