The fallout from the presidential debate continues and there is little evidence it will go away soon. No matter where you turn, the news is all about what President Joe Biden will do, what he won’t do, what he should do, what is the first lady up to, and why is son Hunter sitting in on staff meetings?

You know it’s a problem because reporters’ speculations regarding the repetitious Democratic and Republican strategists — or as I like to call them “party hacks” — are brought before the cameras and generally sound nearly the same as what the last strategist said and what reporters speculated on before that. Then lawmakers, who can never resist voicing their opinions, put their most serious faces on and in the case of Democrats say pretty much the following: “I’ve seen President Biden doing handstands and jumping jacks on the White House lawn at 5 a.m. so I know that he is a man of unusual vigor for a man his age, but it seems to me that it should be up to the President and his family to decide whether or not he withdraws from the race.”

Then when questioned by a reporter about the President’s dismal debate performance on June 27 the lawmakers wishing to cover their own you know what will reply with, “Yes, I understand the country’s concern but what we saw might have been a one night aberration and in fairness he deserves another chance. Also, you know he had a cold he caught from all that travel, but you know Europeans aren’t as concerned as Americans about covering their mouths when they cough. I have caught a few colds there myself.” All the while they are really thinking, “If you’ve been around Washington as long as the President and I have, you know that the best cure for a host of ills is a couple of shots of Wild Turkey. Perhaps he had one shot too many.”

Most Republican lawmakers have been about as measured on the president’s debate performance as a politician is able to be which is rather surprising. However, my least favorite Republican Congressman who is a member of my least favorite Republican caucus, Chip Roy (R-Texas) a member of the Freedom Caucus, along with Congressman Clay Higgins (R-La.) filed a resolution that calls on Vice President Kamala Harris to immediately invoke her power in the 25th amendment to convene the executive cabinet and declare Biden as unfit to carry out his duties as commander-in-chief. Of course, this is all political theater with as much chance of happening as Pope Francis becoming a Protestant.

Chip, stay out of this battle. It’s a Democratic battle so let them do the fighting. They have never had any problems doing this without Republican help so follow the example of candidate Donald Trump and keep your mouth shut, go play golf or whatever you do in your spare time and things will stand a better chance of working out to the advantage of Republicans.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York’s esteemed chief executive, added her thoughts to the fray on July 3 after she and other Democratic governors met with the president. She told the nation that the president was in it to the finish and that only he stood between the destruction of our democracy and the establishment of a “monarchy” of the sort that our forefathers declared their independence from in 1776. Hochul, not surprisingly has a skewed view of history and her words little more than a rehash of the Trump as dictator story at a time when many Americans now feel that President Biden is the greatest danger to our democracy.

It bothers me that since the debate, that is all the news channels and other outlets have focused on. Several very important Supreme Court decisions were handed down that made news for a day or so and caused several Democratic leaders to foam at the mouth but then quickly faded from view. I guess there is still a war going on between Russia and the Ukraine, but you wouldn’t know it from the coverage. It’s the same with the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the fighting in the north between Hezbollah and Israel. In addition, I would like to know what China, North Korea and Iran have been up to in the last few weeks.

The debate fallout is an important story but there are other stories that are at least as important. However for years MSNBC, CNN and the broadcast networks happily reported on the trials and tribulations of Donald Trump in various courts over spurious charges brought against him while ignoring President Biden’s increasingly common spells of disorientation, freeze ups and mumbled and incoherent responses to questions.

Now that the emperor has been shown to be without clothes, they are attempting to reassure us that they knew it all the time.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com