He’s staying in the race. That’s the message that Biden has delivered several times now, from the ABC News interview on Friday to recent campaign appearances to an interview on Morning Joe on Monday to a letter he sent to Congress.

And there’s no way he will get replaced by the Democratic Party, either. There’s no party mechanism for that. Plus, it would lead to chaos.

No, this is a choice he and he alone has to make.

And now I’m going to throw the worst insult at Biden that I can in modern American political times – his behavior comes off as downright Trumpian.

• The denial of evidence – in this case, of his decline
• My suspicion (and it’s only a suspicion, not much reporting in this space) of sycophantic and self-interested aides, advisors, and family
• The attacks on “elites” who question his age and capabilities (even though the majority of Americans now do)
• Claiming that only he is capable of winning (from the ABC interview – “I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me”)

The echoes of Trump here are just too loud. Apparently, like Trump, he’s the Chosen One. Biden says only a visit from the “Lord Almighty” could convince him not to run.

Joe, the Almighty Sent You Signs

I only bring up the “Almighty” comment because it seemed to get a lot of coverage. I’m not a religious person, but Biden’s line sure reminded me of a religious joke. There are a lot of variations, but it goes generally like this:

A storm descends on a small town, and the downpour soon turns into a flood. As the waters rise, the local preacher kneels in prayer on the church porch, surrounded by water. By and by, one of the townsfolk comes up the street in a canoe.

“Better get in, Preacher. The waters are rising fast.”

“No,” says the preacher. “I have faith in the Lord. He will save me.”

Still the waters rise. Now the preacher is up on the balcony, wringing his hands in supplication, when another guy zips up in a motorboat.

“Come on, Preacher. We need to get you out of here. The levee’s gonna break any minute.”

Once again, the preacher is unmoved. “I shall remain. The Lord will see me through.”

After a while the levee breaks, and the flood rushes over the church until only the steeple remains above water. The preacher is up there, clinging to the cross, when a helicopter descends out of the clouds, and a state trooper calls down to him through a megaphone.

“Grab the ladder, Preacher. This is your last chance.”

Once again, the preacher insists the Lord will deliver him. And, predictably, he drowns.

A pious man, the preacher goes to heaven. After a while he gets an interview with God, and he asks the Almighty, “Lord, I had unwavering faith in you. Why didn’t you deliver me from that flood?”

God shakes his head. “What did you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter.”

Maybe the Good Lord sent that bad debate performance, that devastating set of stairs leading up to Air Force One, the Hur Report and the subsequent gaffe during the press conference in which he mixed up Mexico and Egypt and other times he’s mixed up foreign leaders (some of them dead), those dance opportunities, and one other that really stuck with one of my sons – who, incidentally, gets to vote in his first presidential election this year.

(To be fair, I guess one could argue that the Almighty also created the teleprompter, which Biden increasingly relies on to deliver any public remarks. See how reading the Almighty tea leaves works?)

No choice? Vote Biden

Am I being harsh? Yes. But this is a moment for harshness. As we’re constantly told, our entire democracy is at stake, right?

Look, anything could still happen. Biden could stay in and start coming from behind, where he’s been stuck for a long time now. If it comes down to Biden vs. Trump, obviously vote Biden. Well, that is to say, vote for Biden’s team of advisors and quite possibly Kamala Harris.

(By the way, the Trump campaign and allies know Harris is a real possibility. She was a target in the ad Trump’s campaign ran during the debate, and now I see other prominent media figures are targeting her.)

Trump is not an option – not after what he did and failed to do on January 6. A politician who denies the validity of our electoral system and seeks to corrupt it, who ignores court findings he doesn’t like, then stokes a march on our Capitol, then does nothing when the Capitol is attacked by his supporters, then finally turns around and says he loves those supporters and will even pardon them simply should not be anywhere near the White House.

Maybe Biden can still be replaced, though. But only after he makes that choice. So I hope that he will make the right choice. And then the Democratic Party can get down to the business of solving the many other complexities involved in that.

A few random other points

Kudos to the Democrats who have spoken up. That’s very un-Trumpian. And it used to be what the Republican Party was capable of, too, just a few years ago. But now everyone just lines up with their Dear Leader.

This next thing is a point I’ve heard made on the Next Level Podcast from the Bulwark (which you should listen to and read, by the way) – especially by Tim Miller. The Biden campaign asked for that debate. They wanted a historically early debate in order to feature Biden’s readiness and Trump’s craziness. The exact opposite happened. Well done, team.

Finally, this is darkly funny – From what I can tell, January 6 has practically no salience as a voting issue. I didn’t and don’t think much of Trump, his character, or his policies. At the same time, I think there was a collective freakout in media circles that led to overbIown criticism of some of his policies. (Criticisms of his character are spot on.) But for me, January 6 should have been defining. And it just wasn’t. I don’t like this particular timeline very much…