We're only human.
We all make mistakes.
We all have bad days.
Since the debate debacle June 27th, the 'defense' expressed by those who remain steadfast in their support of Joe and insist that he should "stay the course"..."hang in there"..."keep on keepin' on" or any of the myriad of slogans/mottos/catchphrases/bumper stickers that serve as rallying cries is that....
...he's only human....
...he made mistakes...
...he had a bad day.
Here's the thing about that.
There are bad days we can have.
There are bad days we simply cannot.
There are mistakes we can make.
There are mistakes we simply cannot.
Hold that thought for a moment.
Odds are slimmer than slim, as you peruse this essay, that you don't already know where I land on the matter of Trump and his existence on the mortal coil, let alone his "fitness" for elected office.
As a courtesy to those who might be visiting for the first time, allow me to borrow a catchphrase from another dark and disturbing 'Chief Executive', name of Nixon and "let me make one thing perfectly clear..."
Short of simultaneously detonating all of the stored nuclear weapons in the continental United States, voters could do nothing more effective at damaging/destroying the continental United States than casting their vote in favor of slapping yet another tawdry, tacky, cheap gold plated TRUMP sign over the front door at 1600 Pennsylvania.
As a matter of fact, detonating said weapons would be the more merciful of the two options.
At least with nukes, we would likely all die swiftly, many (most) without even having more than a nano second to realize the end had arrived.
Put simply...nukes would instantly disintegrate, even evaporate, the land of the free, home of the brave.
Re-electing Corleorange would have us bearing witness to a slow, tortuous demolition.
The mushroom cloud comes in a hot, roaring blinding light.
Trump comes in like a wrecking ball.
With an IQ to match.
(Should the worst happen in November, my peeps are already preparing new bumper stickers allowing me to, if only briefly, cash in....."TrumpAmerica 2.0-Kill Me Now"...)
This concludes the "just so you know where I stand" portion of the program.
We now return to our primary theme.
There are mistakes we can make.
There are bad days we can have.
There are mistakes...and bad days...we cannot.
We can have a bad day by making the mistake of speeding and being pulled over for doing 70 in a 55.
We cannot have a bad day by making the mistake of losing control of the car at 70 MPH and plowing into a grandstand filled with Little League fans, parents and siblings.
An airline pilot can have a bad day by making the mistake of oversleeping and inconveniencing passengers with an additional hour delay while he hurries to work.
An airline pilot cannot have a bad day by making the mistake of falling asleep and accidentally sending the plane into a free fall, crashing and burning and killing hundreds of people.
A doctor can have a bad day by making the mistake of over-scheduling appointments and causing numerous people various levels of inconvenience for having to experience long and frustrating delays.
A doctor cannot have a bad day by making the mistake of replacing the wrong knee or hip of the two, writing off what turns out to be internal bleeding as indigestion...or nicking/slicing the wrong vein/artery resulting in irreparable damage or death.
A sitting President of the United States can have a bad day by making the mistake of mispronouncing simple words in a speech...closing his eyes to refresh himself as a boring meeting drones on and on....even momentarily mistaking "Stans", as in Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan....
...after all, even the sharpest of us trips over that shit from time to time.
But a sitting President of the United States cannot come to a presidential election debate, one of only two, that will be witnessed by, literally, billions of people....and millions of voters....a debate that will refuse to fade away due to 24/7 radio and television and social media...and not only appear disoriented, confused, even lethargic but give even passionate supporters concern, and pause, that, however well intended the man might be, he is clearly not a young man and is undeniably showing definitive symptoms of the mental and physical deterioration that, through no fault of our own, affects, sooner or later, us all....
...and clumsily attempt to 'excuse' that presentation by having administration media spinners try to spin it off by reminding us that....
...we're only human.
...we all mistakes.
...we all have bad days.
We, the people, have that luxury.
Those behind the wheel...in the operating room...in the cockpit...
Behind that desk in the round room at 1600 Pennsylvania.
Not so much.
Those of us with any sense...or any heart...or any soul...understand and sympathize, even empathize.
But even the most compassionate amongst us are faced with a blunt, no exception situation.
We all fear, and rightfully so, any one we have reason to believe might plow into a grandstand at 70MPH.
We all fear, and rightfully so, any doctor we have reason to believe might mistake one joint for another, misdiagnose a critical condition or mistakenly, even accidentally, nick or slice anything essential.
We all fear, and rightfully so, any pilot who we have any reason to believe might not be razor sharp, clear as crystal and always well rested and alert.
Because, and rightfully so, we all fear being run over...bleeding out in surgery...or plummeting to earth, crashing and burning to death.
All of this...especially in light of an unavoidable truth that all of us who have, do and/or have yet to witness the inevitable deterioration of those we know and/or love know....
He's not going to improve.
There is no such thing as a 'cure' for deterioration.
And it's not just unrealistic...it's, at the bedrock bottom, foolish, even dangerous...to not acknowledge that...and react accordingly.
All of that said...
The 'answer" is a billion, give or take a gazillion, miles in the other direction from...
"replace Biden with Trump"
That would be the electoral and societal equivalent of picking up a snake....
...to kill a stick.
What needs to happen is a unanimous acknowledgement and acceptance of the fact that a good and decent man has given all he has had to give in service to his country, should be rightfully held in high regard and appreciation for that service....
...and congratulated, celebrated...and deeply thanked....
...for concluding that service to his nation by making his final public act a demonstration of what another long ago leader was referring to when he took that same oath and gave a speech remembered to this day....
"...ask what you...can do for your country..."
What can you do, Joe?
What should you do?
Grasp that one, very noble, last chance to lead..
By grasping that torch the nice lady on Liberty Island would surely loan you.
And pass it on.
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