Enough already: It is time to unleash Dark Brandon on this soul-sucking downer of a presidential race. And the most obvious place to begin is to invite him to the State of the Union address.
President Biden is set to deliver his annual address to Congress Thursday night, just two days after Donald Trump effectively locked up the Republican presidential nomination, signaling the unofficial start of the general election. This is a big moment for Mr. Biden. A sizable chunk of America has decided he is too frail and dotty to be commander in chief for a second term, and his team’s preferred approach to such concerns — pooh-poohing and whining about them — is not resonating. At least not in a good way. His State of the Union performance — and make no mistake, in an election year, this speech is high-level campaign theater — is the perfect opportunity to show rather than tell Americans that he still has the fire in the belly. When he steps behind the lectern, the president needs to slap on those aviators and start throwing some strategic punches.
Metaphorically, of course. No one wants the man to start a fistfight on the House floor wearing sunglasses.
Spicy Biden tends to play well with the public and the media. Look no further than last year’s State of the Union, when he earned high marks for mixing it up with right-wing hecklers in the audience. As House MAGA minions such as the representatives Andy Ogles and — surprise! — Marjorie Taylor Greene belched their disapproval, Mr. Biden engaged them with wicked good humor, at one point expressing delight that everyone had agreed to take entitlement cuts permanently off the table. The president likely benefited from the fact that Ms. Greene was decked out like the evil White Witch from Narnia. (Did anyone else keep expecting her to turn the Democrats to stone?) But he won the encounter because he visibly seemed to enjoy all the sparring, tweaking his antagonists without ever turning nasty.
He has a talent for walking that line, and his show of spirit and confidence helped quiet early rumblings about his vim and vigor. For a while.
With Mr. Trump ascendant and congressional Republicans scurrying to do the MAGA king’s bidding, Mr. Biden needs to kick things up a notch on Thursday. He shouldn’t bother waiting for the wing nuts to come at him — though the safe bet is that they cannot resist. He should sprinkle his planned remarks with pointed criticisms of Republican factions that have been kneecapping progress not only on his agenda but on their own party’s as well.
The Senate conservatives’ shanking of the bipartisan border security plan that their own team had demanded deserves special attention. The president should stress how disappointing it is that his Republican friends are sacrificing this vital goal to give Mr. Trump a juicy campaign issue to flog. Ever so gently, he should stick his thumb in their eye and swirl it around.
The defunct border deal also would have provided funding for Ukraine in its war against an expansionist Russia. Mr. Biden should not be shy about poking the G.O.P., which has long fancied itself the party of national security, for now serving the interests of Vladimir Putin.
The president can offer his critiques in sorrow rather than in anger, if that’s how he prefers to play it. (I personally would go for disbelief with just a hint of perturbation.) But he and his speech writing team should hang these failures firmly around the necks of extremists in both chambers.
The House, of course, offers a far more baroque cautionary tale. Since the Republicans took control last year, with the MAGA wing effectively driving the train, the chamber has been a hot mess. Republicans opening half-baked impeachment investigations, delaying their own bills, booting their own speaker, struggling to fulfill even their most basic responsibilities — the entire display has been like a Trump University seminar on how not to run things.
Mr. Biden should express his condolences to the chamber’s Republican leaders for the impossible position they occupy, stuck between needing to get stuff done — like, say, funding the government — and having to contend with a faction of Trump-drunk extremists competing to see who can be the most disruptive.
An explicit shout-out should go to Speaker Mike Johnson. He has held the gavel for only a few months but already has some in his conference grumbling that he possesses neither the savvy nor the temperament for the job. Feb. 6 was particularly rough: Failing to rally enough votes to impeach the homeland security secretary on the first try and failing to pass an aid package for Israel on the same day was seen as an epic belly-flop. It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for the guy — if he weren’t such a MAGA tool.
By custom, the speaker will be seated behind Mr. Biden Thursday night, his face visible over the president’s left shoulder. I plan to watch him carefully for signs of a brewing nervous condition — especially if, as in the past two years, his more rambunctious members start acting the fool. In that event, the president should be ready to really have himself some fun.
More broadly, Mr. Biden should not miss this high-profile moment to remind Americans that the G.O.P. at all levels seems committed to rolling back women’s reproductive rights, at times with unanticipated consequences. Last month, a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen, stored embryos created during the I.V.F. process have the same rights as fully developed children threw the Republican Party into chaos, with officials and candidates scrambling to trumpet support for that overwhelmingly popular fertility treatment. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, voters have been pretty darn clear about their support for women’s bodily autonomy. This is a fight the president should be eager to pick.
I realize voters often insist that they are tired of all the partisan discord in today’s politics. But they also want someone prepared to fight for their interests. As president, Mr. Biden has done much to burnish his measured, reasonable brand. Maybe too much. To convince the American people he’s up for another four years, he may need to deliver a little more sauce now and then.
Let Dark Brandon off the chain for the night. It’s worth the risk.
