In recent weeks, the media had taken to claiming that suggestions that Biden was old, confused and out of it were ‘cheapfakes’ and election misinformation.

In the first 10 minutes of the debate, Biden destroyed the ‘cheapfake’ lie by being undeniably old, confused and out of it.

What went down was more than Biden’s reputation but the entire media narrative. After nearly a decade of the media telling the public that its common sense observations were misinformation and disinformation to be remedied with media fact checks, everyone could see that it was the media that had been lying.

And the media was forced to see it too.

Suddenly media figures began arguing that someone should have reported on Biden’s condition. And when the Wall Street Journal and other outlets did, they were attacked for it. Biden’s mental state was another lie too big to fail.

Now it did. And it doesn’t just discredit Biden or his party. It further demolishes the remaining credibility of the media not only among conservatives or independents, few of whom like or trust the media, but even among Democrats.

That’s why the media is suddenly rushing to get ahead of the issue among its own people. Lying to the country for the greater good is not a problem. Lying to the people who think you only lie to Republicans is.