Last week I called my old friend Joe Biden, a man I deeply respect and will always look straight in the eye when I have something to say about him, because he gives that respect to everybody person he knows. Joe is a stand-up guy and that is how you treat a stand-up guy. I said Joe old friend, there are people out there saying you need to step aside, some of whom I respect. Although let’s be honest, a lot of them are straight up a**holes. I have to confess I am having my doubts. You do not seem as on the ball as you were a few years ago. We all are getting old. You know I almost got talked into writing a smack piece about you by the New York Times. I have too much respect for you though and too much respect for myself. But here’s the thing, the debate was not a good look and it really feeds in to this narrative of decline. I am worried. Donald Trump is a total menace, one of the worst people ever to grace the national stage and we all know the dangers we face as a democracy if he gets elected. And let me say this up front. I am uncomfortable writing to you about a possible decline because not only is Trump horrific but it is obvious he is borderline senile, far worse than anything I have come close to witnessing in you and I thank God for all of us for that.
But the bottom line of this call is I have questions about you and our party and country going forward. Not your sincerity and good will but the presidency is the toughest job in the world, and even though you have done it better than most I worry about the future. Joe listened to me and let me have my say. He said he understood where I was coming from even if he did not agree with it. He said he believed his worst day was better for America and the world than Trump’s best day. Actually, he had never seen Trump have a best day. He told me he felt he couldn’t step aside. There is no path forward. There is really only one other choice, Kamala. And while we both think she will be a great president one thing we cannot do is declare a Black woman as the nominee without any preparation or build up. He urged me not to forget that a large part of your populations is racist and misogynist. And Trump and his people who have no filter or ethical core and would just assume burn the country down and accept somebody like Kamala will do verbal and possibly physical violence that we have not seen in a presidential election. And he asked me whether I thought whether Kamala had the insider connections to stop what will almost certainly happen on November 5th. No, Kamala needs a runway, and I plan to give it to her over the next four years, putting her out front more and more so people get used to the idea of being led by a Black woman. He then asked me not to get involved in the fantasy football stuff. It was purely delusional to think we could just bypass Kamala and throw seven or eight names in the ring for a political cage match. It is insane to unleash that type of chaos on the electorate. The only winner is the mainstream media who become the play-by-play announcers and eventually anointers. There will be backbiting, recriminations and hatreds unleashed that may last a lifetime. I told him not to worry about that, there is no way the New York Times and the greedy corporate democrats could lure me into that one.
When I ended the conversation I said I still had concerns. Again he said he understood and that he had only one request. That I not go behind his back and ally myself with people who are trying to hurt him. He told me to be honest but respectful. He told me to be especially wary of the New York Times which he thought was going MAGA. I told him I would never think of doing that. We are still friends, and I would never betray him in that way – I don’t care how much of an insider that would make me. The man deserves better than that, just from the way he lived his life, no matter what I think.