If Joe Biden wants Americans to take seriously the mounting danger of MAGA tyranny—as he urged them to in remarks after the Supreme Court’s astonishing presidential immunity ruling Monday—perhaps members of his campaign should stop dismissing those who are concerned about that threat as “bed wetters.”

That’s the term of disparagement some of the president’s surrogates have bestowed upon those who have even suggested he consider leaving the race against Donald Trump following last week’s disastrous debate. Ignore the “bed-wetting brigade,” deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty said in a fundraising email. “I am worried about the cognitive abilities of the invertebrate professional panicking class,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates told my colleague Molly Jong-Fast. “Chill,” Senator John Fetterman advised.

Chill? Have you had a look around here lately? Biden was already trailing in national and swing state polls—consistently—before last Thursday’s debate, due in no small part to concerns about his age. The debate, instead of diluting those concerns as intended, only served to distill them: Here we saw an honest and decent man, but one who was plainly not the same guy he was four years ago. Was he preferable to Trump? God, yes—obviously. But the calls from the New York Times and elsewhere for Biden to drop out were not—as some implied—because those issuing them want Trump to be president again. The calls for Biden to step aside are coming precisely because the fear of a Trump reelection seems so close to being realized: Polls, already unfavorable for Biden, only seem to be going further in the wrong direction—and the president's response seems to be to stay the course. The campaign seems to think those calling for a course-correction are overreacting. But with so much on the line, isn't some alarm warranted?

“I really do criticize the campaign for a dismissive attitude towards people who are raising questions for discussion,” as Democratic Senator Peter Welch told Semafor. “That’s just facing the reality that we’re in.”

There is a legitimate case to be made that Biden remains the best chance to keep Trump out of the White House. But it is insulting—not to mention counterproductive—for the Biden camp to sneer at those who believe otherwise. These are not “bed wetters” or just a few out-of-touch pundits. These are everyday people who don’t want to lose their democracy, but harbor real concerns about Biden’s ability to stave off Trump’s efforts to undermine it. They are among the 51 million who tuned into the CNN debate Thursday and saw the 81-year-old president struggle to beat back his rival’s familiar lies, fail to make the strong case for his own administration’s accomplishments, and get suckered into asinine back-and-forths about golf and other sideshows. These are people who live in a country that already elected Trump once—in an election in which Hillary Clinton’s skeptics were also brushed off as “bed wetters”—and are clear-eyed about the dangers of doing so again, especially now that the right-wing Supreme Court has imbued the presidency with powers far exceeding those that the framers intended.

Indeed, the already-high stakes of this year’s election dramatically increased Monday when the high court handed down its decision granting presidents “absolute immunity” from prosecution in acts they take under the auspices of their official duties—which may include just about anything, from Trump’s attempts to overturn the election in 2020 to whatever malfeasance he can dream up should he assume the Oval Office a second time. Biden rightly denounced that ruling in scripted remarks Monday evening, highlighting a line from liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent: “Any president, including Donald Trump, will now be free to ignore the law,” he said, declining to announce any significant action to rein the court in, but noting that he, too, dissents with “fear for our democracy.”

With that democracy Biden helped preserve with his win in 2020 now teetering on edge, it’s understandable that some might panic. To not just disregard those legitimate fears, but to deride them, is an outrage. Perhaps the campaign can learn something from the people it seems to consider pathetic worrywarts: Right or wrong about the best next steps for this party’s bid to block Trump from the White House again, they seem to recognize the perilous position our country is in—and how much worse things can get if Biden’s confidence ends up being unfounded.