Something’s Fishy With These ‘Dems Are Stuck With Biden’ Articles
In the span of two days, articles started appearing making the exact same argument: That Joe Biden will definitely, no questions asked, be the nominee come November.
So, naturally, we are left wondering what Democrats have up their sleeve to get the flailing president off the ballot.
On Monday, Vox.com published a lengthy article titled “Yes, Democrats, It’s Biden or Bust.” The next day, Politico ran a lengthy piece titled “Get Used to It: Biden Isn’t Going Anywhere.” New York Magazine ran a piece with a slightly different take: “Yes, Democrats Can Still Replace Biden (But They Won’t).” The National Interest ran a piece yesterday titled “Democrats are Stuck with Joe Biden.”
We are not suggesting there was plagiarism here, but mainstream journalists aren’t the most independent thinkers on the planet, which suggests that they are getting their information from the same sources.
Let’s focus on the Vox and Politico articles.
Both point out that it’s too late for a challenger to get enough delegates to secure the nomination.
Vox:. ‘The simple answer is no. It’s too late.’
Politico: ‘For starters, it’s too late to make a switch.’
Both dismiss the idea that the Democratic National Committee could force Biden out of the race.
Vox: ‘DNC is not some omnipotent, shadowy operation that has the power, influence, or ability to crown a different party leader. Who do you think chose the DNC chair and vice-chairs? There just isn’t a council of decision-makers who can tell Biden to drop out or choose to ditch him.’
Politico: ‘Oh, you think it will be “the DNC?” They’re not independent actors. The headquarters is an arm of the Biden White House and the state leaders are party loyalists who happily saluted Biden when the president made them shake up the decades-old primary calendar to protect him from a primary challenge.’
They each note that Democratic elites are all behind Biden.
Vox: ‘The vast majority of the Democratic establishment has already united around Biden — endorsing him, stumping for him, and leading the party’s operations because of Biden.’
Politico: ‘Not only isn’t there animus toward the president, but most Democratic elites like him.’
Both dismiss the idea that Biden would voluntarily drop out.
Vox: ‘Biden is the only one who can decide if he wants to drop out before the floor vote. And there are plenty of reasons that wouldn’t happen.’
Politico: ‘If not one Democratic governor or senator is willing to even publicly question whether Biden should run, how would he feel any pressure to change his mind?’
Both insist that nobody wants Kamala Harris to be the nominee:
Vox: ‘The only option that would not risk massive dissension among the Democratic base would be to choose his vice president, Kamala Harris.’
Politico: ‘And even if they did speak up, they’d still be faced with the unpalatable dilemma of choosing whether to embrace or reject Harris.’
Ok, you might say, if two seasoned pundits are coming to the same conclusion, doesn’t that strengthen the case that Bide will, in fact, be the nominee?
Maybe so. But it doesn’t take a conspiracy nut to think that something else is afoot here.
For one thing, if defeating Donald Trump is the Democrats’ paramount concern (to “save democracy” and all), Biden staying in the race seems like the worst possible choice. He is hugely unpopular, and that’s not likely to change. Minorities and independents are gravitating toward Trump. Biden’s physical and mental state will only get worse, and his decline is by all evidence, accelerating. It’s an open question whether he’d agree to, or would be able to, debate Trump.
The chance that he will do something catastrophically stupid or embarrassing grows by the day, and the White House can’t keep him locked away until Nov. 6.
Whatever chaos or complications his stepping aside might create at the Democratic convention seem to pale in comparison to the risks of letting him hobble onward.
For another, Democrats must know that replacing Biden with someone like Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom would massively energize their base, put the burden of old age on Trump, and weaken Trump’s claim that he deserves a second chance. Not to mention the avalanche of adoring stories in the press about whichever Democrat ends up on the ballot.
There’s also the odd claim in the Politico article that all this “replace Biden” talk is coming from Republicans — when in fact Republicans would love nothing more than for Biden to mumble and stumble his way to November, and then suffer a massive, humiliating defeat.
Finally, Democrats are masters at psy-ops. So, sending the message Biden isn’t going anywhere might leave Republicans in general, and Trump in particular, totally unprepared when Biden takes himself out of the race.
In short, given that the establishment left is now insisting that Biden will be the nominee makes it more likely that he won’t be.
Comments are closed.
