# Biden considering dropping out (Update: Biden drops out) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 3, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690 "2024-07-03T16:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 56
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1101 "2024-07-13T05:16:56Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It’s highly unlikely that party members were unaware of Biden’s declining mental state. There is zero evidence that Biden has a “declining mental state”, especially compared to this motherfucker; > ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1102 "2024-07-13T05:30:19Z")
Is there the _slightest_ chance you may be ignoring the orange wooly mammoth in the room when it comes to declining mental stability? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1103 "2024-07-13T05:31:56Z")
Those are two separate issues. Is Biden in a better place, cognitively, than Trump? Almost certainly. Is Biden experiencing some cognitive decline? Quite possibly. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1104 "2024-07-13T05:32:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is there the _slightest_ chance you may be ignoring the orange wooly mammoth in the room when it comes to declining mental stability? The thread is about Biden losing to the orange wooly mammoth. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1105 "2024-07-13T05:36:27Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Is Biden in a better place, cognitively, than Trump? Almost certainly. Then that’s what matters and that’s the message Democrats need to hammer on for the next four months. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1106 "2024-07-13T05:42:15Z")
You do not seem to understand that some people will vote third party or stay home rather than vote for a candidate they perceive to be weak. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1107 "2024-07-13T05:46:02Z")
I understand it perfectly, which is why Democrats need to support Biden in fighting back against that perception. Continuing to attack him and play into Trump talking points isn’t going to change his mind about staying in the race, it’ll just encourage people to do as you say. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1108 "2024-07-13T05:47:15Z")
There is no possible way you can cater to everyone’s desires, and attempting to do so is a sure path to disaster. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1109 "2024-07-13T07:46:51Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > > [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > > > But if you’re saying that in the past he’s been 1) misidentifying world leaders, and 2) misidentifying the Vice President, then that’s news to me. However, the argument that he’s been senile for decades doesn’t fill me with hope on the prospects of his future performance. > > The past really doesn’t matter much. It’s the present that counts. If he’s making pretty obvious misidentifications now, what makes you think that would decrease in the future? He’s done hid time, he served well, but now it’s time to read the room. Hubris is the downfall of many an otherwise great man. I agree with most of that, except the part about the past. Just as in natural sciences, the past matters a great deal when what you’re trying to measure is rate of change. > [@Smapti](#): > > [x.com](https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1811424919294709833) That’s a great video. Trump’s mental decline is much harder to gauge because his congitive abilities have always been abysmal to begin with, so his acolytes don’t expect anything better than the same blather they’ve always heard. Trump is also, admittedly, physically robust for his age. Put those two things together, and the perception is simply this: Trump is just Trump, while Biden is old and frail. That video just underscores what an idiot Trump is. Hardly anyone is going to see it, and fewer still will be influenced by it. To those who can read polls, the need to replace Biden – a great and accomplished elder statesman now well past his prime – is overwhelmingly clear. (Or as Bill Maher put it last night, Biden just presents as “old” – he gives off vibes of “grandpa’s last Christmas”.) ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1110 "2024-07-13T10:37:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > Remember that Biden had, as common with politicians, facial plastic surgery. > > Cite? By the preponderance of the evidence: [Is Trump the Driving Force Behind D.C.'s Plastic Surgery Boom? Why politicians on Capitol Hill are all going under the knife.](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a10378996/dc-plastic-surgery-boom/) Suppose that this was a normal election and Biden was as sharp mentally as he was in 2020, while still physically an octogenarian. Wouldn’t we all realize that it is was more sensible to have a Rose Garden campaign? Trump showboats while Biden delivers. Showing there are good days and bad is a problem, not a strategy. Having Biden prove something that all, excepting some of his supporters, know is not true — he being as sharp as ever — helps nothing. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1111 "2024-07-13T10:40:39Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > To those who can read polls, the need to replace Biden – a great and accomplished elder statesman now well past his prime – is overwhelmingly clear. This is not what the polls say. The polls are mixed at best. We’re all guessing here – there’s no obvious and clear way forward. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1112 "2024-07-13T11:55:11Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > By the preponderance of the evidence I’m sorry, really sorry as I don’t care about plastic surgery one way or the other, so maybe my sorry is that I wasted my time looking at your link … but exactly what evidence do you imagine is in that article? > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Suppose that this was a normal election and Biden was as sharp mentally as he was in 2020, while still physically an octogenarian. Wouldn’t we all realize that it is was more sensible to have a Rose Garden campaign? No, we would not. Very much not. We would expect the lots of rallies in battleground states. Lots of rallies exactly like what he just delivered. He would in that case as much as now be seen in the places that matter bringing the fire. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1113 "2024-07-13T12:12:02Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Honestly, his activities today–releasing that letter, going on some radio show–are what I want to see. If he’s out there fighting, that’s basically what needs to happen. I am less sure this afternoon than I was this morning that he should drop out. As an update–five days later, and I think he’s doing what he needs to do to win. I hope other Democrats can see this, and be reassured. That debate was fucking awful, but it looks like Biden can do better, and is doing better. The name slip-ups _really_ don’t concern me, nor do things like “we beat Medicare.” Verbal gaffes just aren’t the issue. It’s the sense that he’s not got a train of thought at all that’s concerning; and his detailed answers at the press conference gave the lie to that. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1114 "2024-07-13T12:20:34Z")
I’ll give him a week to pick up. Then I will quit compalining about possible quitting. This is going quite nicely with the GOP convention. Biden can grab a lot of news during the Milwaukee nazi rally. “Biden shows remarkable recovery.” ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1115 "2024-07-13T12:26:35Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The name slip-ups _really_ don’t concern me, nor do things like “we beat Medicare.” Verbal gaffes just aren’t the issue. As someone who is also seeing his recent performances and panicking a bit less, I also don’t get too concerned about his baseline slip ups, but the Medicare bit was different. That blank stare was like his brain went off line. Again, as a one off bad day? There will be recency salience by the time of the election. We just need to KNOW it’s not a pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1116 "2024-07-13T12:35:40Z")
Where in that article is there _any_ evidence that Biden has had plastic surgery? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1117 "2024-07-13T13:17:00Z")
Didn’t Biden break the [railroad union strike](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/)? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1118 "2024-07-13T13:27:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Didn’t Biden break the [railroad union strike](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/)? For the house’s consideration: > “We’re thankful that the Biden administration played the long game on sick days and stuck with us for months after Congress imposed our updated national agreement,” Russo said. “Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers. > **[‘We Never Stopped Applying Pressure’: Hard-Fought Success on Rail Sick Days](https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid)** > > After months of negotiations, the IBEW’s Railroad members at four of the largest U.S. freight carriers finally have what they’ve long sought but that many working people take for granted: paid sick days. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1119 "2024-07-13T13:30:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It’s highly unlikely that party members were unaware of Biden’s declining mental state. A primary debate would have given people the chance to see it. Or he would have wiped the floor with his opponents. You’re working under the assumption that bad debate Biden is the true Biden and that any evidence to the contrary, such as his fiery performance at yesterday’s rally, is an outlier to be ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690/1120 "2024-07-13T13:47:51Z")
Or that whatever Biden’s “state” is now that it would have been identically represented in the primary season. Any confidence about hypothetical outcomes is wildly misplaced, regardless of what one thinks the best path forward is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690.md?page=55) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biden-considering-dropping-out-update-biden-drops-out/1003690.md?page=57)