Let’s start with the obvious: No one actually knows the best path forward for the Democratic Party in 2024, and all options in front of us are bad. A second Biden term is seeming less and less likely, and Democratic voters and pundits like seem increasingly nervous that we’re marching to our own funeral. But the prospect of challenging an incumbent president just a few months before an election also seems hubristic and dangerous, especially when the Democratic Party is deeply divided, the vice president is unpopular and has been largely marginalized, and there is no obvious Plan B. The worst of all worlds seems to be a scenario in which Biden continues his campaign but the party mutinies and an ugly replacement battle fails at everything except mortally injuring an already-weak candidate.
It is hard to overstate the stakes of this election. Joe Biden surely understands them as well. Which is why I hope that, in the aftermath of this debate, he is doing some serious soul-searching with his advisors, his colleagues, and the person he seems to trust most: His wife Jill.
The catastrophic debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday was a wake-up call even for many hard Biden partisans that this president, for all the good he’s done in office, is struggling to make his case to the American people and does indeed come across as a struggling elderly man who may be kind and respectable but increasingly lacks the cognitive sharpness to hold the most powerful office in the world. At the same time, the threat of a second Trump presidency is enormous, far bigger than most Americans seem to grasp—Trump is scheming on a radical executive power-grab which could put everything from the Fed to control of the media in his hands, while he also promises vast human rights abuses, an end to a freedom-and-democracy-pursuing liberal international order, and a series of economic plans that would radically drive up prices and plunge the nation into financial free-fall. It’s no exaggeration to say that a second Trump presidency could mean everything from the termination of abortion rights nationwide, to deportation camps for immigrants, to the end of America as a beacon of economic and political stability, to the rise of global autocratic and imperialist power from Russia, China, and other dangerous actors.
www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-jill-biden-must-step-104351980.html
Democrats are despairing over President Joe Biden’s debate performance Thursday night, a showing so halting some even privately raised questions about whether he should remain the party’s nominee.
Biden appeared onstage with a soft, halting voice and an open-mouthed, staring look. He struggled to finish thoughts at points, and ceded ground on issues like abortion where Democrats have an edge.
It took just minutes for Democrats to realize how bad it was becoming.
“Horrific,” said another Democratic operative.
And one Democrat who’s worked on campaigns up and down the ballot said simply: “We are f***ed.”
The looming question as the debate came to a close was alm
www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/cnn-debate-trump-biden-06-27-24#h_895e5511ddbe0ea5ef0c65318aaf288e
DEMS SCRAMBLE WITH 130 DAYS TO GO!
ATLANTA (AP) — A raspy and sometimes halting President Joe Biden tried repeatedly to confront Donald Trump in their first debate ahead of the November election, as his Republican rival countered Biden’s criticism by leaning into falsehoods about the economy, illegal immigration and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Biden’s uneven performance, particularly early in the debate, crystallized the concerns of many Americans that, at 81, he is too old to serve as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for the Democrat to consider stepping aside as the party’s nominee as members of his party fear a return of Trump to the White House.
apnews.com/article/bidentrumppresidentialdebate-0e7577e9a354a69f50675494fea54ca9
Democrats are talking about replacing Joe Biden. That wouldn’t be so easy.
Democratic Party rules make it almost impossible to replace nominees without their consent, let alone smoothly substitute in someone else.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/can-democrats-replace-joe-biden-ballot-rcna159374
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