Hey Mom! Put the remote down and slowly back away from MSNBC.

I was having a chat with my mom on the fourth of July (before Stephanopoulos). She’s a Boomer who lives right outside of DC, though she is not OF Washington. She actually turned off MSNBC momentarily because she found it depressing. Surprise! When we got further into the conversation where I ranted against the media and she ignored me, I took off the gloves. (Condensed for brevity. The conversation went on and on).

Mom: A lot of people out there are calling for Biden to step down.

Me: That’s a lie the media made up. Only pundits, never-Trumpers, and the media say that. They like having a narrative when Dems are in disarray. Even MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post. They focus on Biden’s age, when he’s proven over and over that he’s a great president. Why would 90 minutes change that?

Mom: We’ll see how he does Friday night.

Me: We already know about his age, his stutter, the fact that he was sick that night. We have all the info we need to be able to know he’s completely fit to be a candidate and a President. He’s doing the job now! As far as I know, not a single Black voter has called for him to step down. Not a single woman voter has called for him to step down. Jim Clyburn said he was fine, and remember how the 2020 primary basically ended when Clyburn spoke? Have you talked to anyone in real life who thinks Biden is losing it? Anyone who wants him to step down? And by the way, you watched Grandma live with Alzheimers for almost a decade. Does Biden look and speak like she did?

Mom: No, Grandma was nothing like that. And no, I haven’t talked to anyone who wants him to step down. But we’ll see how he does on Friday.

ME: Deep sigh.

No, I didn’t convince Mom to stop watching TV. She’s part of a credulous group of cable TV watchers who are engaged enough to keep the political “reporting” on, but not knowledgeable enough to know they’re full of shit.

So, this is where we start. With the people in our lives who have the TV on. We talk about how this movement to replace Biden is driven by the media narrative, unattributed quotes, shitty journalism, and cable TV that is chock full of opinion, but chock empty of facts. We ask them if anyone they know had been calling on Biden to step down before the debate and media coverage after it. We ask if they voted for Biden in the primary. Because apparently the media and some pundits think throwing away millions of votes is ok if Dems do it. And we tell them that when we have contested conventions or primaried a president, we have LOST. Every single time. When LBJ said he wouldn’t run in March and Hubert Humphrey became the nominee, he lost, and said it was because he didn’t have enough time to run. When Ted Kennedy primaried Carter, the Dem bloodbath during the primary led to sweeping defeat.

We ask people to think about why Trump hasn’t been asked to step down. He’s very obviously in cognitive decline. He can’t speak without spouting a word salad of lies and weird stories about batteries, sharks, or whatever he’s hallucinating about that week. And then we tell them to buck the fuck up and get to work telling their friends. And so on. And so on. And so on. (Who can tell me where that’s from?)