I was still at work in my office when the texts started coming in. “Are you watching this?” they all asked. “Get on Twitter immediately!” some suggested.

The “this” that the messages referred to was the disastrous press conference held last Thursday night by President (as of this writing) Joe Biden, where he seemed confused and elderly. There was a firestorm of activity, I was told, on discussion panels in all of the usual places, like CNN and MSNBC, plus the cascade of memes, justifications, political attacks, and nastiness we expect on Twitter or X or whatever we’re supposed to call it. I was being told by friends and colleagues that this was not something to miss. I was advised to get home quickly and plug into the mess.