Trump has always had the same idea. But he’s never really pretended to be anything other than a narcissist. Self-absorption isn’t just a byproduct for Trump; it’s the whole deal. You, Joe, you sold yourself as something better. You’ve always said that this isn’t about you, that you are fighting for the survival of this beautiful experiment in democracy and pluralism. That is why your grubby determination to hold onto power at all costs, even if it is simply for a short ride to a humbling electoral defeat, is ultimately loathsome.

You say you made a “mistake” in your debate performance against Trump, and you have pledged to do better. But what America saw for 90 minutes on June 27 wasn’t a “mistake”—though, to be fair, you made your share of factual “mistakes” in your hard-to-follow comments—it was a textbook example of the ravages of time, the all-too-predictable consequence of putting up an 81-year-old for reelection to the toughest job on earth. What the world saw was a very old man grasping for basic answers, floundering in presenting his ideas, unable to project himself physically or mentally.

I’m not a doctor and wouldn’t presume to make a diagnosis. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. The public now has the perception that age has gotten the better of you—and that’s a perception pretty much impossible to shake. You could wrestle alligators and come out victorious—the public will still see your frozen face and hear your stumbling, incoherent debate answers. And you will still, in consequence, lose millions of votes from people who otherwise would be voting Democrat in November—citizens who are longing to vote for the Democrats if only the party can present a credible presidential candidate.

There’s no shame in getting old. You’ve had a phenomenal run at the center of power for more than half a century. You won the presidential election in one of the darkest moments in US history, and you have spent the past four years pushing for, and often getting, vital social reforms and public investments. You have placed liberal justices up and down the judicial system. You have done more to address climate change than any other president. You have done more to protect LGBTQ rights than any of your predecessors. You have every right to consider these four years a personal and political triumph.

But there is a tremendous shame in trying to hoodwink the public, in claiming all is right in Bidenworld when that’s clearly not the case, and in putting yourself above the interests of the greater community. Joe, what, for example, was that Parkinson’s expert doing consulting with your physician time and again these past several months? Joe, how does a cold, or jet lag, or staying up late—or any of the other half-baked excuses your team keeps coming up with to explain away your debate disaster—turn you into the confused wreck on display two weeks ago? How does telling your staff that you need more sleep and can’t schedule events past 8 pm put to rest public doubts about your stamina and your mental acuity?

Four years ago, Joe, you became a true American hero in defeating Trump. Now, in your egoistic inability to gracefully leave the stage, you are all but guaranteeing another Trump administration. Each day that you stay on you make it more likely that the worst president in living memory will occupy the White House again come January. At this point, Joe, you are behaving in a more egomaniacal manner than Trump. The vast majority of your own supporters want you to step aside for someone younger. In not listening to them, in daring them to try to force you out, in pitting yourself against not just your political enemies but your erstwhile friends too, you are holding the country’s future to ransom.

Joe, I say this with all due respect: It’s time. The elephants on the River Kwai have found retirement to have its blessings. I’m sure you, too, could find ways, other than permanently hogging the political spotlight, to enjoy your twilight years. You have a choice, and it’s pretty clear: Retire now, and your legacy will be secure. Continue what has become a quixotic campaign for reelection, and you will trigger an electoral defeat of utterly catastrophic dimensions. The stakes—for your own legacy as well as for the public well-being—are simply too high for such a gamble to have legitimacy. Surely, Joe, you don’t want to go down in history as one of America’s most tragic, unsympathetic and, ultimately, hated of figures.

Yours,
Sasha Abramsky