A growing number of online supporters of former President Donald Trump accuse Reaganite conservatives of not “knowing what time it is,” with the implication that the old laissez-faire agenda is an outdated political loser and must be replaced with a more collectivist one that more forcefully uses the government to stop leftist cultural incursions.

The reality, according to the polls, might be much simpler. The candidate who can win in 2024 may simply be the one who knows “what time it is” in a literal sense. And for that reason, perhaps more than any other, President Joe Biden is tanking in the polls because he does not seem to know even what year it is.