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.
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.
For sure they do. But the rest of your point is needlessly abstract. The narrative is that Biden is too old to run again & the hysteria is b/c the debate showed the narrative to probably (that’s a euphemism) be true.
All those ppl (non trump) will vote for Biden if he stays. They understand the
threat that trump is, but that’s what’s driving their fear b/c it’s now clear that Rs don’t need to exaggerate the age issue. It *is* that bad. Again Biden is still the clear choice over trump, but the marginal voters who’ll decide the election are now too likely not to see it that way.
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.
