This is an opinion cartoon.

I’ve been pondering that debate debacle …

Joe Biden is a good president who should ponder retirement. Trump is a lying criminal who should be pondering what his prison name will be.

One thing for sure, that wasn’t State of the Union “Jacked Up Joe” who showed up on the debate stage last Thursday. It was hard to watch Biden’s ghost get caught in that cartoonish Trumpy Tasmanian devil’s firestorm of lies. The optics were a disaster.

Was this one bad night brought on by cold medicine for the 81-year-old president? Or is this the guy the president’s insiders have been able to hide until now? According to an Axios report, “that behind-the-scenes juxtaposition plays out daily: Sometimes he’s on his game, sharper than people would think, and quicker on his feet. But often it’s the Biden you saw on the debate stage: tired, slow, halting.”

Biden has some pondering to do with his inner circle of family and confidantes. I believe he knows in his heart of hearts if he is capable of handling the daily rigors of the world’s most important job for another four years. The stakes are too high in this election. Biden has built a legacy of lifelong public service. I believe he will ultimately do what he thinks is best for the nation. Whatever that is.

The other guy is a treacherous narcissistic gaslighting menace who would burn this country down just to stay in power.

Personally, I think both Democrats and Republicans could benefit by having open conventions for this election.

Related: January 6 Capitol attack: Trump tried to burn democracy to the ground. He’s still trying – al.com

Related: Whitmire: Democracy’s at risk? This debate showed it’s already broken. – al.com

Related: Biden allies shrug off post-Trump debate drop in poll numbers as ‘bed wetting’ – al.com

One of Biden’s favorite columnists is Thomas L. Friedman of the NY Times. It must have been hard for Biden to read these words from Friedman’s column: Opinion | Joe Biden Is a Good Man and a Good President. He Must Bow Out of the Race. – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

“I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election. And Donald Trump, a malicious man and a petty president, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He is the same fire hose of lies he always was, obsessed with his grievances — nowhere close to what it will take for America to lead in the 21st century.”

On the other hand, there’s this essay by former Republican political consultant, Stuart Stevens: Opinion | Democrats: Stop Panicking – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Some excerpts:

“It’s baffling that so many Democrats are failing to rally around a wildly successful president after one bad night. But it does remind me of why Republicans defeated Democrats in so many races Republicans should have lost.

“One debate does not change the structure of this presidential campaign. For all the talk of Mr. Biden’s off night, what is lost is that Mr. Trump missed a great opportunity to reset his candidacy and greatly strengthen his position.

“Mr. Trump could have reassured voters who are horrified, in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s demise, by the stories of young girls who become pregnant by rape and then must endure extremist politicians eager to criminalize what was a constitutional right for two generations. But Mr. Trump bizarrely asserted that a majority pro-abortion-rights country hated Roe v. Wade and celebrated his role in replacing individual choice with the heavy hand of government.

“He could have said he would accept the outcome of the next presidential election. He refused.

“For 90 minutes, Mr. Trump unleashed a virulent anti-American rant. The America he lives in is a postapocalyptic hellscape of violence, with people “dying all over the place” — more “Mad Max” than “morning in America.”

“My one plea to my new friends abandoning Mr. Biden is simple: Suck it up and fight. It’s not supposed to be easy.”

Read all of Stevens’ essay here.

Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe

JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram

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