There’s a debate right now about what the news media were doing before Joe Biden’s walking-dead debate performance versus after: Were they covering for the president? Were they in denial? Were they lying? Are they stupid?

Puffy media person Brian Stelter last week pretended to embark on a fact-finding expedition in search of answers, claiming that “the real story is far more complicated — and more interesting.”

No it’s not.

Democrats and the media work together, savagely, all of the time, and toward the same goal, which is at any moment some variation of “destroy the American middle class and the nuclear family.” Contrary to popular belief, the media don’t slavishly follow the orders of Democrat leaders or work solely to protect them from criticism. That’s only part of the work, and it can rapidly change when the goal is threatened. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership. Democrats give their media cohorts guidance on coverage. Simultaneously, the media steer Democrats with that coverage. So long as they’re all going in the same direction — toward their shared goal — they all get along.

The blackout coverage and cable news dialogue related to Biden’s plainly depleted mental acuity before the debate, followed by an immediate, hysterical week-long news cycle (and still going) on the topic, isn’t complex or something that anyone in Washington is seriously pursuing answers for. Everyone in the White House gets it and so does everyone in the media. They understand the swift change well, and there wouldn’t have been one at all if Biden had managed to present as anything even resembling coherent in the debate .

The goal hasn’t changed, but the debate did threaten how the media and Democrats get there. Before the debate, Biden was the best and only option. He’s president and the leader of the party. But now voters have seen him physically standing next to the alternative. That debate performance, plus every other indicator, should mean that Biden will lose in November. A Trump win would be a major, though not permanent, setback for the media’s goal.

That’s the reason for the change, but don’t expect it to last. Assuming Biden remains in the race — he says he is — it’s not as if the media are out of options. Their attention will just as quickly revert back to destroying Donald Trump, most readily when he announces his running mate.

At any time you might wonder why the media have done something, just remember their goal. They’re either moving toward it, or addressing what might be in the way.