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**FEBRUARY 12, 2024**
On the Prospect website
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NY-03 Special Election Tests Jacobs's 'Long Island Strategy'
Tuesday's primary to fill George Santos's seat is a toss-up,
despite an experienced former Democratic congressmember facing a largely
unknown Republican. BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN
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100 Years Ago Today: Savage Nativism. And 'Rhapsody in Blue.'
On the bigotry and diversity inherent in the world's foremost
nation of immigrants BY HAROLD MEYERSON
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Big Tobacco Outmaneuvers the FDA on Flavored Nicotine Products
On menthol and disposable vapes, public-health activists say the
regulatory agency is moving way too slow. BY JACK STYLER
Kuttner on TAP
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**** Trump to the Rescue
Yes, it's a low bar, but Biden is the picture of cognitive clarity
compared to Trump.
The press has belatedly acknowledged that the special counsel's report
on President Biden's alleged memory lapses was a crude hit job. But
the intended damage has been done.
Media attention is now obsessed with Biden's age and cognitive
capacity. That in turn revs up public concerns. Meanwhile, Biden's
handlers try to keep him out of spontaneous settings where he might
commit one of his trademark gaffes.
Though Biden is prone to slips of the tongue, on the whole he is all
there mentally and fully involved in very challenging policy dilemmas.
One can fault him for specific policy choices, most notably his blank
check to Netanyahu, but that is a separate issue. It has everything to
do with a long-standing bias in America's Mideast policy and nothing
to do with presidential comprehension.
The problem is that the relentless drip-drip of stories that Biden is
too old for the job reinforces public perceptions and concerns. While
Biden can't change his age or his appearance, there are some things he
can do. He can sit for extended one-on-one televised conversations with
serious journalists and demonstrate his grasp of complex public issues.
He can take more risks than his handlers want in spontaneous public
events.
If this strategy works, the Biden-is-too-old issue will start to fade.
If it doesn't work and he can't handle these formats, that is useful
data and Democratic leaders will get more serious about asking Biden to
step aside.
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In the meantime, Biden has one not-so-secret weapon-Donald Trump.
Unlike Biden's occasional slips, Trump's off-the-cuff lunacy
demonstrates either extreme recklessness or advancing dementia or both.
The latest example is his comment about NATO at a political rally on
Saturday in South Carolina.
Trump complained about "delinquent" payments by some NATO countries and
recounted a supposed past conversation with the head of "a big country"
about an attack by Russia on such countries. "No, I would not protect
you. In fact I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell
they want. You gotta pay," Trump said he told the leader.
Biden, several leading Republicans, and key Europeans all expressed
outrage. There will be more comments like these, in which Trump comes
across as unhinged. And the more that the election becomes a one-on-one
comparison, the more the contrast will favor Biden.
Let's see: momentarily mixing up Mexico and Egypt. Or deliberately and
willfully abandoning Europe to Putin. Which one is cognitively impaired?
Needless to say, I wish Biden (or some other Democratic incumbent
running for re-election) were 61 rather than 81. But put Biden up
directly against Trump and the contrast isn't even close.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
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