Biden claims he's the champion for democracy, but if truly were, he would pass the torch

• USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney who worked for conservative Republicans.

If President Joe Biden is to be believed, democracy itself demands that he remain the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party.

In a bold letter to Congress recently, Biden defied increasing calls for him to step aside for a more capable candidate to oppose former President Donald Trump. In doing so, he confirmed that his first term has been little more than a Democratic bridge to nowhere.

“We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively,” wrote a remarkably cogent Biden. “I received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,000 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin.”

Wait a minute.

Biden's claims to protect democracy are hypocritical

Biden’s presumptive nomination has been little more than a coronation. The Democratic Party actively discouraged challenges by refusing to schedule debates. In Florida, the Democratic Party put Biden as the only option on the ballot, effectively ending the primary before the first vote was cast.

Lest voters forget, Biden also pushed through his preferred primary plan with the Democratic National Convention to upend the order of primary votes in the states. Biden’s ordering replaced the physically grueling Iowa caucuses with a walk through the park in the South Carolina primary.

Traditionally, incumbents don’t have much in the way of serious primary challenges. Biden’s campaign made sure of it. In doing so, they also minimized the need to have Biden on the road in conditions that weren’t tightly controlled.

Democratic voters only ever had one choice. Trump, by contrast, bested several candidates who were both well funded and who possessed name identification on the national stage.

Biden, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy, is using it to shield himself from campaign-withering concerns. “The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party,” he wrote to Congress. “Do we now just say this process didn't matter? That the voters don't have a say? I decline to do that. I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year.”

Faith and trust is precisely what voters have lost in Biden. He’s left Democratic voters with few options because he, or at least people close to him, knew about his physical and cognitive limitations and hid them.

The Biden campaign wants you to ignore the truth

Biden’s capacity has become the central campaign issue of 2024. If Democratic delegates refuse to back him, how can Democrats make the case that Biden should remain in office at all? Biden’s team knows that, so they’ve made the argument that challenging his candidacy is a challenge to democracy itself.

“How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party,” Biden queried. “I cannot do that. I will not do that.”

How can Biden stand for democracy when he’s only sharp between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. with a bedtime of 8 p.m.? More importantly, what kind of champion of democracy hides relevant information from the voters he claims to value so deeply?

Biden’s letter to Congress is itself an indicator of the depth of his challenges. It’s more campaign fiction. His surrogates repeatedly attest to his sharp mind. They talk about his expertise and subject matter mastery behind closed doors. The Biden campaign wishes Americans would listen to the campaign’s political spin while ignoring their own eyes and ears.

The president hopes to quash dissent quickly before his mortally wounded campaign suffers death by a thousand cuts. “The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it's time for it to end,” his letter reads.

Those questions have largely gone unanswered.

“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” Biden said four years ago. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.”

When Biden won in 2020, Democrats stoked fears that Trump wouldn’t relinquish power. Now, it’s Biden who is willing to let the Democratic bridge collapse for a diminishing chance at another four years.

USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney who worked for conservative Republicans. He and his wife Justine are raising three boys in Nolensville, Tenn. Direct outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on X, formerly known as Twitter. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor to letters@tennessean.com.