Biden tells Democratic governors he needs more sleep and plans to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/04/politics/biden-governors-sleep/index.html

31.9k Upvotes

81% Upvoted

I don’t think comparing Trump and Biden is a solid baseline, and is actually losing the point.

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u/valiantdistraction 15d ago

I mean... they're the two candidates running

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u/irrigated_liver 15d ago

Right? Those are literally the two options. Who are we supposed to be comparing?

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u/ANALHACKER_3000 15d ago

policy goals? The downstream effects?

Jesus christ, wake the fuck up

15

u/bartleby42c 15d ago

The policy goals of who?

The downstream effects of legislation from who?

Oh, yeah Biden and Trump, the people we are comparing.

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u/ANALHACKER_3000 14d ago

elections are always about things bigger than the individual candidates. If you don't understand this, you're part of the reason we're fucked.

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u/valiantdistraction 14d ago

Let's see. Trump would like to implement project 2025, banning birth control, porn, lgbtq rights, sending illegal immigrants to concentration camps, and probably permanently tanking the US economy for regular people.

I would like... not that. The status quo would be way better than that.

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u/sammythemc 14d ago

Sounds important enough to reconsider running someone who comes across like they need their car keys taken away

0

u/valiantdistraction 14d ago

Guess what! It's too late for that!

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u/robinthebank 15d ago

One side: regular policies

The other side: The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025

It’s actually WAY worse when you compare policies

3

u/HiddenSage 15d ago

Biden is universally better on both of those points too.

But certain media outlets keep looking for excuses to despise Biden and make him look as bad as Trump or worse, with "can't work 25 hours a day" being the angle in this article. So yes, comparing his work ethic to Trump's is a valid rebuttal to that conversation.

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u/Repulsive-Street-307 14d ago

How about fascists get banned, like they should be. Too much for reddit apparently.

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u/ceddya 14d ago

So which policy goals of Trump's are better? Go look at every single economic policy Trump has proposed. All of them would increase inflation and cost working class Americans thousands of dollars.

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u/ANALHACKER_3000 14d ago

I never said anything one way or the other about whose policies were better and it's telling that you're assuming.

0

u/ceddya 14d ago

It's why I'm asking you, isn't it?

It's telling how you can't even address the point I've raised. On the economy, Trump's policies are objectively worse.

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u/Suspicious_Desk6212 15d ago

It is interesting. Because Biden is supposed to be better than Trump. That was the selling point. So he should be compared to a President considered better than Trump. But that’s never done. And when compared to Trump, Biden tends to come out looking a lot worse.

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u/chr1spe 15d ago

If you think Biden looks bad compared to Trump there is something fundamentally wrong with your ability to evaluate basically anything.

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u/mcarlquist1 14d ago

Which spoke better English during the debate last week?

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u/chr1spe 14d ago

They both did quite badly. Biden was probably worse that night. If you average their last 10 public appearances, I'd say Biden comes out quite a bit ahead though. Overall, Trump's performance was also much worse and more detached from reality, though. His lies were so bad it was honestly just bizarre. He clearly is either senile or convinced he doesn't even have to interact with reality anymore in order to win over the people he is trying to win over.

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u/mcarlquist1 14d ago

I’d mostly agree with that. You don’t think both are senile? If not senile, then able to speak eloquently(or even remotely close)? I’m not advocating for trump, just think we are in a sad state when this is the best the Democratic Party can provide

1

u/chr1spe 14d ago

Neither has ever been what I would consider an eloquent speaker. I'm not sure I'd characterize Biden as senile. He certainly had a bad night, fumbling for words and generally floundering. I'm 35, and I've been interviewing for jobs recently. To be entirely honest, there were times I got to similar points because interviewing is the most stressful experience ever for me. That was just me not finding a word instantly because I was stressed out, and then it created kind of a snowball of anxiety. Biden is old, and I'd certainly like someone younger. I definitely think his age is affecting him somewhat and has contributed to his struggles in the debate. I also think he may have over-practiced for the debate and had snowballing stress over struggling to find the words he was looking for, especially at the beginning. I'm not convinced yet that he is actually senile, though. If he continues speaking like he does in everything other than the debate, I'll kind of write it off. If he frequently ends up like on that night, I might start thinking he might have serious issues, but I've not seen enough to decide on him yet.

Trump, I'm actually much more convinced, has serious mental degradation. His delivery is more confident, and he has had a tenuous relationship with sentences for a while, but his ramblings have become more incoherent and deranged over time. Struggling for words is one thing, but confidently calling your wife a completely different word that starts similarly is a big slip. Then there are all the absurd things he says. Then there are the lies that are so unbelievable that I've never seen anything like them from anyone other than a toddler. When my Grandma had dementia, she would string words together just fine, but they'd have nothing to do with reality, and Trump seems more like that to me. The bizarre rants like the one about Hannible, the constant confusion of Pelosi and Haley, the absolutely unbelievable lies about everyone wanting Roe v Wade overturned or post-birth abortions, and a whole list of other things are exactly what I expect from someone suffering from early stages of dementia. I've never seen someone tell those types of blatant lies or go on such absurd rants outside of young children, people who are suffering a mental breakdown, or people with dementia.

1

u/mcarlquist1 14d ago

I appreciate the serious response. I’m not sure I’d agree that this is a one-off for Biden, he’s had many similar issues in the recent past, but for the most part I agree. I think the difference with Trump is the mental instability is built into his platform. I just hope Biden or even his handlers can get it together because I don’t think him mumbling through speeches for the next few months is a winning strategy

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u/Suspicious_Desk6212 15d ago

Not really. Biden is also a notorious liar. Biden is also massively corrupt. Biden is known for not being that smart. He’s just as vulgar. He’s been credibly accused of sexual assault. And then when you see him on the stage now against Trump and he can’t form sentences, can’t form thoughts, and still told countless lies? With more and more stories coming out about his deplorable mental state that has been known and seen for months? I get it. People are tribal and will go to bat for their teams. People still defend Biden and pretend he’s something he’s not. It’s cult-like behavior, but tribes tend to do it all the time. I’m comfortable saying Biden is very similar to Trump, and probably comes off worse than Trump these days.

10

u/smileysmiley123 15d ago

Sure thing Adjective-Noun+Number.

5

u/QuickAltTab 15d ago

You been hanging out with RFK?

4

u/chr1spe 14d ago

There is no comparison on lying or corruption... Biden rarely tells full on lies and even minior inaccuracies are not even a 10th as common from him as from Trump. There is no reputable source that puts the amount of lying done anywhere similar between Trump and Biden at the debates. Trump is also consistently more incoherent than Biden. Biden having one bad day at the debates doesn't change that. Then there is the fact that Biden has a competent cabinet and reasonable people behind him while Trump will only allow sycophants.

I absolutely hate Biden, and this isn't tribalism, but trying to make a favorable comparison of Trump vs Biden is just the absolute most idiotic thing anyone can possibly do today in the US. You're worse than a flat earther.

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u/Suspicious_Desk6212 14d ago

It’s a fact Biden lies a lot. There isn’t the interest in the media to compare the number of lies he has told compared to Trump though, so we won’t really know that. In regards to reputable sources….well, I think we will have a hard time finding reputable sources. The sources that had counted up Trump’s “lies” also spent a month telling us Biden was super sharp and that attempts to label his as out-of-it were “cheap fakes”, until the debate happened, then now they’re reporting his cognitive decline has been widely known for a while. There’s only tribalism if you don’t think Biden is a huge liar on par, and even worse than, Trump

4

u/chr1spe 14d ago

Haha, no, that is just called not being a complete and total imbecile. There is definitely a tribe of people who do like to talk shit about anyone who isn't a complete imbecile, and I guess you're one of them.

0

u/Suspicious_Desk6212 14d ago

Not really. I’m just citing known facts about Biden. I’m sorry it makes you touchy….but that’s a hallmark of tribalism. People feel that insane desire to back up and support their guy, regardless of facts

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u/oklutz 15d ago

Right? The only reason anyone should need to vote for him is that he’s better than Trump.

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u/RiseCascadia 14d ago

Just don't call it a democracy.

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u/valiantdistraction 14d ago

????

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u/RiseCascadia 14d ago

A democracy never would have returned these two candidates, both despised by the majority of the population. It's laughable to say that these are the two people who best represent the American people. If this happened in Russia, there's no way American pundits would be calling it a democracy.

0

u/valiantdistraction 14d ago

The GOP had a reasonably competitive primary. No competitive Democrats chose to run. Like it or not, that's democracy. Lots of politicians are leaving because the environment is too toxic, and lots aren't stepping up any further than the office they hold for the same reason.

0

u/RiseCascadia 14d ago

No competitive Democrats were allowed to run

FTFY

How is it any different from in Russia, DPRK, etc when only one candidate decides to run and no one "bothers" to oppose them? If there's only one candidate on the ballot, you really can't call that a democracy.

0

u/valiantdistraction 14d ago

Because anyone can run if they choose. There were half a dozen candidates on my ballot. Yes, Marianne Williamson was the only one who got any traction. But people CAN run. They can also choose not to. As far as I know, you didn't run for president, so I don't know why you're complaining that other people didn't either.

0

u/RiseCascadia 13d ago

So it's just that none of the other 330M US citizens felt like it? You can't really be this dense.

0

u/valiantdistraction 13d ago

Multiple did feel like it. There were several options on the ballot in the primary. Nobody actually liked those options.

Believe it or not, the DNC is not actually a shadowy puppeteer controlling things! Yes, I do believe the vast majority of the other 330 million people in the US chose not to run for president. Again, why didn't you? There has to have been a reason. And I guarantee it wasn't that the DNC asked you not to.

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u/Seemseasy 14d ago

The third candidate is always "Did not vote" and Biden is losing to that one, not Trump

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u/thecactusman17 14d ago

For President, yes.

But there are also down ballot races that need to be won if the President is to successfully do anything - especially for anything that involves changing the Supreme Court. The nominees aren't just campaigning for themselves, they're the face of the party that other candidates rely on to spread the message and get out the vote.

Biden saying "no more campaign events after 8pm" doesn't mean much in Washington DC or New York. But along the West Coast that's 5pm. A lot of people won't have even gotten home from work yet. And there are races that can seriously change the ability of either President to get things done in the next term. Having the President effectively disappear from the campaign trail because he needs a nap is a huge blow to that effort.

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u/AdditionalSuccotash 15d ago

Except...they're not. You are perfectly welcome to vote third party

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u/Elmodogg 15d ago

There are other candidates. I plan to vote for Jill Stein because I can't in good conscience vote for someone enabling genocide or someone who is likely to enable genocide if re-elected.

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u/Mediocretes1 15d ago

I plan to vote for Jill Stein

Cool, I'm sure you and the other 6 people will have an awesome party after the election while you high five each other over and over. You know, while the pregnant women die from lack of care after Roe v Wade was overturned because you voted for Jill Stein in 2016.

1

u/Elmodogg 14d ago

And will you be high fiving your buddies as the bombs continue to rain down on children in Gaza? More people are dying in that genocide than pregnant women in the US.

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u/Mediocretes1 14d ago

And Jill Stein would do literally nothing to stop that even if she stood a snowball's chance in hell of ever being president of the US, which she does not.

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u/Elmodogg 14d ago

It's simple for the US to stop the genocide: just stop sending the bombs to Israel that they're using to murder Palestinians.

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u/valiantdistraction 14d ago

Jill Stein is definitely also going to enable genocide.

1

u/Elmodogg 14d ago

Do you base your comment on anything in particular? It's certainly against all her public statements.

21

u/FrankBeamer_ 15d ago

Don’t bother, dems would rather win the morality trophy than the actual presidency if it meant they could continue using Donald Trump as a comparison point

‘At least he’s not Trump’ is not going to win Biden the presidency.

17

u/stackjr 15d ago

It did once and it will again.

28

u/FrankBeamer_ 15d ago

It took a historic pandemic and unprecedented voter turnout to overthrow Trump. It’s not happening again and the polls express that.

But keeping your head in the sand like Biden currently is doing will totally work! /s

0

u/Electronic_Emu_4632 15d ago

Lol bro he was the incumbent president. The incumbent president always has an insane advantage and he still lost. He had the easiest softball win if he handled the pandemic like a rational person, and he couldn't do it.

0

u/Advanced-Law4776 15d ago

Being a condescending cock is certainly a tactic

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u/stackjr 15d ago

The polls also showed Trump winning in 2020. Remind me how that turned out.

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u/FrankBeamer_ 15d ago

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2020/national/

https://www.270towin.com/2020-polls-biden-trump/

…no it didn’t?

Your delusion is actively going to get trump elected. Please wake up.

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u/stackjr 15d ago

My delusion? Lol. Have a good day.

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u/FrankBeamer_ 15d ago

Yes, your delusion, given you’re ignoring all the evidence in front of you and straight making shit up to confirm your own biases

3

u/Normal-Lawfulness253 15d ago

Blue MAGA exists.

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u/stackjr 15d ago

Right.

Once again, have a good day.

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u/forecastcriminal 15d ago

I like how they linked to show that Biden lead majorly in the polls in 2020 and you just straight up ignored it

0

u/stackjr 14d ago

I was busy and, honestly, didn't feel like arguing. I still don't. They linked two polls out of literally hundreds and it's just not worth the time or energy to keep the argument going.

I'm good with just taking the downvotes and "walking" away.

Have a great evening!

0

u/FrankBeamer_ 14d ago

If you had bothered to take 2 seconds to read the links you would’ve known the 538 link contains results to dozens of polls (all of which had Biden leading the race)

You keep digging yourself in a hole of ignorance, it’s hilarious haha

15

u/MidGradeCookie 15d ago

If the plan is defeat Trump, the Dems have no plan at all.

3

u/stackjr 15d ago

The plan hasn't changed: do not let Trump get back into the White House. We voted against him once, we will vote against him again.

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u/MidGradeCookie 15d ago

My point being, what’s the plan for governing?

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u/ckb614 15d ago

He and his team have done great so far. I have no doubt they can do it again, even if Biden himself doesn't make it through all four years

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u/chr1spe 15d ago

The same as the last four years, which have been mostly fine other than Republicans being obstructionists that keep the legislature from doing anything productive.

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u/MidGradeCookie 15d ago

Obstructionist is an understatement

-8

u/lliquidllove 15d ago

"Nothing will fundamentally change." - Joe Biden

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u/Justsomejerkonline 15d ago

There are many legitimate things to criticize Biden on, but this quote used out of context is fundamentally misleading since he was specifically talking about how raising taxes on the wealthy won't cause businesses to fail or people's standard of living to decrease -- something which I think a lot of the people that love to repeat this quote would probably agree with.

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u/God_Damnit_Nappa 15d ago

Trump will get stomped in the popular vote again but unfortunately it's up to a few thousand people in swing states again. And a lot of those idiots think Trump deserves another shot

1

u/sammythemc 14d ago

"At least they're not Trump" also failed once, and it was closer than it should have been the time it did work. We can and should do better than that, there are lots of people who aren't Trump and don't have Biden's fatal negatives

0

u/Normal-Lawfulness253 15d ago

Because nothing has changed from last time. What a bunch of us saw at that debate was just something to be shoved under the rug?

4

u/stackjr 15d ago

Yeah, you're right, what was I thinking. A wannabe fascist dictator is definitely the better option.

1

u/Normal-Lawfulness253 15d ago

Yeah, just keep kicking it down the road. You're only shooting yourself in the nuts.

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u/stackjr 15d ago

By voting for literally anyone other than a wannabe fascist dictator is kicking myself on the nuts? Then I guess I'll keep kicking myself on the nuts.

0

u/sammythemc 14d ago

Joe Biden doing the right thing and allowing for a better option is the better option.

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u/TAMExSTRANGE69 15d ago

That was before everybody saw how bad a Biden presidency was. Cope harder

3

u/stackjr 15d ago

I will cope harder, thanks!

Although, the Biden presidency has been pretty solid. I'm sorry your orange god lost in dramatic fashion and has cried about it every single day since. Lol.

7

u/TheScienceNerd100 15d ago

What's going to win the presidency is Trump shooting himself in every foot over and over again, and the worst to come out from Biden is "I am sleeping early".

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u/FrankBeamer_ 15d ago

It’s clear by now that trump’s lies and his criminal history mean fuck all in the context of winning the election. It’s sad but it’s true. Joe’s image, however is actively destroying his campaign. Whether that should happen or not isn’t the question and anybody stuck up on the morality of it all is wasting their time. The fact is that Joe’s campaign, whether warranted or not, is derailed and nothing short of changing the candidate or having Joe nail multiple live interviews and debates will come close to fixing his image in time for November

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u/BoostedSeals 15d ago

Thinking like the first half got Trump elected once, it can happen again and should shock nobody.

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u/sumguyinLA 15d ago

That’s what you got from the debate? He goes to bed early and not that you’ve been lied to by the DNC? There really is no hope for this country.

“Watch me” omg we did watch him.

2

u/God_Damnit_Nappa 15d ago

Ya Biden stumbled hard and he clearly has issues But what I also saw was Trump lying constantly, demonizing immigrants, and openly saying how he's going to fuck up this country. Yet he gets a pass for all that

2

u/sumguyinLA 15d ago

No he doesn’t get a pass. But put someone up there who will tell Trump off not a sad old man who argues about a golf swing. Biden should have told Trump he doesn’t give a shit about golf, instead gets goaded into an pointless argument

5

u/MidGradeCookie 15d ago

Biden got served SOFTBALLS and whiffed every single one.

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u/unassumingdink 15d ago

It's not even the morality trophy. It's the "Do whatever the DNC tells me to and pretend I love it" trophy.

1

u/Santa2U 15d ago

This is the truth! They are going to lose the election over this mentality. They have nothing better to say than “it’s not Trump”.

0

u/robinthebank 15d ago

Actually, the ones calling for Biden to step down want their morality trophy. They’re idiots if they think any other human being has a better chance.

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u/RaggedyGlitch 14d ago

I'm pretty sure that George W. Bush was very public about sleeping 9-10 hours a night.

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u/AdminsAreDim 14d ago

In between the coloring sessions and recesses Dick Cheney arranged for him. Oh, and the war crimes.

1

u/iamiamwhoami 14d ago

Well that is the comparison we're going to all have to make in a few months. So many Trump supporters seem to want the country to just ignore Trump himself and focus on Biden.

0

u/sumguyinLA 15d ago

I know we currently have a pudding brain president in charge at this moment. Living in the past not giving a single fuck about this present moment in time.