Politics is NOT my department, but being old is my department. The commentators on Biden’s bike fall seem to be missing a point.

Most old men shouldn’t be riding a bike. (I used to be a serious biker, and gave up at 36 when my heart started to warn me.) An old president, whose mind is clearly failing, ABSOLUTELY shouldn’t be allowed to risk his health and his credibility by riding a bike in a public situation.

A president has thousands of advisers and security types protecting his body and watching his behavior. The advisers and security specialists allowed Biden to risk death and foolishness. This says a lot more about the advisers than about the old man. They don’t give a fuck about his safety and reputation. When the courtiers no longer respect a leader, he’s done.

Machiavelli:

The worst that a prince has to expect from a hostile people is to be abandoned, but from hostile nobles he has to fear not only abandonment but their active opposition, and as they are more far-seeing and more cunning, they are always in time to save themselves and take sides with the one who they expect will conquer.