If you can chill out about the debate, then you can certainly chill out about worried DU reactions to the debate

[Silent3]

75. I'm pretty sure, ban-stick applied or not, talk of Biden stepping down is on the way to a natural death...

...pretty quickly, no matter what.

Now, if I might be so bold as to disagree with "The rule is clear"...

Any rules, in my opinion, need to be interpreted with an eye toward the ultimate purpose of the rules, and being open to considering circumstances. You're already showing that you agree with that to a certain extent when you say, "I haven't made a big fuss about it since the debate because I thought it was fair to let people blow off steam."

But I also differ on the idea that discussing the concept of Biden stepping down constitutes "bashing, trashing, (or) undermining". Further, it would be a huge stretch to see how such talk could depress election turnout.

This is a very, very different thing than 2016, where I imagine you're largely referring to diehard Clinton haters who openly spouted absurdities like Clinton and Trump being essentially the same, or even calling Clinton worse than Trump. Now that's clear "bashing, trashing, (or) undermining". In fact, unlike people badly shaken by Biden's poor debate performance, many of these Clinton haters where filled with nihilistic "burn it all down!" anger, not giving a damn about how harmful a Trump Presidency could be to our country.

People suggesting Biden step down are mostly just guilty of bad strategic thinking. Actual honest-to-God trolls aside, I think every one suggesting (and hardly demanding!) Biden step down fully intends to vote for Biden when, almost inevitably, Biden remains our candidate. And in the unlikely event Biden did step down, they'd be fully behind whoever Biden endorsed and/or the Democratic party as a whole picked as a replacement. These people are motivated by desperately not wanting Trump to win, for the good of the country, the same as all of us.

To repeat an example I've used elsewhere in this thread, if Biden suddenly became gravely ill we'd all burst into spontaneous discussion of who might replace Biden on the ticket. I don't think it would be considered "bashing, trashing, (or) undermining" even if we didn't wait for an official announcement that Biden had stepped down or died.

In my opinion, it's just a matter of degree, and not of kind, to regard Biden's poor debate performance as akin to a serious illness coming on, especially if you don't know for sure Biden is going to come back in full force.

My whole point in creating this thread goes well beyond the specific issue of Biden stepping down anyway. It's about a feeling that some DU members verge on wanting to enforce narrow groupthink and a nothing-but-positive-vibes approach to discussions here.