Newsletter: Biden’s debate performance was a disaster. A Trump presidency would be much worse

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, June 29, 2024. Here’s what we’ve been doing in Opinion lately.

By the time you read this, I may have already landed in Oslo, Norway, and what perfect timing: Right now feels like a good time to be far, far away from the United States. (I might as well get this out of the way here: I’ll be out for the next few weeks, back in late July.)

Let’s be honest: Thursday’s debate between former President Trump and President Biden was a “cringefest,” exactly as my colleague Mariel Garza predicted in the last Opinion newsletter. The president needed to hit it out of the park, and he could barely muster a bunt — though why he’s held to a different standard than Trump, who gets away with lying at every turn and is comically incoherent on his best days, is a mystery. How one debates such a shamelessly mendacious person is also a mystery.

But yes, the sole defender of democracy in this race finds himself in a precarious position, because if the polls are to be taken seriously, American voters stand ready to scuttle our constitutional order over high gas prices and more expensive groceries. Adding age-related physical decline to the mix could push a critical number of voters over the edge.

Thankfully, plenty of people still have the ability to stand back and take in the whole picture, even when they don’t particularly like either candidate. Opinion columnist LZ Granderson is one of those people — he says this election is about survival, particularly for LGBTQ+ people like him:

“Have you forgotten that one of the first things the Trump administration did on Day One was to start removing mentions of the LGBTQ+ community from government websites? Within hours, mind you, as if erasing queer folks were one of his top priorities. ...

“That’s what I was thinking about as I was coming to terms with the fact that America’s choices for president are between a very old man with a decent heart and a crazy old man with an axe to grind.

“For the vast majority of us, that equates to picking the lesser of two evils.

“But it’s not a close call for those of us who remember that past administrations have hunted down queer employees of the federal government and purged them from their jobs (the ‘lavender scare’ of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s). Or that the Republican administrations of the ’80s and ’90s let us die in the streets during the AIDS crisis. There aren’t two evils to consider.

“There’s only survival.”

There’s also The Times’ editorial board, which notes that Biden bested Trump on substance but acknowledges that the president must allay concerns about his fitness for another term:

“Asked about his age, Biden countered by citing his administration’s accomplishments. It was a variation of ‘Watch what we do, not what we say,’ and it was well-founded. But it’s understandable that voters who saw the debate as a test of vigor might not be satisfied with that response.

“For the rest of the campaign, Biden needs to do more — and not just on the debate stage — to defend his record in the authoritative way he did at this year’s State of the Union address. The stakes for the nation are too high.”

Joe Biden has always put duty to country first. Will he do it again now? Kurt Bardella, a former Republican Party strategist, wrote a piece in 2019 saying he hoped Biden would run for reelection. He appeals to the qualities he cited then in asking the president to bow out now after a disastrous debate performance: “I have a limitless amount of respect and admiration for the president. He reflects the character and leadership our country deserves. He has had one of the most consequential presidencies in American history. But he can’t defeat time. I say this with all the respect in the world: Your country needs you, Joe Biden. Just not in the way you may want.”

The drop in L.A.’s homeless population shows efforts to house people are paying off. Finally, the numbers are heading in the right direction. According to the 2024 point-in-time homeless count, the city of Los Angeles’ unhoused population dropped by 2.2% over the last year, an encouraging change after the figure went up by 10% last year. “No issue in the county and city of Los Angeles has been more fraught, costly and agonizing than trying to house and help the tens of thousands of people who find themselves living on sidewalks and in shelters,” says the editorial board. “So it’s heartening to see that the strategy employed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass seems to be working.”

Did Hawaii just pave the way for court enforcement of California’s climate promises? It’s one thing to set lofty goals on reducing greenhouse gas emissions that must be met far in the future; it’s another thing to do the hard work of implementing them. A lawsuit by youth in Hawaii over that state’s progress on meeting its own climate goals zeroes in on that difference; now, a settlement that sets interim goals may serve as an example of how young people and leaders in other states can work together, write Cara Horowitz and Evan George with the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law.

He has recurring memory lapses. Is it dementia? Author Todd Balf had a stroke that put his ability to write (his career, in other words) in serious jeopardy. He recovered, for the most part — though over the years memory troubles plagued him. So he took a cognitive test, the results of which weren’t encouraging. What’s he been up to since then? Balf writes: “In a few days, my first nonfiction book in 10 years will be published. I started researching it within a few months of seeing my cognitive test report. It includes source notes and a lengthy bibliography of the books I read for research. Because of several family emergencies, I got a late start writing but I met the book deadline, finishing the bulk of it in a three-month window.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Robin Abcarian: After years of running, I quit and took up Pilates. Here’s how that turned out
• Jackie Calmes: When Trump claims he’s master of the economic universe, he is lying

From the Op-Ed desk

• Is city status right for East Los Angeles?
• When does government speech violate the 1st Amendment?

From the Editorial Board

• Banning masks at protests is a bad idea
• The Supreme Court squandered a chance to protect medically necessary abortions

Letters to the Editor

• We admire you, Joe Biden, but your service to this country has come to an end
• Things are not OK in California. Newsom’s State of the State was delusional
• Biden stumbled. He’s still a good president and a better choice than Trump