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The last six days have been a dark time for Americans who don\u2019t want an aspiring dictator<\/a> to be the next president of the United States. Unfortunately, thanks to an objectively terrible<\/a> debate performance by Joe Biden,<\/strong> that might actually happen\u2014and thanks to the Supreme Court, Donald Trump<\/strong> has been given the green light to govern like an actual dictator<\/a>, should he return to the White House. But, hey, the good news is that\u2014no, just kidding, we don\u2019t have any good news. Though perhaps one can take comfort in the fact that even Barack Obama<\/strong> is said to be scared shitless about November, in a sort of \u201cwe\u2019re all in this together\u201d way. Yes, the bar is that low!<\/p>\n The Washington Post<\/em> reports<\/a> that Obama \u201chas privately told allies who have reached out to him that President Biden\u2019s already tough path to reelection grew more challenging after his shaky debate performance on Thursday\u2014a harsher assessment of the presidential race than his public comments, according to several people familiar with his remarks.\u201d Was the 44th president watching the debate with his hands covering his eyes? Did Michelle<\/strong> have to literally pull him off the ledge after Biden said he \u201cbeat Medicare\u201d? That is not clear, but what is clear is that, in private, the guy is as worried as millions of other Americans. (A spokesperson for Obama declined the Post\u2019s request for comment.)<\/p>\n That collective fear was presumably not moderated by another report<\/a> on Tuesday, from The New York Times<\/em>, that \u201cIn the weeks and months before President Biden\u2019s politically devastating performance on the debate stage in Atlanta, several current and former officials and others who encountered him behind closed doors noticed that he increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.\u201d According to the outlet:<\/p>\n Like many people his age, Mr. Biden, 81, has long experienced instances in which he mangled a sentence, forgot a name or mixed up a few facts, even though he could be sharp and engaged most of the time. But in interviews, people in the room with him more recently said that the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome. The uncomfortable occurrences were not predictable, but seemed more likely when he was in a large crowd or tired after a particularly bruising schedule.<\/p>\n On June 10, he appeared to freeze up at an early celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. On June 18, his soft-spoken tone and brief struggle to summon the name of his homeland security secretary at an immigration event unnerved some of his allies at the event, who traded alarmed looks and later described themselves as \u201cshaken up,\u201d as one put it. Mr. Biden recovered, and named Alejandro N. Mayorkas.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n As the Times<\/em> notes, Biden is \u201ccertainly not that way all the time,\u201d and aides and other people who saw him in the days following the debate reported him being \u201calert, coherent, and capable, engaged in complicated and important discussions, and managing volatile crises.\u201d People familiar with the matter also cited his performance in the Situation Room the night Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel, saying he was \u201cin commanding form\u201d while speaking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Neera Tanden,<\/strong> Biden\u2019s domestic policy adviser, told the Times<\/em> the president is \u201cinquisitive,\u201d \u201cfocused,\u201d and \u201csharp,\u201d and that during briefings, \u201cHe will ask you a tough question and he will say, \u2018How does this relate to an average person?\u2019 And if you haven\u2019t thought of that in that time, you have to come back to him.\u201d Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall,<\/strong> Biden\u2019s homeland security adviser, said that during a briefing in the Situation Room less than two weeks before the debate, the president \u201cdigested an immense amount of information\u201d and asked her questions that were \u201cprobing and insightful.\u201d She said his performance on the debate stage \u201cdoesn\u2019t reflect the experience I have with him on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n Obviously, from a reelection perspective, though, things are not good. In a sign of just how serious the situation is, a Times<\/em> report<\/a> on Wednesday said that Biden \u201chas told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week.\u201d To that end, betting sites believe<\/a> Vice President Kamala Harris<\/strong> will be the Democratic nominee<\/a>. (A White House spokesman told the Times<\/em> the claim re: Biden potentially dropping out is \u201cabsolutely false.\u201d)<\/p>\n Yet whether it\u2019s Biden or Harris (or someone else entirely<\/a>) on the ballot, it\u2019s important to remember who the alternative is. And if the worst thing about Biden is his forgetfulness, well, as the Times<\/em> notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n