Be Honest and Be First

Advice To An Anonymous Prospective 2028 Dem

Please join The Morning Meeting with Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and me, weekdays from 9 - 10 AM EST on 2WAY TV via YouTube, where you can also stream at your convenience.

To: Anonymous Prospective 2028 Democratic Candidate

From: Dan Turrentine

Date: May 17, 2025

Re: The Joe Biden Problem

We’ve known this was coming: the tell-all books about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. As you know, there were staff on the 2020 campaign that talked about how candidate Biden could not work nights and weekends much on Zoom, because he needed rest and was prone to “senior moments” when tired. While we did not have an in-person convention, we all remember the text threads and “friend zooms” over cocktails in which we said a Hail Mary, crossed our fingers, and hoped the election would be all about Trump.

Shortly after being sworn in, the stories some of you shared of calls or meetings with the new President that left you stunned were numerous. The irony is our base was clear eyed: starting in the Fall of 2021, 70/80% of Democrats kept telling focus groups and polls they thought Biden was too old to run again.

While we are in the early stages of the shadow primary, and a long way from the first votes being cast in 2027, we continue to debate when and where to show leadership in our leaderless Party. I believe the first real moment is upon us. As painful as you’ve said it is to keep answering questions about 46, I must tell you it is even more painful for the voter to watch. We know - and they know - you’re lying. All of our competition for the nomination, and the spotlight broadly, have an anchor around their legs. Let’s cut it loose and see if we can lift off. The idea: be honest and be first about your/our mistake. The American people are very forgiving, it disarms the attack, and it will force everyone else to follow, because nobody is going to defend Biden, just foolishly hoping to gaze at the horizon and ignore the 800 pound object in the rearview mirror. Below is a draft Op Ed for Sunday’s New York Times. Please let me know your feedback.

---

Often in life, the best lessons are learned from mistakes. We ask ourselves, what did I do wrong and how do I move forward? This self reflection is often an emotional journey, from denial, to minimizing, to the hard questions that require honesty and transparency.

As book are released about Joe Biden’s presidency and our Party wrestles with his legacy, it is necessary that we look the American people in the eye and tell the truth: Joe Biden was not only unfit to run for re-election, he was unfit to serve the last year of his presidency.

Like so many Democrats, I was terrified at the thought of Donald Trump returning to The White House. After our Party performed relatively well in the 2022 mid-terms - with Republicans in competitive races who espoused the Big Lie (January 6th) and others who ran as “mini Trumps” in PA, GA, AZ all defeated - I thought Trump was finished as a General Election candidate. Furthermore, to his credit, Biden was able to pass historic legislation that got us out of the COVID ditch, set the foundation for our success in the race to win AI development, and modernized our woefully outdated infrastructure.

As we all know having watched a loved one age, the question is not will they got worse, but the rate at which that will occur. Even when we were putting legislative points on the board in 2021/2, all of us had a moment or two with the President, whether on the phone or in-person, that made us cringe. While the majority of the time he was sharp, he would periodically forget the topic of the conversation, repeat himself several times, forget names, or be unable to coherently finish a sentence. We whispered to one another - hey, did you experience something like this too?

As Joe - and Jill - Biden told everyone over Thanksgiving 2022 that the re-election was a go, many of us wrung our hands in private. Over text, phone calls, and meetings, we asked nervously, do you think Joe can do this again?

Joe Biden ran in 2020 largely from his basement over Zoom, frequently not working evenings and rarely ever on the weekends. The campaign hierarchy told us that rest was important so that a candidate prone his whole career to foot-in-mouth syndrome would not give fodder to the opposition. We accepted that rationale, hoping it was true, but wondering if it was more emblematic of a bigger problem: he’s too old. Now, we were being asked to support Joe Biden one last time, hoping the rate of decline was slow enough.

As Democrats pondered the question of Biden, indictments against Trump were announced in the Spring of 2023 and he sprung off the mat, rallying his Party by his side. Suddenly, the General Election became an existential crisis. The calculus: an incumbent President, who faces a competitive primary in his re-election, never wins, and an open free fall, had Biden stepped aside, given the intense tug-of-war between Progressives and moderates, likely would ensure defeat. Collectively, Party leadership joined hands, said many Hail Mary’s, and hoped Biden could muster just enough, in a handful of big moments, to grind out a victory, helped by Trump being….Trump.

As the campaign played out, and the President carried out his duties, there are too many public moments to recount that exemplified Biden’s accelerating decline of mental acuity, let alone all the private indictments of the man. You knew it. We knew it. But Trump had to be defeated, and so, head buried in the sand, the mantra kept being repeated in private - united we stand, divided we fall - and in public - don’t believe your lying eyes.

All of this, of course, came crashing down on June 27th, and played out like a Shakespearean play over the next six months. To make matters worse, of course, if Joe Biden could not run a campaign, he could not effectively still govern. A campaign is the easy part, running the country is the hard job. It’s a common sense test we failed—amongst many.

When I have looked in the mirror these last few months, I feel sick to my stomach. Our voters knew Joe Biden was too old to run again—75% on average kept telling pollsters in 2023—and so did we. We did not have the courage to speak truth to power, nor the confidence in our Party to choose the best nominee. And worst, we chose politics over the best interest of our country, by turning a blind eye to him remaining in office even after the debate. None of us can undue the past. But through honesty and transparency, we can try to earn back your trust to lead us to a better tomorrow. For me, that journey begins today.