b-boy bouiebaisse: this case against biden's resignation makes sense. i do think that if biden decides to step away from reelection, he should explicitly say that he is doing this because House Republicans are too corrupt to confirm a replacement for Harris.

this case against biden's resignation makes sense. i do think that if biden decides to step away from reelection, he should explicitly say that he is doing this because House Republicans are too corrupt to confirm a replacement for Harris.

1/ I'm agnostic as to whether Biden should withdraw from the race. It's a genuinely tough question IMO. But I have clarity on one thing: He should absolutely not step down as president. If Harris becomes President, the Vice Presidency is empty. Under the 25th Amendment ...

one thing democrats need to understand is that in this moment transparency is their ally

Sadly the Biden administration has been bad at owning wins and successes and bad at fighting the narrative.

they've also been bad at acknowledging reality a lot of people are struggling due to high housing costs, high inflation, high food prices, etc. and the response of Biden lackeys has been to shame people and say "the economy is great, actually"

"those clowns in Congress"-style analysis has really left the electorate primed for an environment where Republicans are fouling the nest and then saying it's proof that Democrats can't govern. Democrats need to delegitimize the Republicans.

I still think that if Biden *actually* can't do the job any more, he shouldn't resign but step aside under the 25th Amendment to have Harris be acting-president, while remaining VP through January.

That still leaves Johnson next in line if something happens to Harris.

Unfortunately they have a nasty habit of continually calling Republicans their friends

I think if he resigns he needs to point out that he still feels he can do his job but the voters seem to think otherwise and he wants to ensure trumps defeat

I'm a voter. I believe he can do his job. You shouldn't project your beliefs onto all people as a way to support what you yourself believe.

Strong disagree. Biden should just feign having cancer to garner sympathy and then bow out of the race (but remain as president).

The thing I’m hearing from The Wastes is how many Biden supporters feel deeply lied to. The entire system is a zero trust environment and the people who survive this are going to be those who can leverage that by actually building trust.

Not all Dems believe what you say they do. I've seen NYT pushing the narrative that Dems want Biden to drop out. Comments in their opinion pieces/articles online have person after person calling for him to drop out. NYT has mods that allow or disallow comments. I know they've not published several

of mine. Their moderators are choosing comments that support the NYT's narrative. They really, really want Trump to win.

Oh I didn’t say most Dems believe it. I have no stats on that. I’m just surprised by how many I’m hearing it from. And it has nothing to do with the NYT comment moderation.

77 million people voted for Biden in 2020. Self-selecting those relative few to whom you've spoken is not a majority.

"We're the adults here, and look at what these fucking nut jobs are doing and want to continue doing to our country."

An orderly transition to Harris definitely conveys “we’re adults”.

Orderly and transparent. Something like "I am fit for the presidency. I understand that there are concerns about my cont fitnessfor a grueling campaign & another 4 years in office. Given the stakes, this cannot be allowed to be a distraction. Consquently, VP Harris has my full confidence"

Or even like, “im fit now, but over the course of four more years…” I dunno. There’s options.

"my fellow Americans: I would not trust Mike Johnson to run a Dairy Queen, let alone the most powerful country in the world"

The part of this to which I'm agnostic is as to whether a circus-like House GOP-led nomination hearing is good or bad for the VP nominee (assuming same person chosen for interim and full-time). Only example most of us have for this is that great movie where Gary Oldman cosplayed as Arlen Specter.

And Jeff Bridges swooped in to take his Oscar nom by charmingly musing on shark sandwiches

It is a wonderful movie, from back in the era where we knew how to write movies centered on Joan Allen.

One of the first DVDs I bought for myself! (alongside Winona Little Women and Eve's Bayou)

It also frees her up to campaign more. It's pretty easy to communicate that you can handle the rest of the term but not another 5 years.

It's pretty simple to explain to people that Biden is perfectly able to serve the last 6 months of this term, but is stepping down because he's no longer sure he can go another 4 years. Don't understand why people think handing the nom to Harris also requires resigning the presidency.

This is a rocky situation, and there are pitfalls no matter which direction they go in. I mean, there's no bypassing Harris- campaign finance law, the people's votes and also her status as incumbent VP make that impossible. They'd have to hype her up to hell and back to make it work, though.

I don't know that she's especially popular, although she does have a lot going for her as a candidate, she also doesn't really appeal to younger voters all that much. She'd be better than Trump, hell yeah. But I don't know if she has enough backing to actually pull a win, especially since -

MAGA voters would turn up to vote against a woman of color. They'd need to do a lot of work to make her front and center in the campaign and really make her visible in front of the public.

I think just about everything she did in her first two weeks on the campaign trail would be “cut away from regular coverage” news. That would help.

Feels as if the ground has shifted today from “should Biden run or drop out of the race?” to “should Biden resign or drop out of the race?”

Among the chattering classes, anyway.

That isn't going to sell.

great structure & hierarchy we got here though, isn't it?

I can’t see the public interpreting this as anything other than an admission that Biden is not competent to be president. They either have to ride Biden all the way to the glue factory or go all in on Harris.

Plus, if Biden resigns, Mike Johnson moves up to number 2 in succession. I wouldn't want to ne Harris in that circumstance.

I agree it makes sense except for his 5th point about “being too old for two jobs”. I don’t think he can make the distinction about being too old to campaign without calling his fitness to do the whole job now into question.

A serious question: why would this court allow a democrat to become president? Trump loses, sues, SC makes him president. What would prevent this scenario?

Yeah, I've come around on this. Not only would no VP leave Mike Johnson as next in line of succession, but it would also remove the 51st vote in the current Senate. And if there's no VP, who counts electoral votes on Jan 6th? That may no longer be purely ceremonial.

Been saying this for years, and was very nervous when GOP got the House for this reason. Yet, if Biden is clear that Harris is his successor for the nom, I can live with it. Can she select a running mate then? Dems must have a top2bottom argument about SCOTUS/Trump/GOP to vote for all Dems.

I just don't see how this week isn't as good as it gets for trump. He doesn't have to even show his face. Any change on the D's side allows the R's ample opportunities to jam things up thru the election, either thru the courts or Congress.

which is another way of saying this week could easily turn into the longest four months you've ever experienced.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett’s assessment sums it up (images via Rebecca Solnit)

TL;DR: There is procedurally no viable path to replacing a Presidential candidate at this stage which doesn’t result in losing ALL ballot presence in a number of keystone states Furthermore, the fact the Heritage Foundation loves the possibility for this reason - should be enough to kill the idea

Agree. It’s like headless chickens. We’ve just got to calm the f down & get to work.

Yes. People are being both incredibly ignorant and incredibly opportunist

Oh geez, could you imagine the chaos of the certification process if the VP role was empty?

....wait, that was a proposition? Like, no, let him finish the term out until January, just don't run again. Who's asking him to completely step down as president right before an election??

No, there’s a logic to it. “If you can’t campaign, how can you do the job still?” But you can message it, and it probably doesn’t matter since he won’t be on the ballot anymore.

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