General Discussion

He gets a pass because it's the same shit he's been spouting for over a decade. Hell, people here will use videos from 2016 where he confuses 9/11 with 7-Eleven as proof he's lost his marbles. Trump's gibberish and rambling is baked into the cake - just like Bush's stupidity was in the 2000s.

Biden's decline was not baked into the cake. Biden has always been known for his sharp tongue, strong speaking style and ability to go off script and sound completely fine.

Go watch this speech Biden gave in 2012 that he mostly adlibbed and strayed from the prepared remarks:

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You can't tell me watching that speech that there hasn't been a significant verbal decline in Biden. His voice is weaker. It gets more hoarse. He stumbles over his words more. His stutter is far more prominent. Biden might have been known for his gaffes but he was not someone who sounded weak or struggled through speeches. Even in 2020, Biden was not stumbling his way through speeches. But over the last couple years, it became apparent he was struggling more. It's a big reason his campaign limited his exposure - until it became too late in the end and they couldn't get away with it after the debate.

Here's an article from 2018 about Trump's rambling speeches in 2016:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26499913

This is nothing new. Trump today might have lost a step but he sounds very similar to the Trump who years ago claimed to have seen thousands of Muslims cheering on the rooftops in New Jersey after 9/11 - or that he was at ground zero that day helping with the clean up.

Biden's failures were that he didn't properly address the concerns about his age and that unfortunately is a big reason Trump won in 2024 - because voters, for whatever reason, lost confidence in Biden and, by extension, Harris.

You can blame the voters all you want but that isn't going to help in 2028 when those same voters are the ones we need to convince to win. A lot of Biden 2020 voters shifted to Trump in 2024, especially Hispanic and Asian voters.

Calling them brain dead or whatever isn't going to win 'em back I'm afraid.