Last week, Americans, by the tens of millions, were left in a state of stunned disbelief about President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance on the debate stage. Frankly, even many of us who have recognized his cognitive decline, because we have eyes and ears and functioning brains, didn’t expect what transpired.

But now more than 72 hours have passed. The shock and surprise has waned. Reality has to set in. And that reality is this: The man we all saw on stage last Thursday night — who was incapable of completing his own sentences — is the president of the United States, not just a nominee. Forget about the campaign for a moment. Ostensibly, this guy is the commander-in-chief of the military. He is the man who, in the middle of the night, needs to be ready to respond at a moment’s notice to the most crucial situations — such as a terrorist attack on American soil, or an invasion of Taiwan by the Chinese, or someone in California being misgendered.

Yet Joe Biden is clearly incapable of handling those challenges. He is not running our country. Everyone understands that now. Another four years is out of the question.

But that reality creates a political problem for Democrats. They hid him in the basement last cycle, but now the truth is out. And if they admit, in the aftermath of this televised disaster, that Joe Biden can’t serve as president, then it’s not enough to find a replacement candidate for the upcoming election, they have to remove him from office right now. And if Jill Biden — who apparently is making all the decisions — doesn’t want to go along with that, then Democrats would have to invoke the 25th Amendment and forcibly remove the president from office. That would be a very nasty and politically damaging fight. It would also mean Vice President Kamala Harris is next up to the plate, and she polls worse than the president himself.

So instead, they dusted off the ole fighter and got him back in the ring the next day — only this ring had teleprompters, and there was no one else on stage to fight. Watch:

 

Remember, this is only a day after the man couldn’t complete sentences on the debate stage, but hey, according to his wife, he answered all the questions, and woke up the next morning alive, so he’s clearly fit to lead the greatest nation on Earth. 

The Trump campaign immediately put together a campaign ad, with just footage of Biden speaking. Trump doesn’t say a word. Again, I take no pleasure in watching this. Yes, it validates what many of us have been scorned for the past few years, but still, I’m an American, this is the president, and it’s sad. But we must watch to be reminded:

 

It’s one of the most effective political ads you’ll ever see. We are in uncharted territory right now. But fear not America, because the president is deeply engaged during the day. That’s according to the esteemed political journalists at Axios, who spoke to insiders on Team Biden and reported that:

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Biden is dependably engaged. Many of his public events are held within those hours. Outside that time range, or while traveling abroad, Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued.

So he’s like a reverse vampire. He’s only good in sunlight. Like a zombie vampire. Alive, then dead, then quasi-alive but only during the day. It’s like “Night of the Living Dead.” Never thought I believed in zombies or vampires but now I do. Still don’t believe in aliens though, that’s just childish. 

If you want to get a sense of how unprecedented this is, you have to put it in historical context. Back in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was 73-years-old and running against Walter Mondale, there was a lot of talk about whether he was too old to be president. Both Republicans and Democrats were talking about Reagan’s cognitive abilities as a serious issue. Here’s how Reagan handled the topic, with all that scrutiny:

 

When you make the guy you’re running against laugh, you won the debate. When you make the moderator asking the question laugh, you’ve won re-election. And when you quote philosophers after all of that, well, you’re Ronald Regan.

Now compare that side-by-side with Joe Biden’s performance on Thursday. If people were worried about Reagan’s age, they should be losing their minds right now about the president. 

Even that day-after address that’s being touted wasn’t close to flawless or inspiring. At various points, Biden continued to slur his speech, and he also did that thing where he smashes all the words together really fast so he won’t give himself time to mess up. We’ve all seen it, you know what I’m talking about. Let’s Watch:

 

Can someone translate that? As best I can tell, Joe Biden said, “I don’t know a president that wouldn’t change places with an American in a heartbeat.” I don’t know what that even means. But I do know Democrats are running cover for him. This was predictable. They are turning gaslighting into an art form. 

Yesterday, another octogenarian, Nancy Pelosi, appeared on cable news in defense of Biden. She said that actually, it’s Donald Trump who’s demented. Trump was many things on that stage, I don’t believe he even answered a direct question for the last hour, but demented? That’s just plain false. Watch:

NEW: Nancy Pelosi claims ‘healthcare professionals’ say Trump is actually the candidate with dementia before having a senior moment of her own.

This gaslighting is crazy.

During an interview with CNN, Pelosi gaslit the American people before she was seen seizing up, appearing… pic.twitter.com/qm92OY1fL8

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 30, 2024

“This was a great presidency.” No, it was not a great presidency, but I do find the past tense interesting. Freudian slip? or does she know something we don’t?

Also, you’d think, if leftists really wanted to make the case that Biden isn’t too old to serve, that they would at least send out a messenger who is younger than 80 — or at least someone who wasn’t going to start slurring her own words. Instead, without a hint of irony, we got an interview with another mumbling maniac, another octogenarian who can barely speak straight. We are a gerontocracy at this point, The Elderly States of America. Which is further proof these people aren’t running the country. The bureaucracy calls the shots.

WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show with guest host David Cone on DailyWire+

Barack Obama also weighed in, stating:

Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself.

Obama never really clarifies which person is which. But the bigger issue with Obama’s post is that Biden didn’t simply have a “bad debate.” That implies he whiffed on a couple of questions. Throughout the entire thing, he was barely conscious. He was visibly confused. That fact remained evidence enough for even a few major Left-leaning media outlets to suggest, Biden must indeed drop out of the race.

Here was “Meet the Press” yesterday, for example. They didn’t mince words. Watch:

 

This is coming from NBC, which repeatedly told us for years that Joe Biden is fit as a fiddle. They’ve put out several articles in just the past few weeks claiming that embarrassing videos of Biden are “cheap fakes.” Joe Scarborough said just three months ago that Joe Biden is as “astute” as he’s ever seen.

So, what now? Influential voices in the Democratic Party seem divided. The New York Times reported this weekend that the Biden family huddled at Camp David, to discuss the possibility of the President dropping out of the race, yet his family urged against that. The paper reported: 

One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice…Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows — scrappy and in command of the facts — rather than the stumbling, aging president Americans saw on Thursday night.

Now, there are a few levels of comedy here. First off, we have an admitted crackhead providing critical advice to the president of the United States. I’m no crackhead expert, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea. On top of that, this isn’t just any ordinary crackhead. Hunter Biden has directly profited by selling his father’s influence overseas, in China, in Ukraine. He has a clear vested interest in keeping that grift going. Additionally, he’s now a convicted felon, so it makes sense he’d want his father to stay in office for the possibility of receiving a pardon. Every new story only adds to the absurdity of Biden staying in this race.

But there is still a way for Biden to win this election, senility notwithstanding. It’s the same way that every dictator has won throughout human history: you resort to force and imprisoning your competition. That might explain why the crowd at this rally eventually started chanting “lock him up” — as in, jail Donald Trump. Biden’s response? He grinned and said “There’s time for that.” Watch:

Joe Biden’s only hope is jailing Donald Trump and even then, he’ll still probably lose

pic.twitter.com/Hg3UKDjOdd

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 28, 2024

The strategy is becoming clear. Joe Biden’s too far gone to serve as president, so the solution is to incarcerate his opponent. This is as third-world as it gets. And yes, Biden’s DOJ is actually trying to lock up Donald Trump. I never liked the “lock her up” chants in 2016. I, like many others, was very late to the Trump train, but these chants must be considered worse because it’s actually happening. 

Do we remember nothing of Soviet history? The Bolshevik revolution? Are the disasters of the 20th century so far behind us that we will repeat them so carelessly? It’s hard to believe it’s happening in this country, but it is.

So, the president can’t work before 10:00 a.m. And remember, the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members, yes occurred before 10 a.m. Eastern. That’s the same suicide bombing that Biden apparently forgot about during the debate, when he claimed no service members died under his watch.

And he can’t work past 4:00 p.m. Okay? So what can he do at night? Apparently visit Waffle House. This is the saddest Waffle House footage you’ll ever see. It’s from debate night:

 

There is no way Joe Biden knows what’s in an All-Star Special. I would bet all the money in my bank account, no I need higher stakes than that — I will sit in a middle seat on every airline flight for the rest of my life. What does Mr. Walsh say about this? The gentleman whose chair I have usurped? He says middle seat flyers have no rights, they are second class citizens. I agree, it’s awful. I’m 6’7. I will sit in that dreaded, claustrophobic coffin for the remainder of my commercial flying days if the president of the United States could look me in the eyes, and tell me what’s in an All-Star Special. To use the “House,” of all places, as an attempt to gain sympathy votes, to appear with the common man. News flash, it didn’t work.

But, even as we watch the rest of the country disagree and debate about Biden’s inability to serve, something many of us have said for years at this point, I must make something clear. The president of the United States is terrible for our country, whether he’s cognitively impaired or not.

This is the man who prints roughly a trillion dollars to help fund foreign wars overseas, even as inflation spirals out of control.

He’s the man who lights up the White House with rainbow colors and flies the transexual flag in the places where only Ole Glory should wave.

He’s the one who has eradicated any concept of our national border, which has resulted in brutal rapes and murders of American citizens — including women and children.

Yet, despite the countless policy disasters, many Americans say, “Well I was for him until I saw the debate.” So it takes him being a zombie on national television to finally get the country’s attention.

Donald Trump made this point so wonderfully in Virginia. He said, “Remember, the biggest problem for our country is not Joe Biden’s personal decline, it’s that Joe Biden’s policies are causing America’s decline at a level that we’ve never seen before.” That’s an unquestionably true statement. And I’m impressed that Donald Trump and his team are making this point, rather than just calling the president names and bragging about how much better he did. Trump is showing growth as a politician by speaking on substance.

And that brings me to my final point: If I’m Donald Trump, I think twice before I debate Joe Biden again. That may seem counter-intuitive, may seem exactly the opposite of what many are thinking. I can already hear the comments: “It’s Joe Biden who shouldn’t ever debate again.” Yes, that’s true as well. But this was such a definitive win for Trump, that I wouldn’t just assume the next debate is an automatic win just because Biden can’t speak.

Remember, I laid out key factors on how Trump could still appear as the loser to independents in scenarios like this, despite Biden’s incoherence. Five months out from the election is a long time, yes, but these viral clips will live on, these memes will live on in a way that wasn’t possible in politics 20, 30, 40 years ago. You don’t know how the next format may be skewed unfavorably. Don’t give him a chance to get even. Don’t give him a chance to throw a Hail Mary.

My friend and colleague Jake Crain and I were talking about this in football terms. I played college football so it’s an apt analogy. You just ran the ball down the throat of your opponent for three and a half quarters. Your defense has been stout. You have a slim lead. Don’t start throwing the ball all over the place to try and score more points. That’s a Trump ‘wildcard’ mindset — go for the kill. No, keep running it. Don’t give the ball back to the other team.

Donald Trump cannot, he must not, underestimate the power of the deep state and the corporate press. He’s not just running against Joe Biden. If that were the case, we wouldn’t even be discussing this presidential race as a fair fight, much less close in numbers. One guy can’t finish a sentence, yet 33% of people believe he won?

CNN ran a post debate poll and showed it live on air.

For reference, 33% is the section of either party that would never leave under any circumstance.

Tonight, Trump won with everyone else in the country. #DebateNight #debate #Trump #Biden pic.twitter.com/Wjw32KCJnK

— Owl Holler (@Owl_Holler) June 28, 2024

That’s deep-state influence. 

As Joy Behar of “The View” put it: 

It’s important for voters to understand that they are voting for an administration, and not just a president. We are also voting for a Supreme Court.

What’s amusing about that is that Joyless Behar is actually the same age as Joe Biden. But he’s clearly suffered even more cognitive decline than she has — which is really saying something. 

So we had a pivotal moment last week. An eye-opening experience where the curtain was pulled back, and the wizard was revealed to be just a man, a barely functioning man at that. Yet, in the 72 hours since that debate, tens of millions of people have been instructed to ignore what they saw with their own eyes. They’ve been lied to for several years now about Joe Biden’s cognitive ability, so what’s five more months. Anything, to keep Donald Trump out of office.

Orwellian fiction has become reality. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”