The debate made it clear that Biden is in serious decline. Remember that it’s not just about now, it’s about four years from now. The media has turned on him hard, and so have many in the Democratic party.
My first takeaway from the debate was that Biden if Democrats were honest and honorable, they would have already forced him to step down, using the 25th amendment. Being President is a hard job, and he’s not up to it. The Vice-President exists for a reason.
My second is that a constitutional amendment is needed to prevent anyone over, say, sixty-nine, from running for President.
The third is to ask, who’s been running America? I had thought it was no longer Biden, but what we’re hearing is that it is Biden, and that he’s erratic and angry and doesn’t understand much of what he’s doing. Biden has done some good things as President, mostly thru some good appointments, but when age related decline starts, it often moves fast.
As for what’s going to happen—I have no idea. I don’t much like Harris, among other things when she was a DA she deliberately put people she knew were innocent in prison. But she’s not senile, and Democrats are panicking. If Biden won’t go peacefully, they should twenty-five him, get Kamala a good running mate & pray a lot.
The other option being floated is a “speed primary”, get it done in four to five weeks, but that seems problematic.
Either way, getting rid of GenocideJoe and having a candidate who can distance themselves would be the smart political move. I imagine Trump will still win, but it might not be a complete disaster.
America’s in serious decline and this clusterfuck is just a symptom of the elite’s inability to govern effectively. This problem should have been dealt with before it blew up, but everyone was pretending there was no problem, despite dozens of clips of Biden’s decline making the rounds. The strategy was denial, denial, denial. “The Emperor’s clothes are the most beautiful in the world!”
But Biden himself played the part of the kid “The Emperor has no clothes” and the feeding frenzy has begun. There will be more leaks and bad press, the knives are out for him, because other Democrats think he’s going to take them with him. Just as bad for Biden, Obama, who made Joe President last time by arranging for him to win the primary, seems to have abandoned him. Not sure if the Clinton machine is still onside: Hilary is stupid and might be, if Bill’s making the decisions, they will jump ship
If nothing else, it will be quite the show.
Edit: Harris’s numbers are now trending better than Biden’s.
Addendum 2: One thing about Harris is that she’s less pro-Israeli. To win, Democrats need Muslims. Trump is hardcore pro-Israel. If Kamala became president and pushed back against Netanyahu in some way that matters, she’d get a lot on the left and among Muslims. Heck, if she’s good enough, I’d endorse her (not that my endorsement matters). Always go with the person who isn’t pro-genocide. (I recognize she’ll probably bow to the pro-Israeli lobby.)
Soredemos
Many of us had assumed Biden was a (literally) braindead puppet and other people were in practice running things. That was in a way an opitmistic view, a less bad option. If that turns out not to be the case and that the dementia patient is actually in charge, that explains a lot and is utterly insane. What circle of morons are allowing this guy to stay into the driver seat?
A fitting end for the ‘Democratic’ Party. Reminder one billion that we could have had Sanders. They pulled out all the stops to undermine him for…this.
Feral Finster
1, It has long been obvious that Biden was senile, however, only a week ago the MSM was lockstep in defending his mental state and declaring anyone who questioned it to be a Russian Agent(R).
2. Suppose the old halfwit were to accept the obvious and step aside, whether as president or as a candidate.
If Biden were to resign the presidency, Harris would finally get her wish and become president. The problem is that she is arguably even less popular than Biden ATM.
If Biden were simply to withdraw as a candidate, the plausible replacements are Harris, Newsom, HRC and Whitmer. I guess you could add Amy Klobuchar to the list.
Newsom, Whitmer and Klobuchar are all ambitious, but they all have the option of time. Assuming Trump wins in 2024, they can run in 2028 and face no incumbent. So, unless they really think they are sure that the public is desperate for anyone other than Trump (and that Team R will not vomit up a Trump-clone in 2028), they would be advised to wait.
Harris is also young, but as said, she is unpopular. That and she will probably never have more leverage over Team D than what she has now. She has to try.
HRC may be the only person in the country more universally hated than Biden and Harris, but she is as ambitious as Lady Macbeth and has health and age problems of her own. 2024 is her last realistic shot.
Ian Welsh
Harri’s #s are improving and better than Biden’s in at least some polls.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/03/kamala-harris-joe-biden-election-2024-democrats
EGrise
Sort-of related: would love to get your take on what (ideally) should be done about the US Supreme Court.
Expanding the court is an obvious one, as are term limits. Maybe some serious restrictions on judicial review. What else?
Ian Welsh
For a lot of things just ignore their rulings. It’s not written in the Constitution that they get to interpret congressional law or administrative action.
Feral Finster
@ian: from the link:
“On Friday, the day after the debate, Data for Progress published a poll showing Harris performing “the same as Biden in a head-to-head matchup against Trump”. By Tuesday, a CNN poll was showing Harris, unlike Biden, “within striking distance” of Trump, thanks in part to “broader support from women (50% of female voters back Harris over Trump v 44% for Biden against Trump) and independents (43% Harris v 34% Biden)”.”
And those are from after the debate.
bruce wilder
Biden and Harris were chosen in the same corrupt process by the same recklessly irresponsible Party and have in common manifest unfitness for Office. Biden was showing clear signs of dementia when he ran in 2019-20. The only primary Kamala Harris won in 2020 was in Hamptons fundraising and it is widely thought that she’s a drunk. Like Spiro Agnew, she may have looked like life insurance on the hoof to those surrounding her Principal.
Alan Lichtman, touted as the Professor who predicted X previous Presidential elections, makes a strong, semi-quantitative, semi-objective case that dropping Biden at this late stage makes Trump’s election — assuming he stays alive and out-of-jail — a near certainty. With that frame of analysis, you have to suspend all consideration that voters consider the merits of the person on offer, but is that such an unrealistic view? In other circumstances, I have taken the view that the vast majority of individual voters essentially vote at random in response to a mix of false beliefs and fundamental misunderstanding of politics. And, a lot of political operatives go to lunch on the creation and maintenance of that chaotic mix, many of them eating their own dog food and enjoying it. People who could believe in Russiagate and still do can believe that Biden just needs a nap and a multivitamin.
It would be lovely to think Biden’s performance in the debate was a wake-up call that no one can ignore, but his senility has been obvious for years and was ignored successfully. I cannot reject the hypothesis that he was set up to fail — setting an early debate, the intense preparation that left him tired and hoarse. It does not have to have been deliberately intentional by any one person or group in the Presidential cabal. But, I lean in the same direction that Ian does — that despite the incapacity at the center, the Biden Administration has continued to be centered on the President is a weird kind of emergent self-organization that didn’t know it was emergent self-organization. There’s plenty of other evidence in policy, foreign and domestic, that there’s no rational, reflective deliberation going on. Look at how automatic has been the Administration’s steering toward World War III or abject failure or both, in Ukraine, Gaza and Taiwan. This has long been a zombie administration and it may well continue in that mode.
Take Biden out of the equation, and the emergent self-organization that made the Administration seemingly stable may well collapse into chaos with unforeseeable consequences.
Willy
I’d rather vote for the rotting corpse of Weekend at Bidens, than a malignant narcissist red coat/hat king, any day. That guy who can listen to progressives, instead of just calling then crazy vermin. I’d rather my POTUS need lots of naps, instead of lots of personal enemies to destroy.
Just because “GenocideJoe” is doing what all POTUS since Kennedy have ever done, cower to AIPAC, doesn’t magically mean that Trump wont double down on empowering that same AIPAC and their Netanyahoos.
But I feel I’m in the minority.
I used to wonder why nicer guys who at least did some competent stuff (and though far from perfect or progressive, Biden and/or his handlers have done some competent stuff), will always seem to lose to self-serving idiot strongmen at the end of the day.
From Allende to Corbin to Sanders, the weaker appearing competent usually loses to stronger appearing asshole-idiots. I say it’s the prime human glitch. It’s why both Rome and the USSR fell, why socialism doesn’t gain more traction, why “nice guys finish last”, and so on. It’s why the old SNL skit “Bush is taller” got all the sagacious laughs – fuck the policies or competencies, Bush Sr. appears tougher than Dukakis so he must be better. Isn’t it natural law, where big dumb high school jocks are always going to be more popular and influential than the introverted scholastic geeks?
And so the mob majority can’t keep their assholes in check. Or more accurately, will not, because of that glitch. I’m sure there are plenty of details and nuances which our own mob here will insist on discussing, but failing to address that basic human glitch, as both Party D and Biden seem so willing to ignore, is a serious mistake.
One bit of hope that I have comes from a previous post. Our current version of China might have the idiot strongman-worship thing licked, at least for the time being. Xi is only 5’9” and seems competent. They and their culture seem to be doing something right.
david lamy
For me, a suitable metric for thinking about Biden is to consider whether you would hire him for a position of trust.
Would you hire him as a stock broker? Lawyer? Contractor? Consulting physician to opine if surgery is necessary? A baby sitter for your children?
He should resign now. If not, then his cabinet needs to remove him by employing the 25th amendment.
Dermot O Connor
Bruce, I read most of my news, but when I finally saw some clips of Kamala Harris (especially the “coconut” one), my jaw dropped; she really sounds like a heavy drinker. And on more than one clip also. You’d think there’d be more chatter about that online.
Purple Library Guy
@david lamy Oh, come on. This is American politics we’re talking about–forget Biden and Trump, I can’t see hiring ANY upper level American politico for any of those roles. The core reason they were so desperate to stop Bernie is precisely that he’s NOT the kind of grifter I’d immediately judge unhirable for a position of trust.
Adam Eran
JFYI, in Hans Christian Anderson’s version of the Emperor’s New Clothes, the Emperor could have said “Oh thanks, little child, for pointing out my mistake.” That was an option.
The Anderson version says the Emperor “grimly continued the parade.”
Human nature, eh?
Oakchair
Dem establishment 2016: Let’s go with Hillary Clinton
Result: Trump presidency 2016-2020
Dem establishment 2020: Let’s go with Biden
Result: Trump presidency 2024-2028
Which would be worse, the Dem establishment is incompetent or they are getting exactly what they want?
Soredemos
@Willy
In your world things just happen because ‘something something, faulty human psychology’. So Corbyn and Samders weren’t undermined by a hostile media, and Allende wasn’t violently couped by a military conspiracy. No, just ‘nice guys finish last’ (which isn’t remotely true even on its face in the realm of interpersonal relationhips, by the way).
You do see how that isn’t any kind of serious analysis, right?
mago
It’s rather amazing that no one is copping to the fact that it doesn’t matter what suit is in the presidential office as long as he or she is compliant with the powers that be.
mago
Happy Independence Day btw. I’ll be in the mountains far from the maddening crowd.
Remember the Bastille. . .
Purple Library Guy
@mago Well it does somewhat matter. So, I think we can agree that the wealthy elites (which I’m finding harder and harder not to call the “bourgeoisie” even though Communist cant is so cringe) really really want to stop in its tracks any politics that might entail even a little bit of redistribution from the rich to everyone else, whether it’s social democracy, socialism, or just a return to the once-mainstream welfare state. This is partly out of basic shortsighted greed, partly out of fear that if they give an inch and we realize taking their stuff makes things better, we’ll take a mile; plus, some of them seem to actively prefer a situation where the little people are impoverished serfs even when it doesn’t actually make their situation any better.
Now, the normal default approach to this involves using the media, “think tanks”, influence on universities and various other forms of PR to create an almost tacit hegemony for the idea that the status quo of high inequality is normal and unchallengeable, that it’s an inevitable part of other things that are “natural” and the best possible way of doing things, like “free markets” and “meritocracy” and so forth. This worked fairly well for a long time, and groups like the US Democrats are all about this approach.
But as the wealthy get more and more power, their siphoning of wealth gets stronger and stronger, and everyone else’s life starts to suck more and more. People get pissed off. And as unrest rises, some of the elites start to think that the normal approach isn’t working, and there’s a fear of democracy breaking out. More of the elite start signing on to an option that never really went away, but which under normal circumstances has fairly few really rich supporters: The strong hand. Fascism. A politics of fear, anger and misdirection, which instead of pretending everything is just great, tells you everything is terrible and it’s all the fault of (anyone convenient who is different and not part of the bourgeois club). And anyone who disagrees can have a nice prison cell or execution to disagree in. And horrible things will happen to the scapegoats of the day.
There are significant differences between these two ways of holding down the proles. For anyone part of the unrest side of the equation, the question is, which is harder to resist and how much damage will be done in the process of resisting? And while I admit that sanctimonious neoliberals may be in many ways more insidious, and there’s a reason why that quieter more respectable kind of deception is the normal rule, still, people can underestimate the effectiveness and danger of brute force and demagoguery. And then there’s the scapegoats, who will suffer pretty horribly, and are likely to include not just racialized groups and gays and trans and such, but also people like trade unionists and leftist intellectuals.
In the present day United States, the bottom line seems to be that a lot of billionaires are throwing their weight behind the fascist option precisely because the Democratic party, once a reliable smotherer of all populist impulses, is increasingly showing cracks as progressives besiege it, trying to get into policy formation. That makes me think it’s worth trying to preserve those shitheads . . . because their approach to keeping us down may be starting to fail. Fascism, on the other hand, is often pretty unstable, but there’s generally a lot of pain before it’s brought down, and the US is just at the beginning of it.
Willy
@Soredemos,
So Corbyn and Samders weren’t undermined by a hostile media, and Allende wasn’t violently couped by a military conspiracy.
I literally never said that. But playing along, the commons never questioned that hostile medias or military conspiracies are a major problem for their own interests, not in nearly enough numbers and with enough force. For what reasons you might think?
As I said, the commons don’t usually come here. We are not them. They think differently. For them, truth doesn’t come from clear cautious reasoning, but from bully pulpits aimed at their base emotions. Bernays 101. Get it?
Carborundum
Unless the vote is one hell of a lot more interestingly distributed than I think it is (tends as I recall to over-index in Dem strongholds) no one *needs* 1.1% of the population.
Ian Welsh
The votes in Michigan, in particular, are often very close, and yes, there are enough Muslims to make the difference. This is like saying that Cubans don’t matter because there are so few of them.
https://www.axios.com/2023/12/02/muslim-americans-swing-states-anti-biden-campaign
EGrise
Thanks Ian.
Beyond “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”, I wonder how that would work in practice? I assume federal cops and lawyers would pick the president over the court, but it would still be interesting to watch.
Oji
Do the Dems want to win? It seems the Tories do not. Given the oncoming economic disaster now apparent to most of us, it might be prudent to allow the other team to preside over a few years of suffering, then try to ‘ride to the rescue.’ Americans are suckers for the sounds of the bugle and cries of “Charge!” Must be their English cultural heritage (see “Light Brigade, Charge of”).
As a last thought, I think Newsom and Michelle could win. Michelle is the Oprah of politics, and she’d pull a lot more voters than Harris– not to mention Harris and Newsom cannot team up (12th Amendment). She (Michelle) also plugs any gaps in the woke facade left over from ditching Harris. And think of the storyline– Michelle will one day be President, just like her husband! And both the first this and first that. It’s “HISTORIC!” They’d be a freight train, IMO. But does she want it?
NR
Supposedly Biden is staying in. We’ll see what happens I suppose. If he gets out there and tears it up on the campaign trail (which I doubt will happen, but who knows) he can probably fix at least some of the damage from the debate. But any more displays of cognitive issues are really going to cost, and the previous excuses (“He was just tired!” “It’s just a stutter!”) aren’t going to fly anymore.
If it’s not Biden, it pretty much has to be Harris if she wants to run. Passing her over for someone else would fracture the Democratic party too much to have any chance of winning. I think objectively Gretchen Whitmer would probably be the best candidate, and she’s actually pretty good on some issues (very pro-labor as one example). I’d much rather have Whitmer than Harris, but there’s probably no chance of that unfortunately.
Anyway, Biden seems to still be in for now.
Oh, and it’s funny how the media never talks about Trump’s incoherence, isn’t it? Every time he gives a speech it sounds like he’s having multiple mini-strokes. He’s probably not far behind Biden on the dementia train.
GrimJim
Oakchair:
“Dem establishment 2016: Let’s go with Hillary Clinton
Result: Trump presidency 2016-2020
Dem establishment 2020: Let’s go with Biden
Result: Trump presidency 2024-“PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE
Fixed that for you.
Oji:
“Given the oncoming economic disaster now apparent to most of us, it might be prudent to allow the other team to preside over a few years of suffering, then try to ‘ride to the rescue.’ ”
THIS.
Barring a miracle, Trump is going to win.
Project 2025 plans out only the first 180 days.
The real nightmare begins thereafter.
david lamy
@purple library guy
I do not see your reply as a rebuttal as my scope was limited by the the post’s subject.
However my earlier reply was influenced not by a sense of taste as in, “I would not let her near my children!”, but rather by capacity.
How can anyone truly believe that Biden has the capacity to perform any exercise of trust?
That man is head of state. He must be replaced.
Mark Level
Some thoughts:
It was clear long before the “debate” that Biden is brain dead, additionally he has the anger that comes with dementia when anyone checks his insane delusions: remember “You ain’t black if you don’t vote for me,” “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier!”, etc? (It is charming how the senile can clearly remember things from 3 or 4 decades prior, Joe can quote his white, Indian killin’ hero John Wayne.)
Some of the best & most thorough coverage of this particular snafu has come from the Due Dissidence podcast. 1 thing they covered recently is the Dem martinet Joe Scarborough turning on Joe, a month after saying that “this Biden is the best Biden ever”, he contradicted his wife Mika and said that the election is lost unless they get a replacement in there, pronto!! And then he went on an unannounced “vacation” the next day! Don’t forget that less than 2 weeks ago, WH Press Secretary Karine John-Pierre claimed all the previous scenes of confused, incoherent Biden (loses his thread, can’t find his way off the stage, wanders away in the middle of ceremonial duties) were Republican “deep fakes”, selectively edited videos.
They have utter contempt for their voters (rightly, the Dems will vote Blue no matter Who, and then their Selected “representatives” will do literally nothing except start more wars and shovel more money upward to the donors).
When Biden started to boast about his 6 golf handicap and the Donald calmly rebutted with “Let’s not be childish here”, the script that Joe was “the adult in the room” got flipped 180 degrees for all to see. And what about fumble, mumble, self-correct, “We beat Medicare!!”
Carl Bernstein was interviewed recently and said he’d been told over a dozen times over the last year plus by insiders that everyone recognized his cognitive decline was severe & speeding up.
The Dems don’t care about winning or losing. All they do is fund raise & serve the Elites as the Fascism Light/ “good cop” side of the Duopoly. I think some in the commentaries who are saying they’re choosing to lose due to an impending economic collapse (to which I’ll add the Imperial collapse, the Russian victory will be in the next year despite billion$ wasted) are quite likely right.
The historical analogy here is the collapse of the gerontocratic Soviet apparatchik in 1988-89. (The only difference being, some like Gorbachev had lost faith in their system, whereas all the elected Ghouls in the U$ still believe we are supreme & infallible.) It’s basically similar to the Ancien Regime in France, “Le etat c’est mois.” They were in denial & lied about Biden’s state while they lie to themselves about the national Imperial decline & growing isolation the more we supervise the Palestine genocide.
Kamala is a joke, with her cackling & “coconut tree” folkloric japes. Many people don’t see her as remotely relatable or coherent. She was put in the Veep’s role for 2 reasons: 1) to gaslight non-whites & women that the Dems care oh so much for non-white people unlike the evil MAGA cult. 2) Just as Obama picked Joe so if he fucked up he’d never be replaced with the incompetent #2, Kamala was Joe’s insurance.
I’ll agree with mago– it makes NO difference who gets (S)elected, the situation is not remotely democratic, it only goes one way, to further authoritarianism, war, & crushing of the middle & lower classes. The modern USA is about as sclerotic & incapable of change as the Byzantine Empire was in several centuries of decline. We don’t have several centuries left, however, fortunately for the rest of the world & particularly our Mexican & Canadian neighbors.
Soredemos
@NR
‘The media is generous to Trump’ is a wild take. In fact Trump is consistently coherent, he just lies endlessly. Whereas Biden can’t even do that properly (in context ‘we beat Medicare’ was probably supposed to be ‘we beat covid’, a statement that is no less stupid and is also a brazen lie).
Naked Capitalism had a recent piece that was a tedious deep dive into one of his speeches now, versus in 2016, and he’s as cogent now as he was then (and yes, he was quite coherent then. Mostly talked about jobs. It’s why he was elected. The closest Liberals can ever get to acknowledging this is to make fun of how he says ‘China’. Sure, but why was he talking about China so much? That’s the part they’ll never truly engage with).
Oji
@GrimJim
And an ecological collapse following close upon the heels of the economic one. Both have already started, of course, and becoming more apparent by the day, but our leadership has not yet publicly conceded their existence. Think back 30 years though, back when some of us were already talking about it, and being laughed at, or even 20 years ago. Contrast those times with today, where you will find a ready and informed cohort to discuss either. Every day, more and more people come to understand and know the reality of our predicament. And like Biden’s dementia, the truth will out. And although it’s far too late to do more than mitigate, mitigate we must.
StewartM
I had discounted your “Biden is senile” remarks, Ian, because:
a) Trump reminds me of a close relative that developed Alzheimer’s (early stages), both because of his risks factors (bad diet, no exercise, no mental stimulation, depriving himself of sleep, etc) but also episodes of ‘spittle rage’ is very common in the early stages. It’s not Joe Biden up at 3 am posting angry remarks on Truth Social now, it is?).
Joe Biden, OTH, reminds me of a close friend’s dad with normal age-related decline. He’d tell you a story that he had told you oodles of times before, and he mumbled a lot, and we all joked about it, but functionally he was OK. He eventually died of a heart attack in his workshed, doing something he loved, carpentry. Not saying that he should be president, but mumbling a lot and forgetting you told someone something before is normal.
b) There had been no real leaks from the Biden White House about this, and private remarks even by opponents (Kevin McCarthy) were positive about Biden still be sharp for his age.
However, now there’s been this disclosure, that Biden is sharp only between 10 am to 4 pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eedkhVuusrQ&t=128s
somecomputerguy
From everyone contending that any Biden alternative will lose, I would like to hear how Biden will win.
Bear in mind, a Democrat needs a roughly 4 point margin to win, so any poll that shows a dead-heat, translates to a loss.
My understanding is that Biden is performing less well than every single incumbent loser on record, by every polling measure we have. And has been for some time.
Name someone, please whose numbers were this bad, who went on to win.
Every comparison shows Biden’s alternatives running even with him, without them even being in the race.
Down-ticket candidates are out-performing Biden in the same polls; that indicates Biden is dragging down the parties other candidates, and that Biden is the problem.
NR
Soredemos:
Is Trump consistently coherent though? Is he really?
Soredemos
@StewartM
If we’re going to play the ‘I think a candidate has brainrot because of my own anecdotal experiences’ game, I’ve had Biden pegged as having dementia since 2019. Back then he distinctly reminded me of my father, riddled with Alzheimers. In the earlier stages he was still aware of what was happening and got mad about it. Biden behaved exactly like him. There was also all kinds of other little details that filled out the picture even then. Now Biden has advanced to the stage where he’s likely completely unaware of how much he’s degraded.
I have to say, I never appreciated being gaslit on how Biden was fine for years when he so obviously wasn’t, and there’s something satisfying about seeing so many of the previously smug idiots suddenly come to realization that their president is a dementia patient. Some of us have been telling you this for years, guys.
@NR
Everything there is coherent. It’s weird word choice, and he genuinely stumbles at least once (as opposed to Biden’s ‘stutters’), but what he says is a coherent thought for start to finish. ‘We’re a lawless society that can’t solve anything. Institutionally we’re condemned to a death spiral.’
Not that anyone should trust Trump to fix anything, of course.
Oji
To be clear, I absolutely do not want Newsom and Michelle in the WH. Both are part of the problem(s). Merely suggesting they could win.
NR
Soredemos:
I can of course guess at what Trump was trying to say there, but “we are an institute in a powerful death penalty” (and that is exactly what he said, it’s on video) definitely isn’t coherent.
Soredemos
@NR
Nah, compared to ‘we beat Medicare’, it’s absolutely coherent. Trump fundamentally still has his brain (such as it is); Biden does not.
Carborundum
Good point. I tend to think the specifically Muslim component of the unwillingness to vote for Biden is going to be swamped by a much more broadly based sentiment (which I think is being under-counted right now), but it bears thinking about.
NR
Soredemos:
Compared to Biden is a pretty low bar at this point. I’m just talking generally, compared to how most healthy people think and talk.
NR
somecomputerguy:
Harry Truman in 1948 is the only example that’s even close I think. His numbers weren’t as bad as Biden’s but they were at least in the vicinity.
Needless to say, one example (maybe) in the last 100 years doesn’t inspire confidence.
Willy
So who’s the replacement? Somebody MAGAs really hate, like maybe Newsom, who can keep his head and fire back with devastation every time Trump lies? Or do they always have to be Democratic Party swing donor approved?
Olivier
I am surprised that (unless I missed it) nobody seems to have mentioned the option of letting Biden run but with a competent mate (i.e., not KH) and under the assumption (wink, wink) that the veep will take over shortly after the inauguration.
The alternative is for the DNC to admit publicly that they’ve gaslit their own electoral base for years. How well would that go down? The option above gives some cover to those who wish to ignore that inconvenient fact and still vote Democrat.