Better late than never
For much of President Biden’s term, the New York Times latched onto the issue of his age, the one that drove concern among most of his voters, even if it was at the expense of covering everything that he actually accomplished during his term as president with just the bare minimum of Democratic support in both Houses.
It worked well at helping to shape a close horse race between President Biden and the former guy, who’s just a few years younger, even if it did no one among its subscribers a good service by ignoring the fact that Donald Trump is not only older than Joe Biden was when running for president in 2020, but that they’ve actively cleaned up some of the most demented rants he’s had this campaign cycle: like the fact that he’s spent a good deal of the campaign ranting about sharks and Hannibal Lecter.
Now, it’s at a point where they can’t ignore it – particularly leading up to the presidential debate when it seems like word of how far gone Trump is will be witnessed by a good chunk of the general public for the first time. (Bear in mind that even Trump’s die-hard fans are largely oblivious to the regular twists and turns that happen on the course of any given day.)
New York Times deserves all the scrutiny for waiting until the last minute – and roughly however few points you want to give them for finally hitting at what should have been painstakingly obvious even if Donald Trump actually had any good policy proposals as president, but the spotlight is being put on his mental health at what is definitely the worst possible time for him. Things have gotten so bad that even Trump’s handlers and the NYT can no longer do damage control to protect him – but if anything, this means we go at it with full gas – let’s run up the score – making sure Kamala Harris not only wins on Nov 5 but wins big with a Democratic trifecta to govern.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making