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The Republicans have been faced with an electoral problem since the 1990s: most Americans prefer Democratic policies over Republican policies. The reasoning is simple; Republican policies benefit the old, white, and wealthy — a subset of the American electorate that continues to decline in population. Absent of a policy agenda for the average American (multicultural, younger, working class), Republicans can’t win elections on policy. Their only way to appeal to a somewhat broader electorate is to hurl personal insults at their Democratic opponents.

Bill Clinton, a Democrat with a massively popular agenda, was attacked as a “womanizer.” John Kerry was attacked as a “traitor.” Barack Obama — “Kenyan Muslim.” Hillary Clinton — “corrupt murderer.” Now Joe Biden has dementia. To be clear: Biden doesn’t have dementia; he’s been a gaffe machine since the ’70s and many of his verbal blunders are a result of his stutter. If our political debates were about policy, Republicans would be in deep trouble. They drive bad faith narratives about Democratic candidates early and hammer it down hard so the attacks stick to them. Then, if all goes as planned, policies become irrelevant. The midterms are a great case study in “agenda vs. agenda” competition. Without a one singular candidate to personally attack, the Democrats had to compete with the Republicans on issues — and the Democratic Party blew the Republicans out of the water in historical numbers.

If we weren’t talking about dementia and mental fitness, we’d be talking about Joe Biden’s agenda vs Trump’s disastrous, scandal-ridden first term in office. That conversation would be horrible for the Republicans. They can’t openly defend the fact that Trump has been in charge of our messy immigration system for 3 years and he’s only focused on a nonexistent wall. Mr. “Tough on Immigration” staffs undocumented immigrants on his golf courses, resorts, and real estate projects. They don’t want you to know that his tax cuts exploded the national deficit and had to be offset by cutting funding to Medicare and Social Security for the elderly. Or that he’s allowed corporations to pollute our air, water, and food in exchange for campaign contributions. He talks tough on China, but his retail products are made there. He launched (and lost) an incompetent trade war that cost American farmers and consumers billions. When he tried to subsidize the farmers who lost money, it ended up in the hands of major agriculture corporations instead of family farms. The money for the bailed was borrowed from — you guessed it — China. Republicans can’t survive that narrative…so they’ve made the conversation about dementia.

Republicans aren't alone, however. Many democratic socialists on Twitter have joined the right wing in attacking Biden on phony dementia claims. Although their intentions with the attacks were slightly different, they are still serving the interests of the Republican Party by spreading the narrative. The point is this: Joe Biden has a stutter and a long history of verbal blunders, not dementia. Republicans don’t have a policy agenda able to compete with the popularity of Joe Biden’s, so they have resorted to their usual strategy of attacking the candidate personally.

Don’t fall for it.