In one memorable scene in the classic Marx Brothers comedy movie Duck Soup, Chico Marx asks a skeptical costar: “Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”

In the movie, that was funny. In real life it is not.

In the 2024 presidential election, there have been several pivotal events with many more likely. One of the most consequential pivotable events was the June 27th presidential debate. In a world where consensus in the political arena is an increasingly rare occurrence, there is almost universal consensus that President Biden’s debate performance was very poor. The reasons given were simply not credible and made a bad situation for President Biden worse.

Even before the debate was held there were questions over Mr. Biden’s physical and mental ability to serve a second term. After the debate, that issue was largely settled.

Despite efforts by his campaign staff, White House staff, his family, and a substantial number of his supporters to explain away or minimize Biden’s debate performance as a one-off experience, that debate ignited a political firestorm. In relatively short order, there was a massive and measurable drop off in public support, donor support, and Democratic Party support for Biden. 

That ultimately led to Biden’s sudden and unexpected July 21st announcement that he was withdrawing from seeking reelection. The aftershocks from that decision are still being felt.

Questions are still being raised about the timing of his announcement and his ability to perform the duties of his office until his term ends in January.

I suggest there are two much larger questions that should not and cannot be ignored. 

One is who to trust going forward on campaign messages from former Biden supporters who vigorously defended him until they suddenly chose not to defend him. 

Voters also need to know what did former Biden supporters know and when did they know it?

Are we going to trust President Biden’s White House staff or his former campaign staff? Are we to going to trust the many elected officials who steadfastly maintained Biden was physically and mentally healthy and deserved reelection? Are we going to trust any members of the President’s cabinet who, to a person, publicly and unequivocally maintained that he was doing an excellent job? Are we to going to trust the Vice President?

All of them have varying degrees of culpability in denying or minimizing suggestions from anyone who expressed concerns on the steady deterioration of President Biden’s mental and physical health.
Perhaps most troubling, are the reasons given by so many of President Biden’s supporters just before he suddenly stepped down from his reelection bid.

They said he needed to step down because he could not win reelection. They also said his candidacy would hurt Democratic candidates in competitive U.S. House and U.S Senate races. 

What they were really saying was keeping him in office was more important than an honest appraisal of his ability to effectively perform in what is the most challenging and consequential job in the world.
In almost every post-debate poll, large numbers of the American public (Democrats, Republicans, and Independents) did not feel Joe Biden should run for a second term. 

They did so after they watched, listened to and/or read about President Biden’s debate performance. They decided they could no longer believe all they were told pre-debate, but did believe what they personally saw, heard, or read about his performance at the debate.

Only when polling showed a drastic collapse in voter confidence in President Biden, did his longtime supporters and the much of the media decide it was time for a new candidate. These longtime supporters were all in on him running for reelection until they were all in on him not running for reelection.
Americans need to know who promoted and allowed an elderly and increasingly ill person who is clearly in need of help and compassion, to become a shell of his former self.

Just as importantly, Americans need to know why? Did they want and need a malleable person in the Oval Office to take and execute orders without questioning or even fully understanding them? Their actions were nothing less than elder abuse and were a grave disservice to America. 

Regarding a once robust elderly person’s irreversible mental and physical decline, I have personal experience as do countless others with aging family members. My father suffered from the ravages of dementia for almost ten years prior to his death. His mental decline was not subtle or slow. His family did not need a physician to confirm what was obvious. 

We knew early in his decline he needed to be placed under medical care to prevent him from causing serious harm to himself and to others. As is often the case with dementia, he did not realize that reality and fought us regularly on any suggestions that he needed to leave his home to be in an assisted living facility. We prevailed. As difficult as it was, we knew it was the right thing to do and we did what needed to be done, when it needed to be done.

The lesson learned is simple. 

Between now and the November election, be very suspicious of any messages from those who were not forthright in their previous and often disdainful responses to countless concerns raised about President Biden’s health issues. We now know their previous messages simply did not match what many of us saw with our own eyes before and during the June 27th debate.

David Reel is a public affairs/public relations consultant who serves as a trusted advisor on strategy, advocacy, and media matters. Born and raised in Harrisburg, he was formerly active in the government and political arenas in Harrisburg and Philadelphia. He now lives and works from Easton on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.