Is Dark Brandon Laying a Trap? | Opinion

As last night's State of the Union address made clear, maybe President Joe Biden is a little slicker than some people admit.

All we've been hearing from MAGA Republicans is how Joe Biden is too old and enfeebled and incapable of handling the job of president. Even liberal icons like Jon Stewart and Bob Costas have bought into this narrative, with Stewart going so far as to ask to see evidence of Biden's competency—evidence, one supposes, beyond the success of Biden's job creation record as president; his passage of key legislation like the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act; and his deft handling of the midterm elections.

Well, Jon, Bob ... how about now?

Keep in mind that Biden didn't just deliver an effective speech last night; he also handled himself well against obvious attempts to throw him off his game by Republican hecklers, adlibbing with strong effect and essentially pulling a Harry S. Truman by challenging the GOP to pass the important legislation that lies before them in terms of immigration reform and aid for Ukraine—calling their bluff just as Truman did with the "do-nothing Congress."

Biden came with fight in him, addressing Republican intransigence head on. He referred repeatedly to the threat posed to democracy by his "predecessor." He noted that those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were not "patriots," as Dirty Donald has called them, but insurrectionists. Amazingly enough—though somehow not surprisingly—Mike Johnson and the Trump-controlled GOP refused to agree on this point, with Republicans sitting on their hands as Biden dared say that the people who came to burn their institution to the ground should be prosecuted. Apparently, only Americans hurt by dark-skinned immigrants matter to the GOP—not the officers who were attacked while protecting them on Jan. 6.

Right now Republicans have placed all of their chips on the American people believing two narratives, both of which fly in the face of evidence: One, that the nation is doing poorly, even though we're seeing record job creation, a decrease in crime, and a great reduction in inflation. And two, that Joe Biden is senile.

But he's not, and that's a problem for Donald Trump and the GOP.

This is not to say that there might not be legitimate concerns about re-electing a guy in his eighties. But, as Biden himself put it to Seth Myers, "You gotta take a look at the other guy."

He's got a point. While Biden has always suffered from a stutter and throughout his political career has flubbed words, Trump, just three years younger, is a veritable word soup machine who has had even more mental mix-ups of late, including famously confusing his rival, Nikki Haley, with Nancy Pelosi.

To be fair, experts in aging and the brain have warned that such errors are normal and in no way a clear sign of cognitive decline.

So why then are Republicans betting so much on Biden coming off as senile? To pull a Reverse Stewart, if I might: Don't they know the American people will be able to actually see Biden?

Last night wasn't the first time Biden has appeared strong. He did so in 2020, when he bested Trump in the debates—the first time Republicans tried the "senile" strategy. He did so again in 2022, when he gave two rather effective speeches that helped the Democrats crush expectations. During interviews like the one he did with Myers, he's appeared cool, confident, and in control.

So, one has to ask: Is Dark Brandon laying a trap that Trump and the Republicans are falling right into?

I'm not saying, mind you, that the Republican plan can't work. If there's one thing American history has convinced me of, it's that the American people are certainly capable of being duped. But, if the war in Israel dies down and a deal is reached, and if people start seeing the economy as what it is right now (good), then the Republicans are going to be left having to convince people that Trump is somehow more competent than Biden, and that the threat Dirty Donald represents to democracy isn't real, essentially telling us all not to believe what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears.

And maybe—just maybe—that's when Dark Brandon has them and goes in for the kill.

Ross Rosenfeld is a political writer and educator based on Long Island.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.