Joe Biden has reportedly become more open in recent days to hearing arguments that he should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after the party’s two main congressional leaders told him they doubted his ability to beat Donald Trump.
While continuing to insist he will be the party’s nominee in November, the president has reportedly started asking questions about negative polling data and whether Vice-President Kamala Harris, considered the favourite to replace him if were to withdraw, fares better.
The indications of a possible rethink come after Biden tested positive on Wednesday for Covid-19, forcing him to isolate for several days while curtailing a campaigning visit to Nevada that had been part of a drive to show his candidacy was very much alive.
It also coincides with fresh polling data showing that he now trails Trump by two points in Virginia, a state he won by 10 points in 2020.
I’m still hoping for the scenario were Biden wins and AOC, pelosi or some other woman becomes speaker of the house and Biden steps down early on to see the GOP collectively loose their shit as they have both a woman for president and VP.
I’m with ya, however a new VP is just appointed. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the speaker of the house.
That makes sense otherwise each person would move up. In that case Harris as the President then Whitmer at the VP appointee. It would still put the GOP knickers in a bunch. Then keep AOC in the house and let her keep the dogs at bay there.
Jesus christ, please not fucking Pelosi.
yeah, she’s not even old enough to be president!
Calling it now: He’s slowly working up to dropping out without “losing face”
Step one: Casually mention in an interview that you’d consider dropping if a health reason popped up. Step two: Coincidentally, get a health issue shortly afterwards. Step three: Casually make it known that you’re “more open” to call to step aside.
It’s not a coincidence that he got COVID and made the health comment within a day of each other. I’m not saying he doesn’t have COVID. I’m saying he and his team knew about earlier than they announced it, and decided to drop that nugget in an interview beforehand in order to pave the way.
I mean it could be a coincidence though. Biden is religious and it’s likely that he’d see getting sick immediately after saying something like that as a sign.
Biden is religious
I’m a cynical bastard who’s convinced that no politician is truly religious any more than they need to be to keep up appearances to the voters.
Trump proved that lip service is the only requirement
Whitmer / AOC 2024. This time it’s personal.
“In a world . . . “
One can dream
I think it would be awesome to watch trump get his ass kicked by ‘that woman from michigan’ while I don’t always agree with Whitmer’s approach, there is a reason she keeps getting reelected in a state that can be heavily Republican leaning. I think she’s a pretty smart cookie but I also haven’t dug into her political history deeply yet. I’d rather her than a few others, but I guess we’ll see how things play out.
(filter tag: #uspol)
The midwest has always been pretty centrist at least within living memory, usually split right down the middle. It only ever gave the impression of heavily republican leaning because they’ve been gerrymandered to shit. Wisconsin in particular has been ratfucked by redistricting - both a democratic governor in 2018 and Biden in 2020 won because those are state wide votes, but as of 2022 the state legislature is 66% republican while only having won 53% of the popular vote in that election.
Well considering AOC isn’t qualified to become president this year, that’s not really a possibility.
She’ll be 35 a month before the election.
She’ll be eligible, but not qualified. But after tRump, I guess anyone is qualified. She could handle it… but it won’t be her this time around. I’d rather her get it in the 2030s.
If we’re still having elections by then
Biden’s domestic policies have been great for the American people. His international ones have been a major mix bag. Palestine is his internment of Japanese moment. Biden’s legacy will be an interesting one. Just like FDR, he will be a polarizing figure.
yeah how dare biden push for a ceasefire will literally building new infrastructure to go around israel and get aid to palestinians.
That dock never worked right and they’ve removed it. For the record, if the US military did a standard aid operation it would be fine. It’s his insistence on this special system that fucked it.
Other than that, he’s completely blocked any actual Leahy Law or Foreign Assistance Act Human Rights reviews and consistently repeats IDF propaganda that’s quickly debunked by literally every other stakeholder.
Every cease fire he’s pushed, he blames Hamas for the failure, even though Hamas publicly says they want it and Israel publicly says they don’t. When Hamas actually refuses, you find out the “deal” is to release the hostages in return for not starving to death.
So yes. It’s pretty fucking bad.
You missed the US repeatedly voting against Palestine getting state hood in the UN and ceasefire.
https://time.com/6452308/us-votes-against-un-gaza-ceasefire-reactions/
https://apnews.com/article/un-vote-palestinian-membership-us-veto-8d8ad60d8576b5ab9e70d2f8bf7e2881
The un ambassador reports to the president and the secretary of state. Though many foreign policy decisions are made by congress, the UN is not one of them. The choice to directly oppose the the two-state solution in the UN is entirely a choice of biden’s executive branch.
You left out the part about sending more bombs to Israel, to replace the ones used to kill civilians, knowing full well they’d be used to kill more civilians.
congress does that; and it’s been the policy of every president… and the last president was impeached for withholding aid.
Except in this case it’s actually against the law to continue supplying military aid
Except under circumstances specified in this section, no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.
It’s odd to see you put so much of Palestine on Bidens lap. It’s been an issue for at least 40-50 years.
I remember what Obama said in his memoir about Isreal, how that is such a tricky issue for Dems. Isreal is the only consistent military ally in the region. A President has an obligation, as commander and chief of the military. You have into major consideration in the area of the region that’s is most likely to commit act of foreign terrorism against the US.
We have bases in damn near every country in that region. They are not a good ally if the keep starting shit. When Iran is the bigger person in a dispute, you have problems.
Just seems like we’re feeding them weapons like drugs to an addict. With how fervent the Israeli government’s rhetoric has been, calling for the genocide of Palestinians and lashing out against non-zionists & Jewish people who won’t comply, I feel like Israel is itself at risk of producing terrorism/more war.
Has anyone stopped to ask what will happen if they do somehow manage to take over all of Palestine? Has any conquesting nation just stopped after their first target?
Since AOC / Bernie is out of the question for now, I think Newsom makes a good pick. If they nominate him, wonder who might be his running mate, he might bring in someone completely fresh so that’s fair
I agree with this. While I have no problem with the idea of a female President, I think every vote is going to count against Trump. A lot of old dems might stay home if they run Harris.
Misogyny is not called “The world’s oldest form of prejudice” for nothing. They should definitely look at somebody other than Harris, especially if her polling data is weak. No sense is ditching Biden for Harris if she’s statistically less likely to get people to turn out for her.
While I do think he’s an effective bureaucrat and statesman, Newsom is genuinely reviled by California Republicans. Republicans not liking their Democrat governor is obviously nothing new, but there was nowhere near even 1% of the same vitriol being directed towards Jerry Brown, his predecessor and also a Democrat.
I kind of feel like Newsom doesn’t really have the chops for the national stage yet. He doesn’t have any accolades to his name, was mired in a scandal during Covid, and California is not doing so hot on the issues that the Dem establishment are trying hard to tackle. Chiefly among those issues is rampant homelessness and drug addiction, which the state has funneled billions into trying to solve and so far gotten nowhere fast. The attack ads almost write themselves.
To be clear, I do find him appealing (at least more than Biden), but I think he’s going to have an uphill battle at unifying the disparate Democratic party if he’s given 4-ish months to mount a campaign.
Honestly, I don’t know why the Dems care so much about how their candidate will be perceived. Nobody cares as much how Trump is perceived. Dems need to go hard like the Reps have, you can’t pull back punches when the opposition is striking hard
Dems just have to get as passionate about their guy as the Reps are about Trump. Tbh, there’s no one more inspiring than Bernie and AOC in American politics at the present moment because they talk about the vision they have for various topics, and not just that they’re not Trump
But Newsom has appeal for Dems, so maybe that’s all it’ll take, idk 🤷♀️ Just have to pump up the turn out by getting people to the polls
Kamala Harris - Mark Kelly ‘24
Honestly, given the amount of news that this is getting, I’m starting to think that a decision has already been made, and that the Dems are either:
- Waiting for it to blow over, and for Biden to stay and fight
- A transition candidate has been picked, and it’ll be either Harris or another candidate to announce themselves with an immediate campaign.
The former seems like a terrible idea. Before the debate Biden was “fine” as a candidate, and debates don’t really affect much in terms of voting intention - but dragging this out and staying on just looks bad with Trump having the (I can’t believe I’m writing this) near-assassination high after his convicted felon low.
Depending on the candidate, the latter could be a fantastic move. I’m not convinced that Kamala Harris could beat Trump, but a double-ticket of someone like AOC with either Biden or Harris as VP could be a winner. Play things coy, have Biden come out right at the end, say he’s staying on…as a VP to your new candidate, and start flooding the news and socials with the new candidate. Trump will lose his shit because the news is no longer on him.
Kamala Harris / Sherrod Brown would be a great ticket. Ohio would explode during the VP debate.
I’ll vote for Biden over Trump or not voting any day. But I’d be more excited to vote for a Harris/Shapiro or a Whitmer/Shapiro ticket.
Okay, so I don’t follow politics all too closely, and I don’t live in or near Pennsylvania, and the person that came to mind when I read “Shapiro” was “Ben” since I’d never heard of “Josh”.
This confused me. Now I know more.
Whitmer/Harris FTW
OK so who takes the torch this late in the game though? Kamala? Has to be Kamala, right?
Basically yeah. They could do a brokered convention though.
I’m holding out hope for Newsom. The unfortunate truth is that too many Americans are racist and/or sexist, and the combination of those factors could sink Harris (who, it should be said, I would happily vote for).
There are a lot of people out there who are desperate to vote for someone who isn’t Biden or Trump. The buzz and excitement generated by an entirely new ticket (Newsom-Whitmer?) would blow Trump out of the water.
Yes, surely bypassing the current VP who is both black and a woman in favor of a white man will go over super well.
It’s Harris or Biden. That’s the choice.
No it fucking isn’t. The only thing Harris is good at is being an argument that Biden should stay in the race because she’d lose it even worse.
Ok, so voter groups aren’t monolithic but do you honestly think the optics of passing over a black woman who currently is #2 to have two wholly unrelated candidates be on the ballot (or keeping her as the VP choice) will be lost on black voters?
Just like everyone else here- people are throwing out wishlist bullshit without thinking of the actual political ramifications.
If you were to listen to half the people here you’d have tossed the incumbency advantage even before Biden did that debate, nominated AOC, and ensured a Mondale style wipeout repeat.
I think that Harris is an extremely hard sell as a former prosecutor who has really poor approval polling. If we made sure the ticket included someone who has done real work for minority communities then I don’t think it’d be a serious issue.
I was strongly opposed to Harris getting the VP slot in the first place and I think she’d genuinely struggle to win against Trump.
I never liked Harris because she ran against Bernie and she seemed very fake and forced in 2019, on top of the prosecutor stuff making me think she was moderate.
However recently I actually looked at her voting record in the senate. She is more progressive with her votes than 99% of the senate, and there are only 100 of them. Right up there side by side with Bernie. She is even an original backer of the Green New Deal.
She has also seemed to have relaxed some, seems way less forced. Most importantly she isn’t in her 80’s and can actually complete sentences unlike anyone else running this decade.
The prosecutor stuff was a long time ago, and she has already been voted in as VP to step up for Biden if he gets too old. The tough on crime stuff might actually help her with independents and conservatives who don’t like Trump.
Since I never hear anything about this angle-
The other reason it kinda “has to” be Harris if it isn’t Biden, relates to campaign finance rules. If he steps aside, she can continue to use their campaign funds.
If it’s neither, then whoever is nominated basically has to start fresh raising money, and with a huge time disadvantage.
ELIF why they’d have to raise money? Campaign money is used to campaign, which you also said they wouldn’t have much time to do. So… Why would they need gobs of money?
Not a campaign expert, but there are tons of things that political campaigns need to do in the 3 months leading up to an election -
Conduct national and local ad buys on TV, radio, and social media.
Orchestrate volunteers to call voters and knock doors.
Print promotional materials such as signs and shirts.
Conduct candidate appearances (speeches, public forums, rallys) which includes travel costs, event space, logistics.
Coordinate and encourage voter turn out (includes a lot of research, planning, data analysis).
Prepare any legal challenges related to the ballots and election procedures (this could get very complicated and expensive in a national campaign as there are so many venues; Imagine having to retain teams of lawyers and potentially file suits in all 50 states).
All that stuff costs money. Usually a re-elect campaign has years to raise money so jettisoning the entire warchest with 3 months left isn’t a good idea. Granted there is so much PAC money in national races, maybe it doesn’t matter as much as it used to.
Not only that but Republicans have already said they would take it to the supreme court if anyone else is on the ballot.
Plus a completely new person might not even be on the ballot in multiple states being this late into the process. Harris can keep all the donations and is certified to be on the ballots.
Is that true regardless of her VP?
As a Californian, I’m always surprised when people think Newsom has a chance. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say I’m a fan but I think he’s done a lot of good (just wish he’d distance himself from PG&E especially) but I always rather assumed that in today’s political climate, anyone from California is considered toxic. Is that not the case?
Among the GOP certainly. But we aren’t counting on their base voting for him.
anyone from California is considered toxic
Harris is from CA too.
I’m quite aware; I voted for her!
I dont know why anyone likes Newsom. Whitmer is a far better choice.
You and I are in lockstep on this. Whitmer, I think, would help to deliver Michigan.
I still would like to see Kamala in the Cabinet. She now has plenty of foreign experience. I think she would do well as Secretary of State or perhaps even Attorney General.
This is just the media gassing themselves up.
The only way for the Dems to win is either to put a woman up for election and have her push hard for abortion rights and talk about nothing else so her conservative politics don’t push away the majority of non-Republicans, like Hillary did, or put up someone left of center for once and give the people who are tired of voting for the lesser evil a chance to be excited for a candidate. But that’s unlikely.
Porque no los dos with AOC. But the quadfecta of being a woman, a person of color, a leftist, and someone born after the invention of color TV means the Dems would have to be really desperate to nominate her. Like the United States itself would have to be at risk of falling completely into the hands of fascism for them to be that desperate.
We are at that point already and they still won’t consider it.
She isn’t old enough to run. She’s only 34.
She’ll be 35 by inauguration time, which is what matters according to the Constitution.
You get one shot at running for president really. AOC shouldn’t waste it on this election yet. She wouldn’t win, and then that would prevent her from winning a nomination in future elections.
If Harris was super serious about beating Trump, she couldn’t pick an easier race than a run with Bernie Sanders. Imagine how energized the left would be. Ahh.
…In other shit that will never happen news, Trump enjoyed a joke at his own expense at a salad bar.
Yes the left that evidently commands the Democratic party because they’re so numerous and dedicated…
Oh, ok, so I guess we can all vote third party now and you won’t complain?
So long as you keep thinking you’re so popular that you outnumber the majority centrists.
But that’s the one thing you guys can’t square.
LOL. Centrists aren’t a majority in the coalition. Mainstream Dems are. It’s not like the Blue Dogs dominate the Democrats. They’re a tiny problematic sliver (waaaay smaller than the CPC).
But I never claimed the progressives were a majority. I know dedicated progressives only made up 30-40% of the primary. I’m just asking whether we’re irrelevant enough for you not to care if we vote for someone else. Because you guys sure seem upset when progressives don’t vote for Democrats.
We can be irrelevant or we can be responsible for the party losing, not both, and if we’re the latter then yeah, you do need to accept that other members of the coalition actually get something from it.
I am upset when progressives don’t vote for the dem candidate. And in the few cases a progressive wins the primary Im equally as pissed when centrists don’t vote for them.
Ok, then follow the rest of that phrase to its conclusion and realize a coalition involves critical voting blocks each getting something along the way and quit your bitching about the left asking for representation. We’re either irrelevant or not. Pick one.
It’s more so people bitching about Bernie not winning and that “Biden doesn’t do anything” but go off.
I love though how your first inclination is to “vote third party.” The siren song of the trolls/bots or the idiots in a FPTP system. Must be a life of luxury you live when you’re privileged enough to watch the world burn but go “at least I followed my conscience.”
And what more do you want? I mean, Biden has canceled as much student loans as he could, passed the biggest climate bill ever, relaxed restrictions on weed, etc. He’s done quite a bit with 1- a majority in name only where we had Manchin and Sinema and 2- a terribly extreme Republican house who will go down as one of the most unproductive of all time.
Again- the USG is an aircraft carrier. It doesn’t turn on a dime AND no matter what passes, you won’t be happy. None of us will. Politics is about compromise and realizing that life is never and will never be perfect.
Or are we just agreeing all along? I’m not sure. I think progressives deserve some things. But if you’re thinking we were getting Medicare for all way back when Obamacare came in? Nah. I mean, that was dumb to capitulate to Republicans but when you have assholes like Lieberman (and now Manchin who while great to have on your side at all is not great to have him there all the time) it just is never gonna happen at certain points.
But yes, maybe if we all just sucked it up and voted for whoever we wanted in the primary and whoever the Dem was in the general, we’d have more reps and senators to actually pass legislation that got us closer to progressive ideals. I’d sure as hell love that. Give me ten more Bernies please.
…In other shit that will never happen news, Trump enjoyed a joke at his own expense at a salad bar.
That was fucking great
Look, I get that Bernie is beloved and all, but I don’t think replacing an 81 year old on the ticket with an 82 year old is going in the right direction.
Get AOC as speaker of the house.
Like others have said, a geriatric VP is a lot better than a geriatric P
All the same, it would restore a lot of goodwill toward Dems that was lost about a decade ago.
Ahh shit I’m old. I’m mad about stuff from decades ago. I guess I need to figure out what metamucil is.
He needs to step down. There’s no other way forward at the moment that improves our chances that I can see.
He should have already taken Trump up on his offer for a second debate the next week. He might be able to turn it around, but it would require things he has so far shown he isn’t willing to do.
And if he’s even considering stepping down, it’s already too late. He should do it now. I don’t know if there’s another path forward, but it’s not with him on the campaign trail.
They’ll probably want him to do it with a strong speech rather than a press release because he’s too sick. He can blame it on COVID and save some face.
