It’s Still the ‘Of Course’ Election

In advance of Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the election was, at best, a tossup. But while the outcome of a presidential election between Biden and Donald Trump was unknowable, the results in November, whatever they happened to be, would have come as a shock to no one.

If Donald Trump had bested Biden in November, his victory would have been seen in hindsight as inevitable. Biden was the most unpopular president in the modern history of polling. He had presided over disasters abroad and the steady deterioration of the global threat environment. He had abandoned his campaign-trail pledges to govern as a moderate, transitional candidate, violating his compact with voters and pursuing policies that contributed to the inflationary pressure they hated. He was old, in obvious decline, and unloved by even his own party’s voters. He couldn’t possibly have won reelection. Of course, he lost.