One year ago today, America witnessed what may have been the most spectacular act of political self-destruction since Gary Hart’s collapse in 1987. For those of you who don’t remember, Hart was the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, but persistent rumors about his womanizing threatened to derail his campaign. Instead of lying low, he arrogantly dared the press: “Follow me around. I don’t care. They’ll be very bored.” It was practically a challenge, and reporters didn’t hesitate.
Not long after, the Miami Herald caught Hart aboard a yacht called Monkey Business with a young woman named Donna Rice, who was not his wife. The photos were devastating: Hart in a T-shirt, Rice sitting on his lap. The scandal erupted instantly, and within days, Hart’s campaign was over.
Joe Biden’s arrogance, like Hart’s, also caused his downfall. After dodging Donald Trump’s debate challenges, Biden tried to turn the tables on Trump, challenging him to debate. Biden thought he was going to prove to the country he had what it takes to be president. Instead, the debate was over even before the opening statements were finished.
And it just kept getting worse.
RT @InsiderNews: Highlights from the first 2024 presidential debate between Trump and Biden pic.twitter.com/SmaNqdNwh8
— Nadeem Ansari FCIM F IDM (@nadeemansary) June 28, 2024
The man who’d been propped up as the steady hand in the White House looked anything but; he stumbled, lost his train of thought, and at times seemed barely aware of where he was. The so-called “adults in the room” who insisted Biden was sharp as ever were left scrambling for excuses as the entire nation saw the truth play out on live television.
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That night didn’t just expose Biden’s physical and mental frailty; it detonated the myth that he was ever fit for the job. The Democratic Party, which had spent years gaslighting the public about Biden’s mental acuity, suddenly found itself in a full-blown crisis. The panic was palpable. Party insiders whispered about invoking the 25th Amendment, donors threatened to close their checkbooks, and the media — normally Biden’s most reliable shield — couldn’t spin his performance into anything but a catastrophe.
Democrats tried to put on a brave face, but the damage was done. The debate wasn’t just a bad night; it was the beginning of the end. The polls cratered. Voters who’d been on the fence finally saw what conservatives had been warning about for years: Biden simply wasn’t up to the task. The party’s attempts to control the narrative fell flat, and the calls for Biden to step aside grew too loud to ignore.
Eventually, the inevitable happened. Biden, under mounting pressure from every corner of his party, announced he was dropping out of the race. It was a humiliating end for a man who’d spent his entire career chasing the presidency, only to be undone by his own… you know… the thing.
Like Gary Hart, Joe Biden’s political career imploded by hubris. Hart dared the press to catch him in a lie, and they did. Biden dared the country to believe he was still mentally capable of leading it, and the moment he stepped on that debate stage, the illusion collapsed. Both men believed they could bluff their way past reality, thinking they were untouchable. Both misjudged the moment, their opponents, and most of all, the American people.
The difference is scale. Hart’s arrogance ended a campaign. Biden’s ended his presidency. One man torched his chances with a photo op; the other collapsed on live television, in front of the entire nation. Hart’s fall was a personal humiliation. Biden’s was a national unraveling. And while Joe Biden served out his term, he did so under the shadow of the biggest presidential scandal in American history. In the end, Biden didn’t exit as a statesman — he walked off the stage as a punchline, leaving behind a legacy defined not by leadership, but by denial, deception, and decline.
One year later, the fallout from the Democrats’ reckless gamble with the country’s future still lingers. The scandalous use — and likely abuse — of the autopen, along with broader efforts to conceal the extent of Biden’s decline, remain the subject of ongoing investigations. The lesson couldn’t be clearer: you can’t deceive the American public forever. And today, the Democratic Party is still dealing with the fallout.
