Also, whew, lemme tell you, one way to get blocked on here is to flood my mentions with "OH SO YOU HATE BIDEN/WANT TRUMP/YOU'RE TRYING TO DESTROY THE REPUBLIC" and so on because I posted a link to an article.
Look, idk what the right path forward is for that campaign and neither does anyone else. Screaming at strangers about it on the internet probably doesn't help.
But it's extra wild when the likely pivot would just be to swap in Harris, who would continue to have the exact same policies as Biden but without the burden of being a million years old.
But here's the thing, and I'll say it as someone who monitors and analyzes media: the bad media coverage isn't going to let up. It's going to drive his poll numbers down and it's going to be relentless. There's blood in the water, and maybe it's not fair, but that's the reality right now.
The only way it *might* stop is if he does something that really demonstrates that he's got some crazy-youthful energy/stamina/whatever that he maybe doesn't actually have. He should probably be on every TV show possible right now, doing every interview he can, just relentlessly in our faces.
Showing up in an ABC interview tomorrow night isn't going to fix it. He can come off absolutely perfect and it's not going to turn the tide of the current media narrative. It just won't. And again, this might not be fair to him, to his supporters, or to the country.
But the narrative is the narrative, and it's hard to overcome. If he dropped out of the race, it would shift to a different story. If he stays in, which he says he's going to, we need to buckle up for four months of non-stop, wall-to-wall *this*, fair or not.
There's plenty of people griping about the media and it's like, sure, it's unfair, it drives the opinions and not the other way around - but what are you going to do about it? Not play the game?
this is basically where I’m at
Biden cannot win in an environment where this is the main media narrative from now until the election
if there is no way to get the media change that narrative, and I’m not sure there is, Harris may be the only option even if that also comes with massive risk
It sounds like you’re assuming the “narrative” is being driven by antipathy toward Biden rather than a desire for a second Trump term, and/or that the “narrative” is something other than the conscious construct of media elites.
honestly? it doesn't really matter where the narrative comes from, or what the motivations behind it are
it's here, it's effective, it's badly hurting Biden, and he and his team don't seem to have a good counter to it
that problem has to be solved and if it can't be then you try Harris
What I’m saying is that it’s not an anti-Biden narrative, it’s a don’t-want-the-democrat-to-win narrative and swapping out the candidate in a desperate move will feed that narrative.
I just don’t think this will be the narrative up until the election. We’re on day 7 right now but it’s kind of a boring and “yeah, duh he’s old” narrative already. I don’t think it’s as sticky as “but her emails!” because Hillary was a woman and also was Hillary Clinton. (1/2)
Plus there were all sorts of tantalizing related stories, most of which are completely ironic at the point: what if she was indicted before the election? What if she was CONVICTED? What if she was IN PRISON?? Then we had the James Comey story arc at the last minute. (2/2)
I don't disagree with this, but I just...expect them to do the same thing to Harris? They'll find something else. Hell, the racism will just be out in the open. Anyone running on the D ticket is going to face a hostile media environment, and it feels like some people think a new candidate won't
Say 30% are blue no matter who, 30% are looking for any excuse to vote trump for some reason, 20% are gettable independents or wishy washy, and 20% are never gonna vote. (These numbers are silly, but it's my envelope.)
That's like... maybe 1.5 million votes lovable, mostly from blue strongholds.
I think the same one metastasizes.
If he had to drop out, now he needs to resign, etc.
Candidate Harris: when did you know the president had dementia and what did you do about it? Which EOs did he sign while incapacitated?
What are doing here?
This is a really good point. They will just keep beating that horse to death, in addition to their new narratives about party chaos around changing the horse midstream.
dems only have to get their nonexistent no-process-to-determine candidate on the ballot in 50 states in the next 124 days, the majority of which are goper-controlled. Any thoughts about what gopers will do when it’s time to put a brand new democratic candidate on their presidential election ballots?
The one thing I really wonder, and we'll see, is whether what we're actually seeing isn't so much a ratfucking as legacy media having a tantrum about becoming insignificant that no one is really listening to but themselves
The narrative should be:
Why do people want to be Trump’s VP? Remember Pence?
SCOTUS rejects history, from Declaration of Independence all the way to Magna Carta?
How do American women regain bodily autonomy?Not “Biden is old and slow.”
It’s a doom narrative to foment chaos!!
Thanks for acknowleging reality. The media has been awful for ages. Biden's campaign knew it- yet they asked for a June debate, blew that debate, and now they're saying the media is mean. The campaign obviously has no idea what to do. Complaining about the media's BS isn't going to get them to stop
The 'Biden old' narrative won't stop and personally I accept it as preferable to the alternative catastrophizing narratives (unstoppable Trump KOs Biden, Dems in disarray and fighting about new nom) + the enormous logistical challenges of getting new nom on ballot and campaigning in just 3 months.
I'm certainly not wedded to this candidate. But I am highly skeptical that a different choice would not then involve months of criticism of the switch itself or of the new candidate.
I think if he stays in the should-he-drop coverage eventually stops or at least slows to a trickle as it no longer becomes practical, e.g. past ballot-printing deadlines. And Biden Old is baked in to some degrees. Might be more risk with a new candidate getting their own But Her Emails storyline.
Olivia Nuzzi (yes I know) has a massive article in NYMag where she describes seeing Biden at a fundraiser in April where he asked her for her name.
Joe Biden asked Olivia Nuzzi what her name was.
It was joever a week ago but it's never been more joever than today, until tomorrow
Some of them are ALSO so far up Trump's network that we should read accordingly.
NYT has now assigned Haberman to Biden stories.
That's ... a confession.
not to shit on olivia nuzzi - though i'll admit i'm not a fan - and not trying here to weigh in on the current biden drama either way... but it's not shocking to me that biden didn't know/remember who she is. i almost feel like it would be a sign of pettiness if he did, based on her opinion of him.
