Joe Biden traveled to New York City Monday in preparation of the 2023 UN General Assembly. He had nothing on his schedule except for a fundraiser. He went to Broadway to raise money for his re-election campaign.

The Broadway for Biden fundraiser was held at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. The event included appearances by Josh Groban, Ben Platt, Sara Bareilles, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr and Laura Benanti. Tickets cost from $250 for rear mezzanine seats to $7,500 for orchestra center front. Biden doesn’t have the stones to go to California to beg for bucks during the WGA strike so he went to Broadway.

He let rip with some real gems during his 12 minutes of remarks. His main message was that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy democracy. The only way to save democracy, whatever that means, is to re-elect Joe Biden. It was classic Biden arrogance on display. Joe Biden and only Joe Biden can save democracy. If his state of mind wasn’t so sad, it’d be funny.

He’s running because democracy is at stake, you see. That is the same reason he gave in 2020. After almost four years in office, shouldn’t he have saved democracy by now? He talks about his vast reserve of experience that makes him the best choice for president – because he knows what to do. So, did he save democracy with his election in 2020 or not?

Interestingly enough, he slammed Trump for not criticizing Putin. “I will not side with dictators like Putin,” Biden said. He will, though, give $8B to the brutal dictators in Iran and kowtow to Xi in China.

But his remarks, which ran about 12 minutes, underscored the extent to which he sees the campaign as an crisis moment for the country, just as he did in 2020. He again recounted how the Charlottesville riots and violence in 2017 convinced him to run. “I want the entire nation to join me in sending the strongest, clearest, most powerful message possible that political violence in America is never, never, never acceptable,” he said.

Joe Biden has been dividing America for 50 years, now more so than ever. During the 2012 presidential election, he told a predominantly black audience that Mitt Romney would put them back in chains. In the 2020 election and in the 2022 midterm elections, he talked about Jim Crow 2.0 because of election integrity laws in red states like Georgia.

Biden told a story meant to ingratiate himself with the Broadway crowd. The story was about taking his sons Beau and Hunter to a Bette Midler performance on Broadway. The boys were young. Biden said Midler saw them in the audience and asked who would bring kids to that kind of show. Midler is a raunchy performer, more so in her earlier career. Joe probably thought it made him look like a cool dad or something but instead it brings questions about his judgement, even back then. The old man is an idiot.

He tried to use his advanced age as a source of wisdom and experience. He knows what to do.

“A lot of people seem focused on my age,” Biden said. “I get it. Believe me, I know it more than anyone.” But he said that he “knew what to do” with the ongoing Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and with threats to democracy. “That’s why I’m running,” he said.

He said that if he is reelected, “We will have saved American democracy,” Biden said. “I am more optimistic about the future of this country than in the 800 years I have served.” That got big laughs.

Were they laughing with him or laughing at him? Who believes that Joe Biden is making decisions about anything? He’s not pulling the strings in the Oval Office. Was it wise to shut down the whole country for as long as Biden and the Democrats did? Yes, Trump started it but Biden ramped it up. Is he going to try to do that again as a new round of COVID-19 rises? Mask mandates are being discussed. As far as the Putin invasion into Ukraine, Biden dragged his feet before being shamed by European countries like France before he decided to send aid. He led from behind and now takes credit for holding NATO partners together. It’s all ridiculous.

Biden’s sole reason for running for re-election is because Trump is running again. The message of the campaign is a look backward, not forward – he will save democracy. He never says what that means. He doesn’t offer up what he will do in a second term in office. It’s just that he has to beat Trump. Is hatred toward Trump enough to get voters to the polls in 2024? It worked in 2020 when people voted for Biden, not because they liked him but because he wasn’t Trump. I don’t know that it will work again. I think voters are going to stay home in 2024 if the choices are Biden and Trump. That is how Biden will get re-elected.