Biden’s hole card has always been Trump’s manifest unfitness for office. Realizing that, the man on golf cart and his party have been struggling to find reasons to argue that Biden was equally unfit over the last few years. The most obvious example of this was the abortive attempt by House Republicans to get enough votes to impeach the president. None of it succeeded with anyone except the Fox News crowd until the debate.
Today, when Biden argues that Trump is a criminal and a potential dictator, the GOP can credibly respond that Biden is not physically or mentally up to the job. Expect to see commercials to that effect on regular rotation between now and November. As of today, the voters seem to agree; don’t expect that to change anytime soon. A dictator, in the eyes of swing voters, may be a safer bet in a dangerous world than a man whose lucid periods reportedly end in the late afternoon.
If Biden remains in the race, which seems inevitable at this point, his argument on fitness will fall on deaf ears, which will only leave him with differences with Trump on policy. An energetic candidate might be able to win on that alone, given the obvious weaknesses in the Trump agenda. Is Biden up to that task? Given that he plans to cut back on his schedule in order to avoid more public senior moments, the obvious answer to the question is no.