Joe Biden is still the president of the United States. Americans do not have a king or queen, but they do have a president. The presidency is much bigger and more important than the person who occupies it.
As president, Biden has stood as a type of national father figure; the embodiment of the country’s idealized values and ideals. These feelings of respect for President Biden are felt deeply by his supporters and others who admire and respect him, and what he has accomplished in the horrible aftermath of his predecessor, the convicted felon, coup plotter, and aspiring tyrant Donald Trump. So Biden’s defeat in the CNN debate, and the cascading siege from all sides he's faced since, is a type of emotional and psychic injury not just to Biden but millions of Democrats who believe in his quest to protect democracy. The president has now been made fully mortal and vulnerable.
