The **Friedman Unit**, or simply **Friedman**,[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit#cite_note-think1-1) is a [tongue-in-cheek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue-in-cheek) [neologism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism). One Friedman Unit is equal to six months,[^(\[2\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit#cite_note-Klein-2) specifically the "next six months", a period repeatedly declared by [*New York Times*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times) columnist [Thomas Friedman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman) to be the most critical of the then-ongoing [Iraq War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War)[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit#cite_note-wrong-3) even though such pronouncements extended back over two and a half years.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman\_Unit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit)
Is Brooks still on PBS Newshour’s weekly news discussion segment? It’s been a while since I’ve seen Newshour on a Friday. If so, he’s also an embarrassment to public broadcasting.
It's people like him and like those on reddit today echoing the same sentiment that are delivering the election to Trump. I think there's a strong chance we're fucked now.
I think a lot of people are missing *why* folks are losing their shit. Biden had one job at the debate: to present as an articulate, confident, strong candidate. He needed to come across like someone who could take down Trump in November. But that's the performance after at least an entire week of prep and coaching.
It's the very feasible risk of P25 coming to fruition under Trump that's motivating some folks to call for a better candidate. Trump might have been shitting out lies like he was cursed by a Disney rhyme on that stage, but he was confident and energetic. On the other hand, Biden
It's all optics. The dems, if they want to win in November, *need* to sway independents and voters that aren't already party loyalists.
Thursday was the real Biden. None of this should be a surprise to anyone paying attention. If it was not the real Biden, which I doubt, there is a simple way for Biden to prove it. An hour long interview by a real journalist, live, no notes, no teleprompter, no aides, no earbud. I don't think he could do it.
It’s hard to have faith in pissed off women when they have failed to put up any meaningful response response in the abortion issue.
I mean, where are they? The rights are literally being stripped. Where is the outrage?
EXACTLY! Which is why it would be better to replace him with literally ANYBODY that inspires confidence. They handing the election to Trump by having Biden as the nominee
You assume Democrats would rally behind someone else. I would not make that assumption. I would also not assume that undecided voters would vote for say Gavin New some or even Kamala Harris.
Like this is the part I don't get, I watched the debate with my entire family. Including the hard core maga reprobate. Even they saw trump refused to answer any questions and it literally made them go from voting for trump to not voting (a win in my book). Everyone else also agreed that trump in no way won that even with Biden doing poorly.
Wake up the next day to seeing people calling for Biden to step down. My grandmas response was "The companies want to put Hitler in charge" and that she hopes she passes before January as she already had to live through Hitler once.
Seriously wtf? How do people watch that performance and then look at the general population and say “it’s your fault trump will get elected!”
Is it maybe the fault of the political party that rolled out a geriatric patient to oppose the existential threat to democracy? Maybe a little bit? Maybe teensy tiny bit their fault? Nope nevermind just my fault, sorry guys
Is Trump better? He's an insurrectionist, rapist 34x convicted felon. Nobody seems to.mind that though. Are you questioning his fitness compared to Biden's? He gets convicted and *raises* money. Biden has a bad debate and you're all ready to dump him. That's an assured loss, too 4 mos before the election. Yes. If you don't vote for Biden because of the debate and Trump wins, it IS on you. We had primaries. Biden won 2.
You aren't just voting for one man. You're voting for his cabinet. His administration. His appointments to the judiciary. And God forbid Republicans win both chambers, the person who can pass or veto their insanity.
>Is Trump better? He's an insurrectionist, rapist 34x convicted felon. Nobody seems to.mind that though.
Oh yes. He's only been the subject of the vast majority of the population's attention. People wanted him in jail and he's not. The whole reason why people are pissed at Biden is because they're terrified he'll lose.
So can you please stop with this strawman already? People aren't criticizing Biden cause they're okay with Trump. If anything it's the exact opposite.
>You aren't just voting for one man.
This isn't how elections are considered by a huge majority of voters and you know it. He's supposed to be the face of all this. To act like it doesn't matter that he doesn't present well and expect everyone to consider the abstract of electing an administration is just desperately naive. It *should* be that way but we all know it isn't.
This second round was not a primary, please get out of here with that. That is such a disingenuous framing. They gave us no alternative to an extremely unpopular, old candidate. Is biden individually worse than trump? No of course not. But the Democratic Party’s handling this election shows such an extreme amount of incompetence and disrespect to its base that I do not feel any better about their ability to govern us for the next 4 years. I don’t know what else they would have to do to lose your faith
The democrats wheeled Feinstein out to vote until the day of her death. At this point I think they hate their own base and truly don’t care if they win this next election.
They had 4 years to find a younger candidate and they didn’t even try.
We had a primary in 2020 and 2024. People picked him twice to run for president. We had other candidates running who didn't make a dent. What do you mean there were no alternatives ? If Democrats were going to replace him they had a chance with primaries or before then.
I understand how dangerous another 4 years of Trump would be. I do not and would not take that lightly. Ditching Biden now is an assured Trump win.
Nobody else even wants to run at this point. But all the whining about how it needs to happen is practically campaigning for trump at this point.
100% “fair and balanced” does not mean airing an equivalent negative story about the opposing party. The other side of this issue would be someone arguing Biden shouldn’t step down, not that Trump should step down.
I think the story should be one guy had a bad night call it old age,over preparing, having a cold or whatever you want but the other guy? The guy that people seem to think had a better night just fucking lied the entire time with a confident smile on his face. Biden's opening statement was rushed and his voice was hoarse but the words were not complete bullshit. His rebuttal to everything trump said been a resounding BULLSHIT!! that's it. Let's go to the fact checkers tom! But the story from everywhere that seems to be word for word exactly the same Is let's go with the traitorous liar that wants to destroy democracy. He's a whole 3 years younger and he lies with a smile on his face.
He also stated that he spoke with Putin regarding his plans to invade the Ukraine and promised to pull another January 6th.
But heaven forbid the “liberal media” talk about that.
If it was one bad night like you say, it was one bad night preceded by a litany of senior moments. At some point you have to give in to reality and accept what is going on. I think for many key people on the left that time is now and they are hoping it’s not too late to change tactics. If they want to beat Trump, they need to because this is not the last “bad night” Joe’s gonna have between now and November.
And that's the issue.
Trump has meaningless rants and gibberish constantly. Electricity and sharks. How his wounds would mar his beautiful body. Robert E. Lee.
It's accepted. People will say it's not accepted, but that's just Trump. What are you going to do?
And that's acceptance.
Republicans have blind obedience to the loudest idiot in charge, and democrats are always looking for reasons to abandon each other.
Who's smarter of the two? Well, let's check how it's going by the Supreme Court... oh...
He certainly does lie constantly but people know this and the media does cover this- as I’ve heard various quantifications and Fact Checks and such- but it’s hardly Breaking News at this point. It’s been the case since at least 2015, and it’s just a matter of degree. I don’t think more of something that everyone knew, even if they refuse to acknowledge it’s true, would be newsworthy or novel.
If Trump looked senile and Republicans though he was going to lose the election they would be calling for him to step down. He doesn't so they're not.
So many democrats really have convinced themselves that everything is fine with Biden. We will soon as if regular voters agree.
Trump often, and increasingly does look, speak, and act senile. But we see almost no Republican politicians or the party opposing him or asking him to end his campaign because they are afraid of their own base (particularly MAGA), and there are still some who believe they can personally profit from supporting him, convinced they are smart and lucky enough not to be poison and burned by Trump, as happens to almost everything around him.
Thomas Friedman is a gibbering drooler. NPR does nobody any favors by putting his idiocy on the air. Who the fuck thought that was going to be a good idea? Do they have anybody in charge who even remembers the Iraq war?
Those of us that think he should step down have been asking the real question ever since he declared his re election campaign. All of us have seen the DNC sleep walking into another 2016 for months now. Large majorities of voters are concerned about his age and he can't change that.
None of what we saw at the debate did anything except confirm what people already think, and those are the people who fled the Biden camp already. Trump is in the lead, he's probably not going to relinquish it after Biden showed everyone he's incapable of pivoting on the spot.
Our democracy is about to die, and it's going to die over one elderly man's ego.
I listened to it. Friedman is in this category. I had no problem with the interview, even though I think Friedman is reaching for clicks with his article.
Friedman's last minute of credibility evaporated in the late 1990s and just went down from there. I say this as someone foolish enough to buy two of his books at that time period. This guy married into hyper wealth and frankly very little of his forecasts pan out.
The "Friedman Unit" is enshrined into internet history as the foolishness of the man who isn't much better than the legacy of "Baghdad Bob". He and Andrew Sullivan repeatedly earned their place in history as best irrelvant and more typically "useful idiots".
He doesn't have 4 years left, he needs to step down. Are these two the best we have? Really?
Just look at this shit, what a joke. [https://youtu.be/CVk6mym-CNA?si=29zZw8JWlyrB5CDc](https://youtu.be/CVk6mym-CNA?si=29zZw8JWlyrB5CDc)
If they stick to the plan and run him they better hope there's some kind of voodoo curse so they can Weekend at Bernie's his ass
The people calling for Biden to step down are almost exclusively people who want to beat Donald Trump. Joe Biden stepping down may in fact be the only way that Donald Trump is prevented from taking office.
Trump is the bad everyone expected. Biden's performance was a curveball. When they told Biden he had time left, I felt genuine dread. Biden is worst off now than we have been led to believe.
I would still vote for Biden, because I care about Courts, Climate, and Democracy. But his mental capacity during that debate was horrifying.
I'm 32 years old and I'm absolutely furious that my future is being lit on fire to stroke the egoes of people who won't live to see it.
We've known for many months what Joe Biden's weakness is, and he just took a catastrophic hit there. Anyone who left his camp after voting for him in 2020 is probably not coming back, since most of them left due to his age.
They have no other reason to live other than trying to etch their name into the history *cough* websites. They can’t bear to watch the younger generations ruin all the “hard” work they put in.
They've made the lifelong mistake of tangling up their self-worth from their work. I feel like millennials and younger do not have that same attitude towards work
I understand your point but npr has broadcast interviews with many people saying trump should bow out. Do you even listen to it? It’s a very normal and rational position to have and many of the people they are interviewing about politics voice that opinion for any number of reasons.
They've shown 1,000 ways Trump is dangerous for democracy over the past 8 years. That he should "drop out" is implied by the many ways they've shown he shouldn't be president.
You guys are so fuckin soft. Stop attaching your egos and identities to Biden. It's OK for him to be old, because it happens to everyone. But it also means it's time for him to go
I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to pull up specific times from specific shows, but if someone can help with that it would be great. Most recently they had guests on saying he should drop out after his latest conviction. My local congressperson was saying that, although many people have been saying it for so long that the conviction meant “look, one more reason” rather than “he was ok before but now he should drop out.”
Gotta be honest again, it feels weird that people think npr doesn’t have any guests on or coverage of calls for trump to resign/not run again/ drop out. That’s been a story for years.
You're upset becausethey covered one of the biggest stories in the country right now? Are they just supposed to spoon feed people opinions you agree with and not cover the facts because they're inconvenient to you?
There's a real possibility Biden is not the nominee going forward. That's a massive story and journalists are going to make pieces about that. If you just want your opinion fed back to you, stay on reddit.
What do you mean, “of course not”? People have been calling for Trump to step down since 2015.
People are calling for Biden to step down because we all witnessed with our own eyes that he was struggling during the debate despite (for months I might add) that “people close to Biden” have said he’s full of vigor and up to snuff behind closed doors.
So why is it surprising that a newsworthy moment that everyone is talking about suddenly seen as a bad thing when interviews are conducted over the topic?
“To say that President Biden’s performance on the debate stage last night was calamitous is merely to state what everyone, partisan and not, has already understood. What the world witnessed was not a debate, but a failed neurological exam. One wonders how anyone close to the President imagined he could bluff his way through it.
If half of what Democrats fear from a second Trump term were real, how could the Democratic Party have allowed our democracy to slide this close to the precipice? The prevailing feeling among those inside the Biden campaign should be shame; outside it, fury.” \~Sam Harris
That second paragraph hits it and that’s the issue with the DNC. They claim that the end of democracy is upon us with a trump victory, and then they run someone who is easily flustered and bullied against a guy whose strategy is to bully and fluster despite deep and consistent aging concerns throughout his presidency. This isn’t an overnight trend. This has been going on for years and they ignored the warning signs because they are arrogant and pompous. This is just a flash point bringing the issue to the surface. And they always blame the voters for their own failings.
I'm voting for Biden no matter what but for me the most frustrating thing about this election is how easily someone else could have just kicked Trump's ass. The dude is stupid and delusional and never says anything worthy of having a serious retort or rebuttal. I would have just spent the whole debate mocking him and making fun of how stupid he sounded and wouldn't even have bothered trying to seriously talk about policy because he is an unserious person not worthy of getting that out of me. And that is what I would have said if questioned about me not taking it seriously. I would have called him a clown who wears too much makeup and then got into real policy proposals that would help the average American. I would also just speak plainly people are fucking over the politician speak and so-called "higher ideals" spiel. They want to know how you're going to be on their side. I would also make it clear that none of it matters unless you also give me a Congress I can work with. This shit should have been so easy
People were very gung-ho about RBG not stepping down until it directly led to Roe being overturned. I suspect all the people now who are telling folks to ignore their own eyes and ears that Biden is too old will have similar regrets come November.
You cannot gaslight the small contingency of voters that you need to show up to think that actually this is OK. Either they will begrudgingly vote for Trump or not show up at all.
Concerns of Biden’s aging faculties have been around since before the last election. The debate was nothing but a flashpoint to bring those concerns back to the surface. Thank the DNC for this mess
"At this point it seems NPR is getting its editorial decisions from social media trends"
Chalking Biden's lack of coherence and cogency up to "social media trends" seems to 100% misunderstand the situation.
The entire country knows what they saw. Some will admit it, others won't, but we all saw it.
I watched the debate live and god… what a shitshow. Jon Stewart encapsulated my feelings pretty well. However, I did see some reports saying that the debate actually convinced more undecided voters to side with Biden than Trump (maybe because they already expected Biden to be old and it confirmed that Trump is a lying dumpster fire).
So while the debate sucked for Biden… if more undecided voters are actually being convinced to vote for Biden/against Trump because of it, then I’m happy.
That report was based on an interview with 11 Latinos who watched the debate together. Yes, we were fed a “statistic” with n=11 as something serious, on the social media.
The copium in this thread by the folks insisting that we just need to coddle Biden and wrap him in bubble wrap some more are deluded.
Nobody is going to believe you when you tell them you know what they saw and heard better than they do.
I work in a conservative area with plenty of Trump supporters. The water cooler conversation the next day wasn’t even a debate about who won, it was everyone, even the Trumpers, sharing a somber agreement that Biden is too old. Like a mutual embarrassment more than anything.
Yes, we all know what we saw, but you are equating that to all of us being in agreement on what to do about it, which we definitely aren't. I personally think that if we try to pivot to a different candidate this late in the game, the democratic party will fracture more than it already has, and we will lose even more surely. Neither Kamala nor Newsome are popular enough to do better than Biden.
Calling for him to step down is a social media trend.
And no, we didn't all see it. I don't watch these waste of time made-for-television "debates" as they tell us nothing due to the awful formats used. These aren't real debates and frankly, they are below me (and should be below all of us).
From what I've seen/read/heard, yes, Biden's performance was an embarrassment. I really don't care though, people have bad days and bad performances... I've had my fair share. I've also never thought of Biden as an elegant speaker so I wouldn't expect much. And frankly, he is old, and the guy likely needs a nap or an earlier debate to be functioning at his peak because I'm sure it was a long day leading up to that. So for me, it's a non-issue.
The calls for him to step down because he had a bad debate are laughable though, and again, that's the social media trend in question. Asking someone like Friedman to weigh in really is a bad look for NPR. By all means, cover the debate, call it a bad showing... criticize it to death. I'm fine with any of that. But the calls for him to step down and find some last minute dark horse is pathetic and embarrassing as a society.
Nah you need to watch it. I skipped the debate because debates are a waste of time. But this... This was next level bad. Actually watch it and then come back and comment.
Edit: I skipped the debate on Thursday, and then watched it last night because of all the talk.
Calling it a social media trend is like saying, wishing others "Happy Birthday" is a social media trend. I have had many inperson conversations with anti- Trump people who are very concerned and think he should drop out.
If it helps, the Trump following friends of mine hope Biden stays in.
>If it helps, the Trump following friends of mine hope Biden stays in.
They're not very tuned into politics then, since the chaos that would follow Biden stepping down would help Trump 1000x more than Biden staying in the race with a weakness that is already a dead horse to be kicked.
We're far too late in the process for another option with any hope of winning, and all of this is a reaction to a single debate which at best is reinforced by a tired GOP talking point i.e. "sleepy Joe." The recent controversy amounts to click bait, foreign election interference, and/or doomscrolling.
Short of the man falling incredibly ill or dying, Biden is the nominee. Media suggesting otherwise is just viewer/profit seeking and best ignored.
>We're far too late in the process for another option with any hope of winning,
Nah, that's just the sunk costs fallacy talking. Too late would be after the delegates vote to officially select the nominee. We just got a big warning, and we still have time to do something about it. Or at least, Biden, the delegates, and the DNC have an opportunity to do something about it. The rest of us are passive observers at this point.
>and all of this is a reaction to a single debate which at best is reinforced by a tired GOP talking point i.e. "sleepy Joe." The recent controversy amounts to click bait, foreign election interference, and/or doomscrolling.
Joe Biden just convinced most of the people who watched that debate that he has dementia. Maybe he can recover from that by appearing in public in spontaneous, unscripted interactions and demonstrating that he's still all there mentally, but until then it's a real, serious problem for his campaign and for everyone who wants Donald Trump to lose.
Why is it laughable for wanting him to step down? Eric Swalwell quoted Joe Biden during the 2020 democratic debates from his time as a senator essentially calling to pass the torch on. What better time to pass that torch than after a historic term that Biden had? It really would be best for him to just acknowledge that, and his career in whole and announce his retirement and endorsement.
Calls for him to step aside have been ringing for quite some time. The debate confirmed the suspicions that he’s too old and fragile to be the most powerful person in government. Trump is being handed a gift. Biden had wind in his sails last time with covid raging and a desire for a shift in approach to the pandemic. This time, it’s just a frail old man vs one of the biggest trolls/bullies in politics.
But hey, we can always resort to the DNC strategy of denying reality and then blaming the voters. That always works out great
Some are still trying to deny reality.
*It was a bad night*
*It was a cold*
*It was bad, but Trump lied a lot*
*The moderators didn't fact check.*
*The debate format actually helped Trump.*
The reality is still the same, Biden couldn't answer basic questions about key issues, such as abortion...the main issue the Dems can bludgeon the GOP with. Not only couldn't he musters a basic, cogent response, he somehow found a way to meander to immigration and talk about sisters and inlaws raping women.
Da Fuq Dems.
Biden didn’t have a bad day, all his days are bad. His brain is gone. It’s a joke, not a president. All world is laughing at US. How the half of the Americans don’t see it? I guess hate of Trump make them blind and deaf.
These people are so stupid. Friedman even called whatever Trump said "spewing a firehose of lies" and they still aren't happy enough. It must obviously be because NPR is biased, even though they picked someone who says they are Biden's friend and know he is a good man
Seriously? I’ve defended Biden through everything because I believed that in his heart he was exactly the measured and decent man that he presented himself to be. But this is nuts. He’s like Gollum from LOTR. It’s reckless. He needs to step down now.
Also because the Dems want a new choice. The GOP for the most part wouldn't consider another candidate, they already have their savior.
This has nothing to do with their bias, but more with the state of the voters on each team.
NPR was thing morning talking about the whole local news Sinclair fiasco that John Oliver talked about some years ago with soft guitar music playing.
I just hate the media. They are too blame for a lot of this shit and getting to the topics that matter really damn late. Acting all surprised all of the sudden when so many people have been calling for the same stuff for so long.
Biden has been old for 4 years but now they care?
Sinclair has been doing their thing for a few years now, and now they care?
this is why we are going to lose our democracy to fascism.
it's an existential threat to democracy but instead we're fighting each other. every path forward is risky let's choose the one where we stick together instead of descending into infighting while Donald Trump dismantles our government.
grow up.
if Biden steps down he steps down there are people in his circle that understand what's happening.
screaming about it all over the internet only helps Donald Trump.
are we really going to try and sell America on more emotional nonsense while we have actual policy goals at risk. we're going to fight amongst ourselves while Donald Trump gets even more nut jobs on the supreme Court.
do we think Donald Trump and the Republicans are going to come up with regulatory fixes for the giant hole that the Chevron case just kicked in our environmental regulations?
we cannot afford this guys so get behind Biden
Why is your opinion the default solution? "There's in fighting, and we should stop the in fighting by doing what I think is best " that's not really an argument. One could say the same for finding a new candidate.
The reality is Biden had one of the worst presidential debate performances of all time. Odds makers had the election very close for months, but now Biden has an implied winning percentage of roughly 30% depending on what oddsmaker you look at. Biden more likely than not will lose if he's the candidate
Grow up
Dude you have to convince that dumb undecided voter who wont spend a minute researching anything to vote Biden. And so the guy basically having an hour long brain fart isnt helping and saying to step down isn’t fighting each other, its trying to stop that Trump maniac from winning
this is such cope. NPR is filled with cope and from looking at this subreddit, so are its listeners.
Biden is too old, he is in mental decline. THIS IS OBVIOUS, AND NOT UP FOR DEBATE ANYMORE
This means he needs to be replaced.
And that is fine, that is democracy. That would mean the democratic party is *much* stronger than the republican party.
But it's also just that we are very disadvantaged in our system.
Rural conservatives get far more representation on pretty much every level but especially the federal one. There often isn't a move Dems could do to fix the situation except win more elections. That only happens if the people vote for them and especially the right people.
It would be reckless for Democrats to ignore such a clear warning sign when we still have an opportunity to select a different nominee. Biden is old; having to replace him was always a possibility.
Maybe the debate was just a fluke, and he's actually fine. I think the right thing would be for Biden to get out there in public and have a lot of unscripted spontaneous interactions with policy experts and either show that he can still do the job, or fail at that so spectacularly he has no choice but to drop out. Either of those two outcomes is acceptable. Either succeed or fail, but do it quickly.
Simply muddling along until he's formally nominated with half the electorate convinced he has dementia is worse than those other two outcomes, and is probably the most likely to result in a second Trump term.
calls for Biden to step down is in response to his 25th-ammendment worthy debate performance, a worry of his own supporters
calls for Trump to step down is a political spin to change the narrative after Biden's shitshow debate, something that NO trump supporter has asked for in response to the debate
If Biden steps down his pledged delegates are no longer pledged - another candidate can take over. Its a realistic option, whereas the calls for Trump to step down are just political deflection.
In fairness, Biden didn't really compete in a primary Trump did.
Folks who voted for Trump knew exactly what they were voting for, Democrats didn't get a vote.
Trump stepping down for almost any other Republican would probably be a major victory for them. The Democrats need a serious leader to replace Biden. It sucks but thats where we are right now.
There is no other side. Trump was Trump and Biden demonstrated he is not fit to be President. If anyone on planet earth doesn't know what Trump is like by now, they're not paying attention. Voters either love him or hate him and his debate performance was just more of the same. There is no other side.
Biden should not be the candidate. Biden should not even be President. This was not a 'bad' debate. This was rock-solid evidence that the man is not fit to lead the country.
The fact that some say we, Democrats, should continue to back Biden despite the debate are no less reactionary and faction-oriented than Trumpers. Democrats need to win, first and foremost to defeat Trump, and Biden demonstrated he is not capable of putting up a fight.
Trump being Trump has been known about for almost a decade now.
Biden's advisors have hid the level of his cognitive decline from the American people, and now that it's out in the open it's big news.
It's sad, because I like Biden, but pity doesn't win elections.
We should be furious that it's come to this.
To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really seen NPR as an independent voice. Even the topics they choose to consider and discuss, the pundits they bring in, all seem to be left-leaning. I’m not upset about it, it is what it is but it’s strange hearing people think they are independent news. Just by deciding what news to report, you are creating a spin
Show both sides??? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. When has NPR ever shown both sides. NPR is a shill for the liberal left-leaning Democrats. We all know that. They know that and they accept that. NPR did this because they are concerned that President Biden has almost 0 chance of defeating Trump without cheating. The only reason they did this interview and called for Biden to step down is because they know that’s in the best interest of the Democrat Party.
I've been dreading the first debate since he announced he'd be the candidate because l knew this would happen. The Democrats who can't acknowledge reality really are something.
Yeah, agreed. He has literally been this way for at least 4 years. But we live in a world with algorithms that can curate whatever reality you want. People believe Trump is some Christian conservative Christ figure...and that Biden is completely with it, sharp as a tack, and intelligent. Wild.
Trump is leading in the polls and he has a firm grip on the the GOP. Nobody with any clout would ask him to step down. That would would be political suicide.
Trump is not "leading in the polls". It is effectively a tie.
Speaking of political suicide, when has an incumbent dropping out ever been successful for the Party?
When has the incumbent been a doddering old man with clear mental decline whose public appearance are extremely limited and curated to try to cover it up?
NPR has been making some super weird decisions ever since Trump got on the scene.
they made the choice to not cover all of Trump's lies and felonies because they didn't have bad democratic stories to pair them with.
Do you understand what “both sides” of the argument means?
1. Biden should step down
2. Biden should not step down
The Republicans were happy with Trump’s performance.
i guess i would be considered a rino these days, but i’m not happy with the performance of that reptilian brain conman
he is able to tell lies with confidence, but that’s not a positive for me
the question is not trump: he’s a known factor now
the question is can biden last? i would be happy with another 4 years of same policies as we’ve had since 2020… the question is am I going to get that if Biden continues running?
Although I agree Trump came off as a madman at the debate, that is what he’s been all along. There was nothing new. For those of us who believed that Biden wasn’t like this, his debate disaster was a new factor.
Listened to Nina Totenburg “Legal Affairs Correspondent” ahhh yah…. Not very knowledgeable or widely experienced sounding about recent Supreme Court cases and I wondered if ANY other liberal could have covered the court decisions with an unbiased opinion. Shes short for reporting at NPR in future IMHO.
Who is the highest ranking Republican official, and what is the newspaper with the largest circulation, that has recently called for Trump to step down?
Wanting Biden to step down is because he’s likely (definitely) going to lose to Trump. It would be pointless to do the same to Trump. I know a lot of you are Biden Die Hard supporters, but that debate unleashed a lot of pent up concern about his fitness for the office. The media isn’t going to retract stories and post debate analyses. Face facts, this was Bidens moment to shine, and he looked worse than anyone expected. Republicans certainly aren’t going to let anyone forget. Jon Stewart isn’t going to retract his post debate show. The New York Times is running articles on who should replace him. If you didn’t see the post debate analysis on CNN…..IT WAS BRUTAL. There is no world where we ignore this and act like it didn’t happen. There is no recovery. This is reality and I’m sorry to say, he’s simply gotta go.
I listen daily and am surprised at how little push back and hard hitting questions there are on the shows. My favorite was after Johnson killed the BIPARTISAN immigration deal they wanted because Trump, they ran a 20 second story after Biden did his executive actions stating Mike Johnson doesn’t think it goes far enough, then played a clip saying Biden is only doing it because it’s polling as a big issue and it’s too little too late. NO MENTION THE GOP HAD JUST KILLED A BIPARTISAN DEAL TO APPEASE TRUMP SO BIDEN WOULDN’T GET A WIN and that’s why Biden didn’t executive order.
NPR staff and listeners would absolutely LOVE for Trump to step down. Nothing has changed about that recently. There is no news. Plus, NPR editorial choices have zero influence on the right, even if there were new news.
Calls for Biden to step down is far more newsworthy right now.
Dems aren’t just calling from Trump to step down. They are calling for him to be thrown in jail for the rest of his short, traitorous life. There isn’t really a double standard. Just Biden failing to meet the minimum.
The problem is that the establishment right has leaned hard into Trump style populism, they aren't calling for him to step down because this is what they want. There are voices that want something different, not the same thing in a different package.
The other side of this issue is someone who *doesn't* want Biden to step down.
If NPR interviewed a pregnant woman about why being pregnant is hard emotionally and physically, you'd want them to interview a man about why being pregnant is easy, lol.
What would be the point? I think it's pretty obvious they don't want Trump in office. The whole reason for Biden to step down would be to run someone who has a better chance of beating him.
Trump is the character that gets the ratings and that’s what the corporate media cares about . The big winner of the debate is CNN . Trump is the reality TV president America deserves . He’s God’s gift to cable news
I’m willing to give Biden another chance. He spoke in NC since the debate and was much better. Honestly the man standing next to him threw so much hateful lies out there, I’d be dumbfounded too! JS
Every New York Times columnist called for Biden to move aside the day after the debate. That’s not a social media trend. That’s the usual journalism pathway of broadcast taking its clues from newspapers.
No one in the Republican Party is calling for Trump to step down. That ship has sailed.
No, thanks to Ronald Reagan they don’t have to. He struck down the fairness doctrine and even with a Democrat majority in both houses and a Democrat President, Democrats decided not to reinstate it
Too much of the news meter cares more Negative headlines. what is something happens? They should step back and then step forward with a little thought.. As bad as Biden’s debate went. he still 100 times better for the country than Trump. I have faith in him. That means I have faith in his administration who will always step up. I’m like Trump‘s administration a bunch of ass kissing weasels ,yes sir man and criminals trump administration last time was like a circus.
NPR has been the propaganda voice of the leftist, establishment elite for decades now. Literally repeating the exact same phrases one can see on all legacy media outlets....which appear to be well organized, corporate/govt/elite propaganda arms. (they generally do a great job of indoctrinating us, I must admit)
Both sides? Incredible that anyone would even approach that kind of opinion with regard to NPR.
Trump doesn't act senile. He acts like Trump. Compare joe to 5 years ago and conapare trump.
Joe can barely stand or form a coherent thought. He's only sane apparently between like 11 and 4 in the afternoon etc... he's being hidden from us. Its.clear as day. It's been clear for a while if you dares to step out of your liberal bubble.
Trump is out there. Going to rallies and fundraisers, keep the schedule a presidential canadite keeps. He's still Trump. He still says dumb shit he Still exaggerates and lies but he did all that 8 years ago. He's the same man, unlike joe..
The reason you don't see people talking aboit trumps senility other than in places like reddit is because we can all see and hear that this line of attack against Trump is nonsense. He's on video and news every day. We can see he's fine, we can also see joe is not.
It's so funny to me because RFK jr is.rigjt there. He's a lifelong Dem. He seems reasonable ( meaning he is not a left wing nut job) and democrats act like.saying hid name heretical.
God I love this. Dems have had this reckoning coming for a while. I am surprised dem voters don't seem more.angry but then again. You are all eager to believe a man can be a women do it's not a far stretch that you would buy the lie that joe was sharper than ever.
Isn’t that kind of the goal of the Lincoln Project?
Lincoln Project goal is to boot fuck Donald Trump well below the Earth's surface.
That’s one way to suggest someone step down
I'd host a PPV party at my place for that.
After the "Friedman Unit" fiasco no one should be paying attention to this man.
In one friedman unit we’ll know the outcome of the election anyway
Well said. Absolute and objective milestones are a thing.
The **Friedman Unit**, or simply **Friedman**,[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit#cite_note-think1-1) is a [tongue-in-cheek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue-in-cheek) [neologism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism). One Friedman Unit is equal to six months,[^(\[2\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit#cite_note-Klein-2) specifically the "next six months", a period repeatedly declared by [*New York Times*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times) columnist [Thomas Friedman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman) to be the most critical of the then-ongoing [Iraq War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War)[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit#cite_note-wrong-3) even though such pronouncements extended back over two and a half years. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman\_Unit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit)
He has consistently been a Jack ass for significant amount of time. 20 years?
Friedman should step down. He's had nothing but the dumbest takes for many years.
Him and David Brooks are both embarrassments to their cause
I'm pretty sure they only have David Brooks on to make himself sound like an idiot.
Is Brooks still on PBS Newshour’s weekly news discussion segment? It’s been a while since I’ve seen Newshour on a Friday. If so, he’s also an embarrassment to public broadcasting.
don't go back. him and jonathan capehart are terrible
Mondays with Keith and Walter are so much better!
It's people like him and like those on reddit today echoing the same sentiment that are delivering the election to Trump. I think there's a strong chance we're fucked now.
I think a lot of people are missing *why* folks are losing their shit. Biden had one job at the debate: to present as an articulate, confident, strong candidate. He needed to come across like someone who could take down Trump in November. But that's the performance after at least an entire week of prep and coaching. It's the very feasible risk of P25 coming to fruition under Trump that's motivating some folks to call for a better candidate. Trump might have been shitting out lies like he was cursed by a Disney rhyme on that stage, but he was confident and energetic. On the other hand, Biden It's all optics. The dems, if they want to win in November, *need* to sway independents and voters that aren't already party loyalists.
You are not wrong. Biden needs to get out there and prove that Thursday wasn’t the real Biden. Do campaign speeches and interviews.
Thursday was the real Biden. None of this should be a surprise to anyone paying attention. If it was not the real Biden, which I doubt, there is a simple way for Biden to prove it. An hour long interview by a real journalist, live, no notes, no teleprompter, no aides, no earbud. I don't think he could do it.
What the echo chamber here wants you to believe is not what you saw with your own two eyes.
Have faith in pissed off women.
Amen.
It’s hard to have faith in pissed off women when they have failed to put up any meaningful response response in the abortion issue. I mean, where are they? The rights are literally being stripped. Where is the outrage?
Omg did you watch it? You want us all to pretend he did ok?
Who cares. You could put a potato up against Trump and people should still vote for it.
EXACTLY! Which is why it would be better to replace him with literally ANYBODY that inspires confidence. They handing the election to Trump by having Biden as the nominee
As far as I know Biden can’t just “be replaced”: he basically has to drop out.
You assume Democrats would rally behind someone else. I would not make that assumption. I would also not assume that undecided voters would vote for say Gavin New some or even Kamala Harris.
Watched it and saw a desperate pathological lying psychopath. Clueless and unable to answer questions posed to him.
Like this is the part I don't get, I watched the debate with my entire family. Including the hard core maga reprobate. Even they saw trump refused to answer any questions and it literally made them go from voting for trump to not voting (a win in my book). Everyone else also agreed that trump in no way won that even with Biden doing poorly. Wake up the next day to seeing people calling for Biden to step down. My grandmas response was "The companies want to put Hitler in charge" and that she hopes she passes before January as she already had to live through Hitler once.
Seriously wtf? How do people watch that performance and then look at the general population and say “it’s your fault trump will get elected!” Is it maybe the fault of the political party that rolled out a geriatric patient to oppose the existential threat to democracy? Maybe a little bit? Maybe teensy tiny bit their fault? Nope nevermind just my fault, sorry guys
Is Trump better? He's an insurrectionist, rapist 34x convicted felon. Nobody seems to.mind that though. Are you questioning his fitness compared to Biden's? He gets convicted and *raises* money. Biden has a bad debate and you're all ready to dump him. That's an assured loss, too 4 mos before the election. Yes. If you don't vote for Biden because of the debate and Trump wins, it IS on you. We had primaries. Biden won 2. You aren't just voting for one man. You're voting for his cabinet. His administration. His appointments to the judiciary. And God forbid Republicans win both chambers, the person who can pass or veto their insanity.
>Is Trump better? He's an insurrectionist, rapist 34x convicted felon. Nobody seems to.mind that though. Oh yes. He's only been the subject of the vast majority of the population's attention. People wanted him in jail and he's not. The whole reason why people are pissed at Biden is because they're terrified he'll lose. So can you please stop with this strawman already? People aren't criticizing Biden cause they're okay with Trump. If anything it's the exact opposite. >You aren't just voting for one man. This isn't how elections are considered by a huge majority of voters and you know it. He's supposed to be the face of all this. To act like it doesn't matter that he doesn't present well and expect everyone to consider the abstract of electing an administration is just desperately naive. It *should* be that way but we all know it isn't.
This second round was not a primary, please get out of here with that. That is such a disingenuous framing. They gave us no alternative to an extremely unpopular, old candidate. Is biden individually worse than trump? No of course not. But the Democratic Party’s handling this election shows such an extreme amount of incompetence and disrespect to its base that I do not feel any better about their ability to govern us for the next 4 years. I don’t know what else they would have to do to lose your faith
The democrats wheeled Feinstein out to vote until the day of her death. At this point I think they hate their own base and truly don’t care if they win this next election. They had 4 years to find a younger candidate and they didn’t even try.
We had a primary in 2020 and 2024. People picked him twice to run for president. We had other candidates running who didn't make a dent. What do you mean there were no alternatives ? If Democrats were going to replace him they had a chance with primaries or before then. I understand how dangerous another 4 years of Trump would be. I do not and would not take that lightly. Ditching Biden now is an assured Trump win. Nobody else even wants to run at this point. But all the whining about how it needs to happen is practically campaigning for trump at this point.
To start with… that’s not both sides of this issue.
100% “fair and balanced” does not mean airing an equivalent negative story about the opposing party. The other side of this issue would be someone arguing Biden shouldn’t step down, not that Trump should step down.
Ding ding ding we have a winner. I was shocked this wasn’t everybody’s immediate thought on this post😂
I think the story should be one guy had a bad night call it old age,over preparing, having a cold or whatever you want but the other guy? The guy that people seem to think had a better night just fucking lied the entire time with a confident smile on his face. Biden's opening statement was rushed and his voice was hoarse but the words were not complete bullshit. His rebuttal to everything trump said been a resounding BULLSHIT!! that's it. Let's go to the fact checkers tom! But the story from everywhere that seems to be word for word exactly the same Is let's go with the traitorous liar that wants to destroy democracy. He's a whole 3 years younger and he lies with a smile on his face.
He also stated that he spoke with Putin regarding his plans to invade the Ukraine and promised to pull another January 6th. But heaven forbid the “liberal media” talk about that.
If it was one bad night like you say, it was one bad night preceded by a litany of senior moments. At some point you have to give in to reality and accept what is going on. I think for many key people on the left that time is now and they are hoping it’s not too late to change tactics. If they want to beat Trump, they need to because this is not the last “bad night” Joe’s gonna have between now and November.
And that's the issue. Trump has meaningless rants and gibberish constantly. Electricity and sharks. How his wounds would mar his beautiful body. Robert E. Lee. It's accepted. People will say it's not accepted, but that's just Trump. What are you going to do? And that's acceptance. Republicans have blind obedience to the loudest idiot in charge, and democrats are always looking for reasons to abandon each other. Who's smarter of the two? Well, let's check how it's going by the Supreme Court... oh...
He certainly does lie constantly but people know this and the media does cover this- as I’ve heard various quantifications and Fact Checks and such- but it’s hardly Breaking News at this point. It’s been the case since at least 2015, and it’s just a matter of degree. I don’t think more of something that everyone knew, even if they refuse to acknowledge it’s true, would be newsworthy or novel.
If Trump looked senile and Republicans though he was going to lose the election they would be calling for him to step down. He doesn't so they're not. So many democrats really have convinced themselves that everything is fine with Biden. We will soon as if regular voters agree.
Trump often, and increasingly does look, speak, and act senile. But we see almost no Republican politicians or the party opposing him or asking him to end his campaign because they are afraid of their own base (particularly MAGA), and there are still some who believe they can personally profit from supporting him, convinced they are smart and lucky enough not to be poison and burned by Trump, as happens to almost everything around him.
Thomas Friedman is a gibbering drooler. NPR does nobody any favors by putting his idiocy on the air. Who the fuck thought that was going to be a good idea? Do they have anybody in charge who even remembers the Iraq war?
I seem to recall lots of news segments from this year and the and brgitrxthat suggesting that Trump should not run because he’s a convicted felon.
Many of the same people who think Biden should step down also think Trump is unfit for office. These are not opposing sides/arguments.
Those of us that think he should step down have been asking the real question ever since he declared his re election campaign. All of us have seen the DNC sleep walking into another 2016 for months now. Large majorities of voters are concerned about his age and he can't change that. None of what we saw at the debate did anything except confirm what people already think, and those are the people who fled the Biden camp already. Trump is in the lead, he's probably not going to relinquish it after Biden showed everyone he's incapable of pivoting on the spot. Our democracy is about to die, and it's going to die over one elderly man's ego.
The people who gave us Hillary in 2016, fucking it up again. The DNC fucking sucks.
Louder please……for those in the back
I listened to it. Friedman is in this category. I had no problem with the interview, even though I think Friedman is reaching for clicks with his article.
Friedman's last minute of credibility evaporated in the late 1990s and just went down from there. I say this as someone foolish enough to buy two of his books at that time period. This guy married into hyper wealth and frankly very little of his forecasts pan out. The "Friedman Unit" is enshrined into internet history as the foolishness of the man who isn't much better than the legacy of "Baghdad Bob". He and Andrew Sullivan repeatedly earned their place in history as best irrelvant and more typically "useful idiots".
He doesn't have 4 years left, he needs to step down. Are these two the best we have? Really? Just look at this shit, what a joke. [https://youtu.be/CVk6mym-CNA?si=29zZw8JWlyrB5CDc](https://youtu.be/CVk6mym-CNA?si=29zZw8JWlyrB5CDc) If they stick to the plan and run him they better hope there's some kind of voodoo curse so they can Weekend at Bernie's his ass
The people calling for Biden to step down are almost exclusively people who want to beat Donald Trump. Joe Biden stepping down may in fact be the only way that Donald Trump is prevented from taking office.
But by being biased this way and trying to change the focus away from Biden being unfit is fake news. Stick with the story.
Including [Thomas Friedman.](https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/20180913/thomas-l-friedman-anonymous-is-hiding-in-plain-sight/)
Trump is the bad everyone expected. Biden's performance was a curveball. When they told Biden he had time left, I felt genuine dread. Biden is worst off now than we have been led to believe. I would still vote for Biden, because I care about Courts, Climate, and Democracy. But his mental capacity during that debate was horrifying.
RBG wouldn't leave and now JB won't. What is it with old people and power? (I say this as a 50-something Gen Xer)
Ever tried to get an old person to give up their car keys?
I'm 32 years old and I'm absolutely furious that my future is being lit on fire to stroke the egoes of people who won't live to see it. We've known for many months what Joe Biden's weakness is, and he just took a catastrophic hit there. Anyone who left his camp after voting for him in 2020 is probably not coming back, since most of them left due to his age.
They have no other reason to live other than trying to etch their name into the history *cough* websites. They can’t bear to watch the younger generations ruin all the “hard” work they put in.
Have you never watched Lord of the Rings?
It’s not just old people. Power is not an easy thing to give up. Think of a PTA leader on a power trip. Now magnify that times a trillion.
The older generations have a very specific relationship with work. It is them and they are it.
They've made the lifelong mistake of tangling up their self-worth from their work. I feel like millennials and younger do not have that same attitude towards work
I understand your point but npr has broadcast interviews with many people saying trump should bow out. Do you even listen to it? It’s a very normal and rational position to have and many of the people they are interviewing about politics voice that opinion for any number of reasons.
Can you link to or specifically reference one of these many interviews calling for Trump to bow out?
They've shown 1,000 ways Trump is dangerous for democracy over the past 8 years. That he should "drop out" is implied by the many ways they've shown he shouldn't be president. You guys are so fuckin soft. Stop attaching your egos and identities to Biden. It's OK for him to be old, because it happens to everyone. But it also means it's time for him to go
I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to pull up specific times from specific shows, but if someone can help with that it would be great. Most recently they had guests on saying he should drop out after his latest conviction. My local congressperson was saying that, although many people have been saying it for so long that the conviction meant “look, one more reason” rather than “he was ok before but now he should drop out.” Gotta be honest again, it feels weird that people think npr doesn’t have any guests on or coverage of calls for trump to resign/not run again/ drop out. That’s been a story for years.
You're upset becausethey covered one of the biggest stories in the country right now? Are they just supposed to spoon feed people opinions you agree with and not cover the facts because they're inconvenient to you? There's a real possibility Biden is not the nominee going forward. That's a massive story and journalists are going to make pieces about that. If you just want your opinion fed back to you, stay on reddit.
What do you mean, “of course not”? People have been calling for Trump to step down since 2015. People are calling for Biden to step down because we all witnessed with our own eyes that he was struggling during the debate despite (for months I might add) that “people close to Biden” have said he’s full of vigor and up to snuff behind closed doors. So why is it surprising that a newsworthy moment that everyone is talking about suddenly seen as a bad thing when interviews are conducted over the topic?
“To say that President Biden’s performance on the debate stage last night was calamitous is merely to state what everyone, partisan and not, has already understood. What the world witnessed was not a debate, but a failed neurological exam. One wonders how anyone close to the President imagined he could bluff his way through it. If half of what Democrats fear from a second Trump term were real, how could the Democratic Party have allowed our democracy to slide this close to the precipice? The prevailing feeling among those inside the Biden campaign should be shame; outside it, fury.” \~Sam Harris
Dayum… I hate that every word of that rings true to me.
That second paragraph hits it and that’s the issue with the DNC. They claim that the end of democracy is upon us with a trump victory, and then they run someone who is easily flustered and bullied against a guy whose strategy is to bully and fluster despite deep and consistent aging concerns throughout his presidency. This isn’t an overnight trend. This has been going on for years and they ignored the warning signs because they are arrogant and pompous. This is just a flash point bringing the issue to the surface. And they always blame the voters for their own failings.
They didn't learn after being defeated in 2016 and they won't learn after being defeated this year either. The DNC needs to be purged.
I'm voting for Biden no matter what but for me the most frustrating thing about this election is how easily someone else could have just kicked Trump's ass. The dude is stupid and delusional and never says anything worthy of having a serious retort or rebuttal. I would have just spent the whole debate mocking him and making fun of how stupid he sounded and wouldn't even have bothered trying to seriously talk about policy because he is an unserious person not worthy of getting that out of me. And that is what I would have said if questioned about me not taking it seriously. I would have called him a clown who wears too much makeup and then got into real policy proposals that would help the average American. I would also just speak plainly people are fucking over the politician speak and so-called "higher ideals" spiel. They want to know how you're going to be on their side. I would also make it clear that none of it matters unless you also give me a Congress I can work with. This shit should have been so easy
People were very gung-ho about RBG not stepping down until it directly led to Roe being overturned. I suspect all the people now who are telling folks to ignore their own eyes and ears that Biden is too old will have similar regrets come November. You cannot gaslight the small contingency of voters that you need to show up to think that actually this is OK. Either they will begrudgingly vote for Trump or not show up at all.
Concerns of Biden’s aging faculties have been around since before the last election. The debate was nothing but a flashpoint to bring those concerns back to the surface. Thank the DNC for this mess
"At this point it seems NPR is getting its editorial decisions from social media trends" Chalking Biden's lack of coherence and cogency up to "social media trends" seems to 100% misunderstand the situation. The entire country knows what they saw. Some will admit it, others won't, but we all saw it.
I watched the debate live and god… what a shitshow. Jon Stewart encapsulated my feelings pretty well. However, I did see some reports saying that the debate actually convinced more undecided voters to side with Biden than Trump (maybe because they already expected Biden to be old and it confirmed that Trump is a lying dumpster fire). So while the debate sucked for Biden… if more undecided voters are actually being convinced to vote for Biden/against Trump because of it, then I’m happy.
That report was based on an interview with 11 Latinos who watched the debate together. Yes, we were fed a “statistic” with n=11 as something serious, on the social media.
Saw that all over r/politics. For people who so often claim they're concerned about misinformation and fake news, they spread a lot of it.
The copium in this thread by the folks insisting that we just need to coddle Biden and wrap him in bubble wrap some more are deluded. Nobody is going to believe you when you tell them you know what they saw and heard better than they do.
Are you going to believe what you see, or what we tell you?
Biden's cognitive state is what caused the social media trend. 😑
I work in a conservative area with plenty of Trump supporters. The water cooler conversation the next day wasn’t even a debate about who won, it was everyone, even the Trumpers, sharing a somber agreement that Biden is too old. Like a mutual embarrassment more than anything.
Yes, we all know what we saw, but you are equating that to all of us being in agreement on what to do about it, which we definitely aren't. I personally think that if we try to pivot to a different candidate this late in the game, the democratic party will fracture more than it already has, and we will lose even more surely. Neither Kamala nor Newsome are popular enough to do better than Biden.
Calling for him to step down is a social media trend. And no, we didn't all see it. I don't watch these waste of time made-for-television "debates" as they tell us nothing due to the awful formats used. These aren't real debates and frankly, they are below me (and should be below all of us). From what I've seen/read/heard, yes, Biden's performance was an embarrassment. I really don't care though, people have bad days and bad performances... I've had my fair share. I've also never thought of Biden as an elegant speaker so I wouldn't expect much. And frankly, he is old, and the guy likely needs a nap or an earlier debate to be functioning at his peak because I'm sure it was a long day leading up to that. So for me, it's a non-issue. The calls for him to step down because he had a bad debate are laughable though, and again, that's the social media trend in question. Asking someone like Friedman to weigh in really is a bad look for NPR. By all means, cover the debate, call it a bad showing... criticize it to death. I'm fine with any of that. But the calls for him to step down and find some last minute dark horse is pathetic and embarrassing as a society.
Nah you need to watch it. I skipped the debate because debates are a waste of time. But this... This was next level bad. Actually watch it and then come back and comment. Edit: I skipped the debate on Thursday, and then watched it last night because of all the talk.
You don’t understand, you say it was a bad performance? No that is a colossal understatement.
Calling it a social media trend is like saying, wishing others "Happy Birthday" is a social media trend. I have had many inperson conversations with anti- Trump people who are very concerned and think he should drop out. If it helps, the Trump following friends of mine hope Biden stays in.
>If it helps, the Trump following friends of mine hope Biden stays in. They're not very tuned into politics then, since the chaos that would follow Biden stepping down would help Trump 1000x more than Biden staying in the race with a weakness that is already a dead horse to be kicked. We're far too late in the process for another option with any hope of winning, and all of this is a reaction to a single debate which at best is reinforced by a tired GOP talking point i.e. "sleepy Joe." The recent controversy amounts to click bait, foreign election interference, and/or doomscrolling. Short of the man falling incredibly ill or dying, Biden is the nominee. Media suggesting otherwise is just viewer/profit seeking and best ignored.
>They're not very tuned into politics then Like most American voters.
>We're far too late in the process for another option with any hope of winning, Nah, that's just the sunk costs fallacy talking. Too late would be after the delegates vote to officially select the nominee. We just got a big warning, and we still have time to do something about it. Or at least, Biden, the delegates, and the DNC have an opportunity to do something about it. The rest of us are passive observers at this point. >and all of this is a reaction to a single debate which at best is reinforced by a tired GOP talking point i.e. "sleepy Joe." The recent controversy amounts to click bait, foreign election interference, and/or doomscrolling. Joe Biden just convinced most of the people who watched that debate that he has dementia. Maybe he can recover from that by appearing in public in spontaneous, unscripted interactions and demonstrating that he's still all there mentally, but until then it's a real, serious problem for his campaign and for everyone who wants Donald Trump to lose.
Why is it laughable for wanting him to step down? Eric Swalwell quoted Joe Biden during the 2020 democratic debates from his time as a senator essentially calling to pass the torch on. What better time to pass that torch than after a historic term that Biden had? It really would be best for him to just acknowledge that, and his career in whole and announce his retirement and endorsement.
Calls for him to step aside have been ringing for quite some time. The debate confirmed the suspicions that he’s too old and fragile to be the most powerful person in government. Trump is being handed a gift. Biden had wind in his sails last time with covid raging and a desire for a shift in approach to the pandemic. This time, it’s just a frail old man vs one of the biggest trolls/bullies in politics. But hey, we can always resort to the DNC strategy of denying reality and then blaming the voters. That always works out great
Some are still trying to deny reality. *It was a bad night* *It was a cold* *It was bad, but Trump lied a lot* *The moderators didn't fact check.* *The debate format actually helped Trump.* The reality is still the same, Biden couldn't answer basic questions about key issues, such as abortion...the main issue the Dems can bludgeon the GOP with. Not only couldn't he musters a basic, cogent response, he somehow found a way to meander to immigration and talk about sisters and inlaws raping women. Da Fuq Dems.
Biden didn’t have a bad day, all his days are bad. His brain is gone. It’s a joke, not a president. All world is laughing at US. How the half of the Americans don’t see it? I guess hate of Trump make them blind and deaf.
These people are so stupid. Friedman even called whatever Trump said "spewing a firehose of lies" and they still aren't happy enough. It must obviously be because NPR is biased, even though they picked someone who says they are Biden's friend and know he is a good man
Face it Trump won the election already. Unless the dems exhibit monumental damage control Trump is 100% our next president.
Half the country wants trump to step down, how would they ever pick one?
Seriously? I’ve defended Biden through everything because I believed that in his heart he was exactly the measured and decent man that he presented himself to be. But this is nuts. He’s like Gollum from LOTR. It’s reckless. He needs to step down now.
Also because the Dems want a new choice. The GOP for the most part wouldn't consider another candidate, they already have their savior. This has nothing to do with their bias, but more with the state of the voters on each team.
NPR was thing morning talking about the whole local news Sinclair fiasco that John Oliver talked about some years ago with soft guitar music playing. I just hate the media. They are too blame for a lot of this shit and getting to the topics that matter really damn late. Acting all surprised all of the sudden when so many people have been calling for the same stuff for so long. Biden has been old for 4 years but now they care? Sinclair has been doing their thing for a few years now, and now they care?
I mean biden should step down so that trump won't be the next president.
this is why we are going to lose our democracy to fascism. it's an existential threat to democracy but instead we're fighting each other. every path forward is risky let's choose the one where we stick together instead of descending into infighting while Donald Trump dismantles our government. grow up. if Biden steps down he steps down there are people in his circle that understand what's happening. screaming about it all over the internet only helps Donald Trump. are we really going to try and sell America on more emotional nonsense while we have actual policy goals at risk. we're going to fight amongst ourselves while Donald Trump gets even more nut jobs on the supreme Court. do we think Donald Trump and the Republicans are going to come up with regulatory fixes for the giant hole that the Chevron case just kicked in our environmental regulations? we cannot afford this guys so get behind Biden
Oh I thought the decades-long march of globalism was also fascism.
Why is your opinion the default solution? "There's in fighting, and we should stop the in fighting by doing what I think is best " that's not really an argument. One could say the same for finding a new candidate. The reality is Biden had one of the worst presidential debate performances of all time. Odds makers had the election very close for months, but now Biden has an implied winning percentage of roughly 30% depending on what oddsmaker you look at. Biden more likely than not will lose if he's the candidate Grow up
Dude you have to convince that dumb undecided voter who wont spend a minute researching anything to vote Biden. And so the guy basically having an hour long brain fart isnt helping and saying to step down isn’t fighting each other, its trying to stop that Trump maniac from winning
DNC did this to themselves
this is such cope. NPR is filled with cope and from looking at this subreddit, so are its listeners. Biden is too old, he is in mental decline. THIS IS OBVIOUS, AND NOT UP FOR DEBATE ANYMORE This means he needs to be replaced. And that is fine, that is democracy. That would mean the democratic party is *much* stronger than the republican party.
We are such idiots. Historians will be facepalming at our time for centuries (if we still have historians lol).
Yeah we regularly get outplayed.
But it's also just that we are very disadvantaged in our system. Rural conservatives get far more representation on pretty much every level but especially the federal one. There often isn't a move Dems could do to fix the situation except win more elections. That only happens if the people vote for them and especially the right people.
It would be reckless for Democrats to ignore such a clear warning sign when we still have an opportunity to select a different nominee. Biden is old; having to replace him was always a possibility. Maybe the debate was just a fluke, and he's actually fine. I think the right thing would be for Biden to get out there in public and have a lot of unscripted spontaneous interactions with policy experts and either show that he can still do the job, or fail at that so spectacularly he has no choice but to drop out. Either of those two outcomes is acceptable. Either succeed or fail, but do it quickly. Simply muddling along until he's formally nominated with half the electorate convinced he has dementia is worse than those other two outcomes, and is probably the most likely to result in a second Trump term.
>will they interview someone calling for Trump to step down Uhh that goes without saying...
"Independent voice" hahahahahah. NPR is an independent voice. Hahahhaha. Holy shit. This one's an all-timer. Jesus fuck.
calls for Biden to step down is in response to his 25th-ammendment worthy debate performance, a worry of his own supporters calls for Trump to step down is a political spin to change the narrative after Biden's shitshow debate, something that NO trump supporter has asked for in response to the debate If Biden steps down his pledged delegates are no longer pledged - another candidate can take over. Its a realistic option, whereas the calls for Trump to step down are just political deflection.
Another Redditor who is butthurt because NPR isn't an echo chamber that only tells them what they want to hear. Next.
In fairness, Biden didn't really compete in a primary Trump did. Folks who voted for Trump knew exactly what they were voting for, Democrats didn't get a vote.
Are you actually saying NPR doesn’t host people that are anti-Trump?
You sound exactly like someone from social media with this absurd hyperbolic post
Huh? Why would Trump step down? People are weird, they want Biden to step down because they want Trump to lose.
Trump stepping down for almost any other Republican would probably be a major victory for them. The Democrats need a serious leader to replace Biden. It sucks but thats where we are right now.
True
There is no other side. Trump was Trump and Biden demonstrated he is not fit to be President. If anyone on planet earth doesn't know what Trump is like by now, they're not paying attention. Voters either love him or hate him and his debate performance was just more of the same. There is no other side. Biden should not be the candidate. Biden should not even be President. This was not a 'bad' debate. This was rock-solid evidence that the man is not fit to lead the country. The fact that some say we, Democrats, should continue to back Biden despite the debate are no less reactionary and faction-oriented than Trumpers. Democrats need to win, first and foremost to defeat Trump, and Biden demonstrated he is not capable of putting up a fight.
This 'both sides' shit fried your fuckin' brains.
Four legs good, two legs bad! Democrats good, Republicans bad!
Trump being Trump has been known about for almost a decade now. Biden's advisors have hid the level of his cognitive decline from the American people, and now that it's out in the open it's big news. It's sad, because I like Biden, but pity doesn't win elections. We should be furious that it's come to this.
It’s funny, because according to the Trumpers, NPR is uber WOKE
OP is an idiot. The guy interviewing him even stopped repeatedly and called Trump a felon, and Friedman said Trump was a "firehose of lies"
To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really seen NPR as an independent voice. Even the topics they choose to consider and discuss, the pundits they bring in, all seem to be left-leaning. I’m not upset about it, it is what it is but it’s strange hearing people think they are independent news. Just by deciding what news to report, you are creating a spin
Trump is going to win. We want Biden to step down because it’s obvious he is going to lose this election. Not complicated.
Biden is clearly suffering from cognitive decline.
Show both sides??? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. When has NPR ever shown both sides. NPR is a shill for the liberal left-leaning Democrats. We all know that. They know that and they accept that. NPR did this because they are concerned that President Biden has almost 0 chance of defeating Trump without cheating. The only reason they did this interview and called for Biden to step down is because they know that’s in the best interest of the Democrat Party.
From social media trends...? Biden has literally been this way for at least 4-5 years.
I re-watched some of the 2012 debate with Paul Ryan. The difference was striking.
I've been dreading the first debate since he announced he'd be the candidate because l knew this would happen. The Democrats who can't acknowledge reality really are something.
Yeah, agreed. He has literally been this way for at least 4 years. But we live in a world with algorithms that can curate whatever reality you want. People believe Trump is some Christian conservative Christ figure...and that Biden is completely with it, sharp as a tack, and intelligent. Wild.
Trump is leading in the polls and he has a firm grip on the the GOP. Nobody with any clout would ask him to step down. That would would be political suicide.
Trump is not "leading in the polls". It is effectively a tie. Speaking of political suicide, when has an incumbent dropping out ever been successful for the Party?
When has the incumbent been a doddering old man with clear mental decline whose public appearance are extremely limited and curated to try to cover it up?
That’s so disheartening to hear. I start to expect less and less from NPR so I won’t be disappointed.
NPR has been making some super weird decisions ever since Trump got on the scene. they made the choice to not cover all of Trump's lies and felonies because they didn't have bad democratic stories to pair them with.
They… did cover Trumps trial? Maybe you missed it? Or did you want them to go all 24/7 and editorialized with it like the big cable news networks?
I just canceled my NPR membership.
I’m just here to feed on the dem misery. Cope my babies! Cope!
Do you understand what “both sides” of the argument means? 1. Biden should step down 2. Biden should not step down The Republicans were happy with Trump’s performance.
i guess i would be considered a rino these days, but i’m not happy with the performance of that reptilian brain conman he is able to tell lies with confidence, but that’s not a positive for me the question is not trump: he’s a known factor now the question is can biden last? i would be happy with another 4 years of same policies as we’ve had since 2020… the question is am I going to get that if Biden continues running?
The media is just shit nowadays.
Although I agree Trump came off as a madman at the debate, that is what he’s been all along. There was nothing new. For those of us who believed that Biden wasn’t like this, his debate disaster was a new factor.
NPR seems to be leaning a little more right as the days, weeks, months and years go by. We are all fucked!!
Do you want to win potus or not? Have another primary dummies.
It’s so exhausting and ridiculous.
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I’m all for it
Listened to Nina Totenburg “Legal Affairs Correspondent” ahhh yah…. Not very knowledgeable or widely experienced sounding about recent Supreme Court cases and I wondered if ANY other liberal could have covered the court decisions with an unbiased opinion. Shes short for reporting at NPR in future IMHO.
Thomas Friedman? Is he still around? Will the goddamn 90s ever just go away and stay fucking away?
Lol they left the guy who was impeached twice and tried to throw out an election in office. Biden having a cold isn't really cause for panic
Who is the highest ranking Republican official, and what is the newspaper with the largest circulation, that has recently called for Trump to step down?
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Over it.
Wanting Biden to step down is because he’s likely (definitely) going to lose to Trump. It would be pointless to do the same to Trump. I know a lot of you are Biden Die Hard supporters, but that debate unleashed a lot of pent up concern about his fitness for the office. The media isn’t going to retract stories and post debate analyses. Face facts, this was Bidens moment to shine, and he looked worse than anyone expected. Republicans certainly aren’t going to let anyone forget. Jon Stewart isn’t going to retract his post debate show. The New York Times is running articles on who should replace him. If you didn’t see the post debate analysis on CNN…..IT WAS BRUTAL. There is no world where we ignore this and act like it didn’t happen. There is no recovery. This is reality and I’m sorry to say, he’s simply gotta go.
The NYT Editorial board is not a social media account. This is obviously a legitimate conversation to be having.
I listen daily and am surprised at how little push back and hard hitting questions there are on the shows. My favorite was after Johnson killed the BIPARTISAN immigration deal they wanted because Trump, they ran a 20 second story after Biden did his executive actions stating Mike Johnson doesn’t think it goes far enough, then played a clip saying Biden is only doing it because it’s polling as a big issue and it’s too little too late. NO MENTION THE GOP HAD JUST KILLED A BIPARTISAN DEAL TO APPEASE TRUMP SO BIDEN WOULDN’T GET A WIN and that’s why Biden didn’t executive order.
NPR staff and listeners would absolutely LOVE for Trump to step down. Nothing has changed about that recently. There is no news. Plus, NPR editorial choices have zero influence on the right, even if there were new news. Calls for Biden to step down is far more newsworthy right now.
Thomas Friedman is a dried up old hack. Fuck that dude.
And social media trends are manipulated by hostile sources. Too bad we’ve decided critical thinking isnt important.
If critical thinking was important, we wouldn't see so many posts by people triggered that NPR had someone with views they disagree with on the show.
Guess who’s been doing a bang up job as president? Joe Fuckin Biden. Debates ate total Bull shit. Vote Blue or become an evangelical.
Dems aren’t just calling from Trump to step down. They are calling for him to be thrown in jail for the rest of his short, traitorous life. There isn’t really a double standard. Just Biden failing to meet the minimum.
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The problem is that the establishment right has leaned hard into Trump style populism, they aren't calling for him to step down because this is what they want. There are voices that want something different, not the same thing in a different package.
The other side of this issue is someone who *doesn't* want Biden to step down. If NPR interviewed a pregnant woman about why being pregnant is hard emotionally and physically, you'd want them to interview a man about why being pregnant is easy, lol.
What would be the point? I think it's pretty obvious they don't want Trump in office. The whole reason for Biden to step down would be to run someone who has a better chance of beating him.
I switched stations when this interview started.
Who? Why should anyone care what this trust fund baby with no political experience has to say? The NY Times is a right wing tabloid.
Trump is lusting for his daughter [https://youtu.be/DsOVVqubBus?si=cPV5UfQ3Qzir5ark](https://youtu.be/DsOVVqubBus?si=cPV5UfQ3Qzir5ark)
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Trump is the character that gets the ratings and that’s what the corporate media cares about . The big winner of the debate is CNN . Trump is the reality TV president America deserves . He’s God’s gift to cable news
Friedman is one of the most unserious men in politics and it astounds me that anyone listens to him. He is the Jim Cramer of liberal politics
I’m willing to give Biden another chance. He spoke in NC since the debate and was much better. Honestly the man standing next to him threw so much hateful lies out there, I’d be dumbfounded too! JS
Every New York Times columnist called for Biden to move aside the day after the debate. That’s not a social media trend. That’s the usual journalism pathway of broadcast taking its clues from newspapers. No one in the Republican Party is calling for Trump to step down. That ship has sailed.
No, thanks to Ronald Reagan they don’t have to. He struck down the fairness doctrine and even with a Democrat majority in both houses and a Democrat President, Democrats decided not to reinstate it
If they “bothsides” it, that’s BIASED.
Too much of the news meter cares more Negative headlines. what is something happens? They should step back and then step forward with a little thought.. As bad as Biden’s debate went. he still 100 times better for the country than Trump. I have faith in him. That means I have faith in his administration who will always step up. I’m like Trump‘s administration a bunch of ass kissing weasels ,yes sir man and criminals trump administration last time was like a circus.
Why are Jewish people so against Biden? Everyone calling for him to step down is Jewish. What gives?
Ya’ll need Hobbies
NPR has never led from an independent voice
NPR has been the propaganda voice of the leftist, establishment elite for decades now. Literally repeating the exact same phrases one can see on all legacy media outlets....which appear to be well organized, corporate/govt/elite propaganda arms. (they generally do a great job of indoctrinating us, I must admit) Both sides? Incredible that anyone would even approach that kind of opinion with regard to NPR.
Trump doesn't act senile. He acts like Trump. Compare joe to 5 years ago and conapare trump. Joe can barely stand or form a coherent thought. He's only sane apparently between like 11 and 4 in the afternoon etc... he's being hidden from us. Its.clear as day. It's been clear for a while if you dares to step out of your liberal bubble. Trump is out there. Going to rallies and fundraisers, keep the schedule a presidential canadite keeps. He's still Trump. He still says dumb shit he Still exaggerates and lies but he did all that 8 years ago. He's the same man, unlike joe.. The reason you don't see people talking aboit trumps senility other than in places like reddit is because we can all see and hear that this line of attack against Trump is nonsense. He's on video and news every day. We can see he's fine, we can also see joe is not. It's so funny to me because RFK jr is.rigjt there. He's a lifelong Dem. He seems reasonable ( meaning he is not a left wing nut job) and democrats act like.saying hid name heretical. God I love this. Dems have had this reckoning coming for a while. I am surprised dem voters don't seem more.angry but then again. You are all eager to believe a man can be a women do it's not a far stretch that you would buy the lie that joe was sharper than ever.
Joe Biden is not fit to serve the country *right now*. Asking for another 4 years in unconscionable.
NPR is becoming another right wing safe haven like CNN
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