“You can’t”. What appears on the cover –

“The presidential debate was a disaster for Joe Biden, but his attempt to hide the truth was even worse. The sight of a confused old man, unable to recall words and deeds, was painful. His inability to sustain a debate once morest a weak opponent was disheartening. But his campaign’s effort to deny what millions of Americans saw with their own eyes is even more damaging, as his dishonesty elicits contempt.” Thus begins the editorial ofEconomistwhich will be on newsstands on Friday, July 5, which has as its cover image a walker with the presidential coat of arms and the title “No way to run a country”, you can’t run a country like this. A harsh cover, which some commentators on X have criticized: “Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the United States during the Second World War – and saved the United Kingdom – in a wheelchair.”

The British weekly’s editorial continues, “Biden deserves to be remembered for his achievements and decency, not his decline. It is right that the first senior Democrats have begun publicly calling on him to step aside (…). Democrats rightly argue that Trump is unfit for the presidency. But the debate and its followingmath have shown that Biden is also unfit. First of all, because of his mental decline. Biden can still appear dynamic in brief, scheduled appearances. But you can’t govern a superpower by using a teleprompter. And you can’t put an international crisis on hold because the president is having a bad night. Can you trust the nuclear code to someone who can’t complete a sentence on Medicare?” The Economist joins other newspapers, some of which are certainly not hostile to Democrats, in calling on the incumbent president to step back and let his party choose another candidate. The New York Times editorial board and its top writers made this move soon following the disastrous confrontation. Articles to this effect appeared in the Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic.