Happy Debate Day!

Yup. Donald Trump and Joe Biden will square off tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, surprising those who doubted Biden would ever actually commit to an unscripted debate. Al’s Afternoon Tea will be serving up a juicy preview later today, but let’s clear the table of some last-minute morsels about that.

Hillary Clinton Among Those Giving Biden Debating Device

In an editorial for The New York Times (which lies behind a paywall), Hillary Clinton advises Joe Biden that it is a “waste of time to try and refute Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal debate. It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments are.” (“Make America Great Again” is apparently too complex for Hillary to understand.) She urges Biden to be as “direct and forceful as he was when he engaged Republican hecklers at the State of the Union.” (That was when he couldn’t remember the name of murder victim Laken Riley.)

“And if that doesn’t work,” added Hillary, “You can rely on my old favorite. You can always stage his suicide in a jail cell.” (Okay, we made that one up.)

However, we’re not making up the fact that Biden has been holed up at Camp David all week with at least 16 former and current aides for debate prep. After holding elected office for 50 years, three and a half years of those in the White House, why does he need seven days and an army to work on defending his record?

That aside, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell complained that those aides are “all white men in their sixties.” And not enough are doping experts. (No, she didn’t say that.)

Incidentally, the White House has rejected Donald Trump’s suggestion and former White House physician Rep. Ronny Jackson’s request for Biden to take a drug test before stepping on the debate stage.

NBC analyst John Heilemann suggested Friday that the Biden camp’s biggest “worry” is that it may be too late for him to convince voters he is mentally and physically fit for the presidency. Which makes it tough sledding since another NBC analyst, Elise Jordan, said last week that voters will be tuning in to “make sure he’s up to the task” of continuing to serve.

Meanwhile, here’s a peek at Donald Trump’s debate prep.

Trump Preps For Debate Against Biden By Going to Nursing Home And Arguing With Dementia Patients https://t.co/raS0Uw1ThG pic.twitter.com/ZxgXI0ZKVC

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 24, 2024

A Line of Attack for Biden Not as Strong as He Thinks?

The Washington Post has an interesting little tidbit. You know how Biden has made Trump being a “threat to democracy” a major theme of his campaign? That may play great in blue states, but according to the Post, “Trump is trusted more than Biden on democracy among key swing-state voters.”

CNN’s Chris Cillizza finds this “stunning.”

"Trump trusted more than Biden on democracy among key swing-state voters"

Stunning.https://t.co/4rEq7IecGo

— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) June 26, 2024

Apparently, those crazy American people think putting your political opponent in jail on trumped-up charges is a greater threat to democracy then wondering, “Where the heck did all those votes come from in the middle of the night?”

Biden’s Trans Assistant Secretary of Health Pressured Health Organization to Remove Age Limits on Sex Changes for Children

Tonight, Donald Trump must jump on this fact like it’s a trampoline: Our favorite transgender Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Admiral Rachel Levine, strongarmed a key international health organization to cancel a proposed ban on sex-change surgeries for minors.

According to The New York Times, emails from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) recount how Levine pressured the organization to drop a proposed age limit — and apparently succeeded. Levine was worried a minimum age limit from WPATH would have political ramifications at home. Specifically, it would lead to (horror of horrors) legislation in the U.S. limiting gender treatments for minors. Here’s one excerpt:

Levine “was very concerned that having ages (mainly for surgery) will affect access to care for trans youth and maybe adults, too. Apparently the situation in the U.S.A. is terrible and she and the Biden administration worried that having ages in the document will make matters worse. She asked us to remove them.”

James Cantor, a critic of mutilating minors in the name of “gender-affirming care,” used the excerpts to demonstrate that WPATH’s guidelines on this topic are based on politics, not science.

Mission Creep Update

Recently, we came up with a new nickname for the president — Mission Creepy Joe — based on the way the U.S. seems to be getting drawn ever more deeply toward a direct conflict with Russia over Ukraine.

Now CNN is reporting that the Biden administration is moving to eliminate the “de facto ban” on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine. This would “mark another significant shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy.” Joe Biden (or whoever really is making the decisions) has not yet signed off on the plan. While not confirming or denying the story, the White House insists Biden is “absolutely firm that he will not be sending U.S. troops to Ukraine.” Do we really think Putin is going to distinguish between “contractors” and “troops” when firing at them?

One man excited about the move is former Army officer Alex Vindman. “This would be a much more focused and thoughtful effort to support Ukraine in country,” he told CNN.

You might remember Vindman. He’s the one who ignited the first impeachment of President Donald Trump by running to Adam Schiff after Trump asked Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, what the Biden family was up to in Ukraine.

Do you think we would be in this mess today if Zelenskyy had offered an honest answer?

WikiLeaks Scrubs Leaked DNC/Hillary Emails in Wake of Plea Deal for Julian Assange

If the U.S. Department of Justice suddenly reaching a plea deal with Julian Assange that’s made him a free man after demanding his extradition for 14 years wasn’t enough of a head-scratcher, let’s add this. In the wake of the deal, WikiLeaks has removed all the leaked DNC emails from their servers.

🚨 BREAKING: ALL EMAILS RELATED TO THE DNC LEAK HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM WIKILEAKS

Following Julian Assange's guilty plea to unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to national defense, WikiLeaks has removed all DNC emails from its platform; all emails… pic.twitter.com/OsBe5paEMj

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 26, 2024

Since everything this administration does is geared toward preserving political power, why do they want emails that have been public for the last eight years removed at this juncture? Part of the deal also involved WikiLeaks returning or destroying unpublished material. So the question is, “What else did WikiLeaks have on the DNC and Hillary Clinton? And why was it so potentially damaging that the Biden administration let Assange walk free just to get it back?” Or perhaps we should ask “To whom would that information be damaging ?”

You may have heard the argument that if Joe Biden has to be dumped as the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton is the only person for whom Kamala Harris would move aside. Could getting control of the DNC emails from 2016 be part of the preparation for Hillary’s return?

It might seem out there, but the timing of the plea deal and the DNC email removal do seem curious, especially at this point in the most critical election cycle in history.

And let’s be frank: A rematch between Trump and Clinton would shut everybody up about “stolen elections” in 2016 and 2020.

Along The Stream

Wanda Alger is joined by her husband, Pastor Bobby Alger, on her podcast to discuss “Dealing With Sexual Sin in the Church.”

Jules Gomes is back again at 7 a.m. with “What to Do When Pope Francis Tells You Not to Pray the ‘Rogue’ Psalms.”

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.