The Pundits Danse Macabre

Circle the wagons America — the Pundits are coming! 

Knives out, nostrils flaring, pens dripping with unmitigated rebuke and criticism of Joe Biden in a frantic race as to who would throw the first stone at the President. As Senator John Fetterman so aptly put it: ” … like a bunch of vultures perched on his shoulders … “.

Within minutes after the Presidential debate was over, the fever got hold and the delirium started. A pulsating and gesticulating melee of anchors, correspondents, reporters and overly excited talking heads unleashed a veritable Balzacian ” J’accuse” against Joe Biden. Were he like Colonel Dreyfus wearing a military uniform that nigh, they would have shredded it to pieces.

Throwing all caution to the wind, their veins popping and faces reddening we watched incredulously as CNN, MSNBC and FOX commentators fell all over themselves trying to surpass each other – either ecstatically gleeful or morbidly mournful depending on where their allegiance lay. It was a shocking, pathetic spectacle to behold.  

Throwing all caution to the wind, their veins popping and faces reddening we watched incredulously as CNN, MSNBC and FOX commentators fell all over themselves trying to surpass each other — either ecstatically gleeful or morbidly mournful depending on where their allegiance lay.

Words like panic, game changing, alarm and fear were thrown around in a cavalier, casual and what one could perceive as irresponsible fashion. Utterly indifferent or apathetic as to the psychological ramifications of such words on a great segment of the American psyche, one still recovering from the traumatic downfall of the 2016 election. 

After the initial vocal denunciation of the President’s performance by the round table foot soldiers then came the cavalry: the columnists. A mini bataillon of our best and brightest the likes of David Frum, Thomas Friedman, the NYT editorial board and others breathlessly put pen to paper and as elegantly and circumspectly as possible, proceeded to inform the President that he may want to consider stepping down from the race.

This media maelstrom began with a debate which should never have taken place. 

Ill-conceived by the Biden administration and ill-planned and executed by CNN and their faint hearted moderators. A  travesty and a farcical joke played on American audiences, an insult to our collective intelligence. Just imagine, Trump – a convicted felon, sexual predator, adulterer, chief insurrectionist, conspiracy peddler and serial liar – on a Presidential debate stage.

Moral decency, code of ethics or semblance of normalcy be dammed – lets have ourselves a debate America and invite Trump to face off with Joe Biden. What a monumental mistake. 

Elevating Trump by affording him that national podium served only to render him credible, to re-validate a proven criminal  and thereby authenticating his relevance where there should have been none. And so the stage was set lights, camera and action and the spectacle began; the optical illusion which is Trump did what he does best – the liar lied. And he did so vituperously, unscrupulously, repeatedly. His entire verbiage was fraught with lies, falsehoods, non-sequiturs and baseless conspiratorial accusations. 

On the other hand, Joe Biden the truth teller told the truth – but he fumbled. It was painful for the millions who love and admire him to watch. He hesitated at times, seemed to lose his train of thought at others, bungled up his words and ultimately failed to counter attack his opponent diarrheic litany of lies. Fatigue, exhaustive debate prep, temporary low stamina – any or all those could have accounted for what happened to the President that night.

What remains post-debate is the one irrefutable and prescient fact: no two men could have been more ethically, morally or abysmally different from one another.

Joe Biden may have fumbled a couple of times or struggled to find his words but, he was the sole truth teller on that stage. The one you knew in your gut you could trust, the one you count on to tell the truth, stand by the facts and uphold the rule of law. A man whose entire life was spent in the service of his country striving to make lives better, easier and safer for others. A man who has bravely traveled to two war zones of Israel and Ukraine, while Hamas rockets were still flying over Tel Aviv and Russian missiles still landing in Kiev. A man with the integrity and moral compass necessary to lead this country through the good and the bad and still come out safe and whole on the other side.

One man should never have been asked to debate, Trump. One man was the real disaster of that evening, Trump. One man embodies an all too clear existential threat to our Democracy where freedom of expression, judicial institutions, free press and even our Constitution are at risk of being taken away and dismantled. 

And only one man must be asked to step aside and remove himself from the Presidential race – TRUMP.

Annette H. Sabbah is a Los-Angeles based multi-media artist, designer and writer.