 So, I want to take some time to talk about Biden's interview with Scott Pele of 60 Minutes. There were a couple of things that he said that got some headlines, and I think for good reason, and I've got to address this because these are things that are really important. First and foremost, he signaled that he may not necessarily run for president again in 2024, despite him signaling that he will indeed be doing that. He's not saying that he's not going to run to be clear, but just that it's not necessarily a foregone conclusion yet. Now, because this is 60 Minutes property of paramount, I can't show you the clip because they are very bad with copyright claims. But here's what Joe Biden said specifically, quote, my intention as I said to begin with is that I would run again, but it's just an intention, OK, but is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen, Biden said, OK, now look, I've stated repeatedly that I do not think that he should run again. But beside let somebody else who is younger, ideally more progressive run and give us a chance to actually change the country at least a little bit more because Biden has been a tried and true incrementalist, right? He's done some good things to be clear, canceling 10 to $20,000 worth of student debt is, I think, a huge move. And because of that, I think that Biden's approval rating has increased, especially among younger people, because when you actually deliver tangible benefits to them and change their lives materially, that is reflected in the polls. So for all the shrieking from Republicans talking about how bad it was that Biden canceled student debt, while they're learning that it's actually really popular. But still, I think that we can do better than Joe Biden. And I want us to do better than Joe Biden as a country. So I would like to see a robust Democratic Party primary. So if he is choosing to not seek a second term, he needs to make that announcement immediately after the midterms are done, because you need to allow Democrats time to repair their campaigns, right? So I don't think that he should make this decision before the midterms, because that needs to be the focus. But the second that the midterms are over, he should make it very clear he's not seeking a second term. But I want to move on to the second thing that he said, because it made me a little bit less optimistic. He claimed that the pandemic was over. Now, I do have a clip for this, but unfortunately it's just the audio button. Nonetheless, here it is. Mr. President, first Detroit auto show in three years. Yeah. Is the pandemic over? The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. It's what the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it. OK, he's wrong. And it's a stupid thing to say for a plethora of reasons. First and foremost, if you base the status of the pandemic on whether or not people are following proper pandemic protocols, then you could argue that we really never had a pandemic in this country because Americans consistently since the beginning of the pandemic did not want to follow proper pandemic protocols. There were states that didn't just not implement mask mandates, but states like Florida banned mask mandates in schools. So that's not really a good way to gauge whether or not we have a pandemic because Americans aren't going to follow protocols because something, something, freedom and whatnot. But second of all, it's bad strategically because in the event you need additional funding for a new booster shot that's available or for treatment. Now, Congress can use this against you and say, well, you claimed that the pandemic was over. So why would you you ask us for this additional funding? Perhaps we could just send that funding to, you know, the military. It's a bad strategy. And also, finally, it's just factually incorrect. The pandemic is still very much a thing. And to be fair to him, he acknowledged that we're still dealing with covid. But it still is a pandemic. It's not endemic yet. It's not over. It's still very much a pandemic. Let's look at some numbers here. So as of September 18th, we're averaging four hundred and sixty four deaths each day due to covid-19. Now, epidemiologist Katelyn Jadalina argues that this is a rate of death that cannot be accepted. It is still too high, even if it is lower. Furthermore, Dr. Megan Ranney adds is the pandemic different. Sure, we have vaccines and infection induced immunity. We have treatments. We have tests while they last. The fatality rate is way down. And so we respond to it differently. But over with four hundred deaths a day, I call malarkey. And she's exactly correct. Now, hospitalizations are also down. But people who are older or immunocompromised are still disproportionately affected by covid-19. And these folks are effectively being sacrificial lambs so that the rest of us can pretend as if the pandemic is over and everything is back to normal again. And I find that wrong. And even though deaths and hospitalizations overall have decreased, Biden's administration is ignoring was now the largest mass disabling event in human history as millions of Americans suffer from the effects of long covid. Now, we're finding out that vaccines while still very important only decreased the risk of long covid by about 15 percent, according to a study that looked at 13 million people. So we're still seeing hundreds of people die from covid-19 every single day. We're witnessing the equivalence of a 9-11 every single week due to covid-19 as thousands of people die every single week. We're witnessing the biggest mass disabling event in human history. And the president is irresponsibly declaring that the pandemic is over. Not a statement based in science, data or facts at all. And another reason why it's bad, not that the president is able to control behavior anyways, is because this is going to have at least somewhat of an effect on behavior, because as Eric Topol, a physician, points out, telling Americans that the pandemic is over, isn't going to encourage the two thirds of Americans who haven't gotten their booster shot to get one. And getting your booster is important. And there's a new booster that's available that I think that most people don't even know about. So there's a bivalent booster that has the protection against the original strain and Omicron. Now, it's not necessarily the BA4 and 5 Omicron subvariant, but it's still going to provide you with additional antibodies. Now, there's clinical trials that are being conducted currently. So we'll have to wait and see how effective they are at preventing symptoms when it comes to Omicron. But it's still a booster that nobody knows is available currently. And I myself made an appointment to get my booster, my second booster in a couple of days. But how many people actually know about this? So to pretend as if the pandemic is over, that's irresponsible from a societal standpoint. But as the president to say this is not OK, it's wrong and you should do better. But Biden for months now has just pretended as if the pandemic is over. This is the exact strategy that Trump implemented. But I don't think that politically this is going to hurt Biden as much as it hurt Donald Trump, because people nowadays are just kind of fed up with COVID-19. And look, I don't blame them. I myself am fed up with COVID-19. I engage in more risky behavior now than I did a year ago because I'm vexed, I'm boosted, I'm about to get my second booster. So yeah, I'm around friends and family with no masks, you know, sure. But to pretend as if it's over, that's not going to be realistic because it's not over. People are still dying. It's still a threat. It's not endemic. It's something that we have to take into account. And maybe if not, we as individuals take this into account. It's more important for the president of the United States to take this into account. So, you know, there's a lot of things from this interview that rubbed me the wrong way. But, you know, overall, let's hope that the one thing that comes out of this is that he's actually not going to seek a second term because then I could put aside the COVID things if he chooses to step down and allow us the potential to nominate somebody who's at least somewhat more progressive in 2024, because I I don't think that Biden, you know, getting back to the 2024 discussion, I think it's going to really hinge on whether or not his approval rating stays this high. I think it's probably going to go down if he doesn't deliver as frequently as he has been as of late, at least somewhat. But, you know, I think that if Biden were to run, he has a shot against Trump, but against DeSantis. I just don't necessarily think that he's going to be able to compete, but that's yet to be seen as of this day and time. Either way, I think that it's only fair that Democratic voters have the opportunity to make their voices heard and perhaps choose somebody different. Now, it may not be somebody who I like. It probably will be another neoliberal. But either way, I think that Biden should step down. But either way, if he's not going to step down and he plans to be president for another four years and seek a second term, don't say dumb things like the pandemic is over if it's demonstrably untrue.