June’s presidential debate had MAGA Republicans cheering, and more than a few Democrats calling for President Joe Biden to be replaced to head the ticket.

I assume here that the 81-year old Biden will ultimately make the decision to continue his campaign for a second term. He seems intent on “finishing the job” and keeping the wannabe autocrat Donald Trump, who is 78, from retaking the nation into the sort of amoral miasma that engulfed his only but seemingly endless term.

What codgers and dodgers have in common, however, at least in this instance, is an oversize male ego and declining testosterone levels. These two old men are seeking the nation’s highest office as compensatory validation – seeking presidential power and prestige – during their declining years. Be that as it may, I’d prefer having a codger as president than a dodger. Codgers are trustworthy – dodgers tend to be scoundrels.

Codgers have good and bad days. Biden appeared especially weak at the debate, yet at a rally in North Carolina the next day, he boomed from the podium like an Old Testament prophet about the value of competence and truth-telling.

Biden has plenty of accomplishments that demonstrate his competence: the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, the funding of infrastructure improvements, reduction of child poverty, bringing COVID-19 under control, the creation of more jobs in one year than any other president in history, the reuniting of NATO in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the appointment of a superb senior White House team. Yes, inflation is higher than anyone wants, but this is a reminder that the United States is not an island disengaged from international trade, rather part of a world economic order where most trade partners are likewise enduring high inflation.

Trump is, of course, a dodger. Dodgers lack the work ethic of the codgers, are indifferent to moral issues that do not please their base of support, are never at fault and thus never apologize, they prize staff loyalty over competence (think Peter Navarro or Ivanka and Jared Kushner), pass tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy, heap scorn on the very notion of climate change, let alone address the existential threat it poses to humankind, whine and dissemble whenever they do not get their way or resort to calling on supporters to use violence and trickery to validate the dodger’s whining; they weaponize the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn basic rights citizens have long enjoyed, and if none of the above works, mobilize supporters who, fueled by lies and conspiracy theories, attack the Capitol using force.

Democracy be damned; the end justifies the means for the dodger. Dodgers seek imagined glory for themselves and expect vindication, not accountability, for committing outrageous, even illegal acts. And dodgers lie like dogs.

When Biden reminded his TV audience that Trump was a convicted felon for lying to the IRS about “business expenses,” Trump shot back that Hunter Biden was a convicted felon, as if the sins of the son could be visited upon the father. Does Trump understand there is no moral or political equivalency? Probably not.

Regardless of whether or the Democrats replace Biden as their candidate for the presidency (which practically means that Biden would have to agree), the key to our nation’s future is not a MAGA presidency but about the hard work of governing. Codgers are needed today as never before.