Dear Joe,
Please understand that this message comes from someone who honors all that you are and all that you have accomplished. You got this country back on track after four disastrous years. You led with integrity and professionalism, and you restored dignity to your office. You saved us.
But you are no longer up for the job of either running for office or serving in it. You appear frail, navigating stairs carefully and with assistance and struggling to lower into a chair. You visibly struggle to articulate your thoughts. You frequently appear confused. You appear unfit for the office.
I don’t know what it is like to be your age. But I am old enough (53 y/o) to know what it is to feel younger than my years, to believe I appear younger than my age to others, and to be shocked when confronted with the fact that, nope, others think I am just as old as I am, if not older. The “me” in my mind’s eye does not match the face in the mirror or the body on the scale. Mr. President, you have to accept that who you may feel like is not who you look like to the American people who will decide the next election.
In 2016 and 2020, I regarded the presidential election with anxiety. In 2024, my anxiety has been displaced by fear. I’m not alone: so many folks I speak with are truly, viscerally afraid that a Trump victory means that someday historians will write about the United States of 2024 the same way they wrote about 1933 Germany, 1968 Czechoslovakia, 1973 Chile. If this suburban, middle-aged white lady and her friends are this scared, can you imagine how terrified truly vulnerable Americans are? This fear is not the exclusive domain of US citizens: the global implications of a Biden defeat are enormous and terrible.
Mr. President, you have done so much for this country through your service. Now you can serve your country best by stepping aside and throwing your support behind a qualified candidate. We, the electorate, in turn must commit to putting aside our various purity tests and get right behind that candidate with you. But it’s in your hands first. Be our Washington, be our Cincinnatus, be the great man that we need right now and do this for the country we love and the world we live in.
Sincerely,
Renee A. Sutton
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I’m baffled by Jim’s comment that Biden’s “physical stamina and health is good compared to Trump”. Most of Biden’s most ardent supporters would not agree with that quote.
A heartfelt and intelligent article. However, I disagree. Biden’s physical stamina and health is good compared to Trump and one debate is not the measure. Please see Trump’s remarks at any rally and one will see he is dumb, a liar, and a psychopath. His criminal history is over 50 years old, not just recent. There have been quite a few books documenting this history of Trump. Biden’s term is historical bringing the country and the world out of a worldwide pandemic, recession, and worldwide inflation. In spite of all that, there are two reasons I would vote for anyone but Trump. He was supported publicly in 2016 by the KKK and the American Nazi Party. My parent’s generation would describe a despicable person as someone who would steal candy from a baby. Trump and his family are not allowed to run a charity in NY because he and his family stole seven figures from kids with cancer. The Trumps STOLE FROM CHILDREN WITH CANCER!
I’m not surprised that it took the media this long to catch on to Biden’s dementia and frailties. He showed these characteristics in 2020 when he campaigned from his basement. In general, the media covered for Joe Biden as part of his campaign propagandists. It’s hilarious that the article compared Biden to George Washington. The Biden family has taken payments from Communist China and other foreign countries in conjunction with convicted felon, Hunter Biden. Joe Biden and his administration is responsible for the invasion of millions of illegal aliens, inflation, Ukraine crisis, loss of energy independence, targeting of political opponents, chaos in the Middle East, yada, yada, yada, Anyway, Joe Biden is no George Washington!
The claim isn’t that Biden is a George Washington, but that he take Washington’s lead and step aside. (Funny during his acceptance speech the Former President claimed to have been the greatest president ever. Better than Washington? Lincoln? FDR? Really?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc5NgBZXdtI
And what to make of the claim that he thinks he’s the leader of the greatest movement in history? More than the end of slavery?
The Revolution?
Really?
Whatever Biden’s issues are he never claimed to be greater than Washington or Lincoln.
Trump also has claimed he has been treated worse than any President, including Lincoln. Does he know Lincoln and several other Presidents were murdered? If he does, then is he such a narcissist (psycho) that he thinks people saying they don’t like him is worse than the murder of others? He set a record at the convention with over a ninety-minute acceptance speech. Listen to the last hour of that speech and then tell me who is not mentally competent to be President.
This article may be sincere, but it is chock full of ironies that are awash in this situation today. First of all, everybody seems to be political consultants here, they say they can foresee the results of the next election , and instead of being concerned for the Country or for the President himself , they say he should do this or that to keep a certain other individual from being selected by the people to be President. (Seems to be misplaced priorities that are not in our best interests). Not to mention, that just 3 weeks ago and before, we were told and the media /Beltway complex seemed to concur that our President was “sharp as a tack” etc, and that any evidence that bucked that narrative was a “cheap fake”. The author referenced 1933 Germany, what I just described here is a propaganda operation (voluntarily participated in by a supposedly “free” and private press) that Mr Goebbels would be envious of. The only thing that changed was the CNN debate which seemed to be a Emperor wears no Clothes bucket of cold water dumped on everyone. Suddenly, the media , and several talking heads in the DNC now see the need for a replacement? There was a DNC primary process here, supposedly with rank-and-file voting. Isn’t overturning that a “threat to Democracy”? Biden has lost George Clooney? Is that actually important? Who made him a King maker? Chris Matthews opined recently that Mr Obama & Mrs Pelosi were mistreating Joe w/ a palace coup of sorts, and that if they fail there will be “revenge” by the rank-and-file. (Isn’t that “retribution” that these people seem to fret about?). Mr Biden can take care of himself. What I’m worried about is the disaster in Afghanistan, chaos in Gaza (where there are US hostage’s still being held since Oct) this sure ain’t Cronkite’s media where the Iran hostages were referenced daily on the news. US Viet Nam type involvement in Ukraine against a major nuke power? Now we know the Media (exception for the Beacon) is corrupt and worthless. What else don’t we know? These are the rarely mentioned things that concern me. Joe isn’t going anywhere. The DNC hasn’t fired anyone since MacArthur (& Mac was a Repub). The author references 1968 Czechoslovakia, odd since that was a Russian invasion, LBJ ignored it at the time because it was in the Russian sphere of influence (and he wisely wanted to avoid conflict with them). Speaking of Truman, I’ll end w/ a quote ” the cause of world peace is more important than any individual.”
Regarding the DNC convention, primary elections are votes for delegates involved in a party-rules selection process. That is very different than election denial or overturning an election. The DNC recognizes that Biden would need to step down. That is fundamentally different than overturning an election. Yes, we are beyond Cronkite’s days when conventions were filled with anticipation of who the candidates would be. Those days went away with the primary process we undergo today.
I beg to differ. You said it. Primaries are “elections” , they are held on a “election” day, the voters have to meet voter registration requirements to vote in them. The voters vote for delegates that are committed to a specific candidate per the Party rules. ( I could argue my opinion that it is a rigged system per the Superdelegates [ask Hillary how that worked for her in ’08] and that this process illustrates how the DNC doesn’t even trust its own rank-and-file voters, but I won’t) Thus “managing” the Democrat nomination results long after the fact is Election Interference. My reference to Cronkite was not his convention coverage, but all of the news networks insistence at that time to keep the US Iranian Hostages in the forefront of the news, unlike today while American citizens are held captive in Gaza, that story seems to be swept under the rug.
I see the merit to your argument. You make good points. The difference may be in what we define as election interference. I’m not convinced that asking a candidate to step aside for the good of the party and country (accurate or not) qualifies the same as asking election officials to break laws or presenting fake electors. I’m not a fan of the primary system in either party.
Saved us? From what? Regarding a Trump victory, is this writer forgetting that the sky didn’t fall from 2017-2020? In fact, overall things got better (e.g., low inflation, no wars, border control) yet people like this refuse to look at FACTS and let emotions drive their attitudes. I vote on policies not personality and hope that others will too.
A million Americans died of COVID.
People were unable to leave their homes or go to work.
The man heading the country refused to acknowledge the dead and grieving.
Hospitals were overwhelmed and doctors and nurses couldn’t get PPE.
It was the worst time in America since the 1960s if not the 1940s. We couldn’t even buy toilet paper. But I’m glad the pandemic didn’t personally touch you. Other people in this community were not so fortunate.
You seem to forget that COVID responses were primarily determined by the state…and, in New York, Governor Cuomo had one of the absolute worse records relative to how he handled the virus. On a Federal level, Trump did a number of things to aid with combatting the issues including sending Navy ships to areas hard hit. Here’s a reminder in case you forgot: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/18/trump-navy-ship-coronavirus-new-york-harbor-135732
So if it makes you feel better to blame Trump – that’s fine – yet making the statement “glad the pandemic didn’t personally touch you” is ridiculous. Clearly no one escaped the devastating effects of the pandemic.
Help me here Katerina, I seem to remember we had a president establish a national security team specifically tasked to plan and prepare for pandemics. Then the following president dissolved it before Covid hit. The president who dissolved the pandemic preparation organization also suggested the pandemic was “like the flu” and would pass in few weeks. That same president also suggested that doctors could just inject bleach into our lungs (which caused the death of MAGA folks who drank bleach after hearing him), or take medications intended for horses with worms. So, the policies you’re favoring are to be ill-prepared, misinformative, and to follow unhinged medical advice?
Again, some facts, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7685699/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
Appreciated the reference to George Washington. Well done.
Brilliantly stated, Renee! No matter how many press conferences he now has, referring to Pres. Zelensky as Putin and Vice President Harris as Trump, Americans will not forget the image he presented as a frail, pale deer in the headlights that fateful night of the debate. It angers me that his family and handlers have kept us from the truth.
Russian disinformation, attempting to manipulate the outcome of the election? I thought The Rochester Beacon was a safe haven, where we would enjoy journalistic integrity and credibility. OMG! We are all doomed.:-)
Early April Fools.
Biden saved us? From what?
I’d ask the parents of innocent young women, murdered by illegal aliens, how they feel about this statement. Biden has allowed millions of unvetted people into this country. There is nothing safe about that.
Lest we forget Biden’s leadership in our economic recovery, (we’re doing better than anyone else since the pandemic), the reduction in crime including violent crime, fewer mass shootings, and a long overdue infrastructure bill, the reason we didn’t get immigration reform is Trump blocked reform that congress was ready to pass with bipartisan support. Want to blame someone for lax immigration look no further than Trump.
Here are the facts: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/violent-crime-falling-nationwide-heres-how-we-know#:~:text=The%20broad%20trend%20matches%20what,crime%20(down%204.3%20percent).
https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-us-economy-in-global-context
Here’s a fact check on the immigration reform Trump opposed.
https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/unraveling-misinformation-about-bipartisan-immigration-bill/
Sorry, the lack of reform is on Trump.
Thank you for using facts Mr. Pudup, unlike some comments.
Thanks for this, Renee. He may not read it, but others will. By making your thoughts known, and by others who read them speaking out in kind, you will be heard.