Lost man.
I spoke to voters in Georgia after the debate. The things they said were some of the most brutal things I have ever heard about a politician.
The day after the debate on Thursday, I headed away from the police-rammed streets of Midtown Atlanta and went to the suburbs.
It was there I met Josh.
Josh has been a civil rights activist and unionist for much of his life. Now 79 (“between Trump and Biden”) he is happily retired and lives with his wife and dog in pure suburbia: sweeping roads as I drive in, a lake in the middle of the community, and pack full of swing voters.
He voted for the first time in 2020 to stop Donald Trump being re-elected. He backed Biden then, but now is not voting due to disenchantment with the Biden administration.
Joe Biden’s debate performance was targeted foursquare at people like Josh. He was meant to remind them - weeks after a criminal conviction for the former president - of the true nature of Donald Trump.
Sat at his kitchen table, I ask him: How did you feel when you watched the debate?
Josh: I felt physically ill. It was so, I mean even though I’m not a supporter of him, the fact that he was so pathetic, and unable to articulate a political vision of any kind. It was, it was physically upsetting.
Me: Was there any particular moment in the debate when you formed that view?
Josh: The first five minutes. The moment he came out. He just couldn’t articulate an opening statement. I turned, turned to my wife and I said, this is pathetic. He had a gift, he was given a gift of Rose versus Wade, and he was totally inarticulate. He totally screwed that up.
It’s hard for me to have anything that’s more kind of insightful or devastating than what you see in the mass media. In other words, it doesn’t take any great insight to see that something was wrong with Biden.
Again and again across the people I spoke to, this was the message. Pathetic. Weak. Infirm. Sad. Confused. Lost.
Teo had similar views. He is originally from Bulgaria and is the epitome of chilled. He cradles a vape as we sit outside a tea shop in another quintessential suburb. He doesn’t vote in off-cycle elections but does participate in presidential contests. He describes himself as “moderate… probably fiscally more conservative but on social issues always more liberal”.
He voted Trump in 2020 but doesn’t much like him (“I don’t trust Trump”). His vote is up for grabs in November, especially on the issue of Ukraine. Being from Eastern Europe, he worries about Russia’s potential domination of the continent and feels it is likely Trump would do a deal with Putin, turning the current conflict lines into enshrined borders.
But he will not vote for Biden. He had deep concerns about his age that the debate has only reinforced.
It looked really bad for Biden for sure. Even from the beginning, the entrance looked weird. He was having trouble walking, and he was mouth open all the time. His timbre was down too. You couldn’t hear what he was saying, mumbling all the time.
I was sad for him. He basically looks dumb, physically and mentally. You know, there's a lot of talk of people, um, that he’s using substances to stay more clear. And it felt like they didn't give him enough or gave it to him too late. It kind of kicked in a little bit late. His strength was not there. He was not speaking with passion or anything. He was just struggling.
Teo took a puff on the vape. I asked him what he will do in November.
I don't have too much choice. I cannot vote for him based on what I'm seeing. I don't think he can win. I will be surprised if he makes it even to the elections. But let's say he does, I don't know. I, I, I feel like I'll be irresponsible if I vote for him, basically.
Because it feels like dementia, and just voting for a person with dementia to be the leader of, uh, America is like, I don't see it.
Let’s revisit one of those quotes: “He basically looks dumb, physically and mentally”. That is not a quote you hear about a politician set to win re-election. Teo could be won by the Democrats on paper but cannot countenance it due to the singular issue of Biden’s age.
Christopher provides another case. In his late forties and from Miami, he has settled in Atlanta with his 29-year old Ukrainian wife. Green shirt, red trousers, and a keen stock-trader, he’s the closest American version of a British geezer I’ve met.
He is a self-declared independent (“I’m even independent in the way I dress”), but admits he has “matured” in his views and become more conservative over time. He does not much like Trump, he thinks he is a narcissist and out for himself. But he thinks he was right on some of the big calls, especially the border and on the economy. But unlike Teo, he is going back to Biden because of Ukraine.
That did not stop him being just as savage on Biden. The president was “mumbling, like a whisper, like he was trying to talk sexy to a girl”. Biden “lost his train of thought”. Like every other interview I conducted, he identified the key moment as when the president walked on stage, “stiff, like he was gonna trip, like a robot, like shuffling”.
I was dejected. I was disappointed. I I felt vindicated because I had been talking to my wife about it when we were watching it. I felt disgusted. And I, and I thought to myself before I got myself, and I normally wouldn't have a drink on a Thursday, a nice bottle of, a nice glass of bourbon, I thought to myself, you know, if it wasn't for Ukraine I would fucking vote for Trump right now.
That's how I felt. And I don't like the guy. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
What if Biden is replaced ahead of November? “That's not a lot of time. Imagine if you’ve got a girl, you found out she's pregnant and it's coming in November. You're like, shit, you know what I mean? It's not a lot of time.”
There are no obvious choices for Democrats to deliver. Here’s what the people I spoke to said about the other options on the table:
Kamala Harris? No way; hated; not done one single thing; been kept too under wraps; worse than Clinton.
Gavin Newsom? California’s a fucking mess; far left liberal; too much garbage in California; hypocrite with partying during Covid.
Michelle Obama? The only one but doesn’t want it; doesn’t want to run; don’t like family members becoming president.
Pete Buttigieg? Too Disney; small town mayor; America not ready for a gay president.
Gretchen Whitmer? Not enough recognition; has a lot of people who hate her; don’t know her; too middle ground; don’t know what she stands for.
Hillary Clinton? Punchable face; doesn’t stand a chance; haha.
The victor of the chaos unleashed by the debate is Donald Trump. Different people I spoke to talked about him being “more contained than I would have thought”, that the contrast between the two was “night and day”. They have not changed their view of the former president, but the more that Joe Biden is the story the less there is scrutiny on Donald Trump and the less they are threatened by his return. That is the danger for Democrats now: a loss of faith in their candidate ends in a reluctant nod toward Donald Trump.
As our conversation draws to a close, Christopher pulls out his phone. “I’m going to show you this text conversation I had, one of my good friends he’s in New York.” He shows me the screen. His friend, a lifelong Democrat, has written “Sadly I think we’ve got to face the reality for what it is. Trump’s going to get re-elected but maybe, just maybe he won’t completely destroy the country”.
Christopher, a Biden voter, sits back in his chair. “You know, I kind of agree with that”.
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