When Joe Biden cut himself off during the first presidential primary debate, saying, “My time’s up,” it was a self-inflicted wound that sounded like resigned acceptance of a brutal end to his political career. His was a stumbling, ill-prepared, ineffective performance that had his handlers tearing their hair out. Speaking of hair, Biden’s coiffure, not to mention his bleached white teeth, failed to confer the hoped-for air of youth or energy. He just looked past it. He certainly needs to perform strongly in the second debate in Detroit at the end of this month.
Ironically, Biden contrasted most forcefully with someone who was not on the stage with him. That was Elizabeth Warren, who had been in the first debate the night before. She looked fresh and energetic, and it wasn’t surprising to see her poll numbers rise after the debate, as Biden’s and Bernie Sanders’ fell.
It’s still too early to make predictions, but the former veep is not going to breeze through to the nomination. He can’t afford to let his performance and lack of energy raise any more eyebrows. Speaking of raised eyebrows … but enough about Biden’s appearance.
Whoever gets the Democratic nomination will face a very different campaign by President Trump than we saw in 2016. Back then, Trump raised and spent comparatively little money. He was winging it all the way to his win. This time, donation dollars are sluicing into his campaign coffers, and he has organizational support from the Republican National Committee. His campaign will focus not on changing voters’ minds — everyone, surely, now has a fixed view of Trump — but on reaching people who support him and his policies, and try to make sure they cast their votes rather than staying at home.
Trump campaign officials say their guy is on a roll, especially on foreign policy. That’s debatable, and this week’s magazine takes up the challenge. Reuel Marc Gerecht’s cover story, “Mullah Report,” examines the possibilities and perils of Trump’s efforts to rein in Iran’s murderous regime. Tehran is attacking shipping, has downed a U.S. drone, and is breaking out of agreed limits to its uranium enrichment.
This week, too, we have an exclusive excerpt from Justice On Trial, a new book out on July 9, in which Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino take a deep dive into the drama and parlous implications of the unholy circus that was the confirmation fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The authors reveal Democrats’ bad faith and paint a picture of the maelstrom of Senate debate, and they show how this unlikely combination paved the judge’s tortured and tortuous path to the highest bench in the land.
In Life & Arts, Nicholas Clairmont approves of a new book about the fight to create American English, Jamie Dettmer tracks down Steve Bannon to his lair in Italy, Eric Felten gets spaced out, and Madeline Fry decides it’s a brave new world, after all.
