Democratic Party grandees are very close to achieving their goal of securing their party’s presidential nomination for somebody, anybody, not named Joe Biden. These saviors of democracy mean to do so by convincing incumbent President Biden to hit the eject button on his chair behind the resolute desk in the oval office.
In the event they accomplish their goal—and they are very close—they will have successfully overridden the votes of about 14 million Democratic primary voters. These are the voters who awarded about 99% of the delegates to the national convention pledged to Mr Biden. All to save democracy, of course.
Mr Biden can release his delegates to vote for someone else, which is the preferred poo-bah mechanism for a replacement nominee. The proximate cause for the panicky collapse of support for the incumbent is two fold. The first is polling data that shows the near impossibility of a Biden victory, especially in swing states. The second is action taken by major donors to withhold funds if Mr Biden remains at the top of the ticket. (Note that said money is routinely referred to as “dark money” when it goes to anybody else.)
This was all presaged by Mr Biden’s catastrophic debate performance on June 27. Add to that the attempted assassination of rival Donald J Trump by an apparently unhinged 20 year-old and all the elements pointing to an incumbent defeat are there.
It is important to note that the reason for Mr Biden’s (to put it charitably) unedifying debate performance was the obvious deterioration of his mental acuity. That deterioration left him unable either to maintain a train of thought or to complete sentences. Those factors however, did not seem to be a primary motivator in the drive to dump Mr Biden. Neither did Mr Biden’s apparent inability to function at anything approaching normalcy.
So what did cause the revolt of Democratic Party elites?
First and foremost, they got caught. Remember that, aided by the mainstream press, Democratic elites spent the better part of 4 years claiming that Mr Biden was as “sharp as a tack”. By the time the debate rolled around it was apparent to even the most obtuse observers that Mr Biden was mentally struggling. And now it is clear as a bell that the coterie of Biden sycophants that assured one and all that Biden was just fine has been lying the whole time. Either that or they were incapable of seeing what was right in front of their eyes.
The obvious question now is: Why would anybody believe a word they say?
Beyond that there is what should be the most pressing issue. Namely, the President is, first and foremost, the Commander-in-Chief. And he alone has his finger on the nuclear trigger. Going by their public statements, that does not seem to have been a concern of Democratic Party elites.
In fairness, it is always possible that the party actually has considered this, but did not want to say out loud what everyone was thinking. But if that is the case, they should have at least attempted to remove Biden via the 25th amendment. At the very least they should not be deliberating whether or not to keep him on the ballot. Instead they should let him know in no uncertain terms that they will publicly oppose him and his attempt to be re-elected.
Let’s put it this way. Who among us wants to risk Biden being awakened at 3:00 AM because China has invaded Taiwan and he has to make a split second decision on how to respond. The question answers itself.
So what to make of it?
The temptation is to think that the Democrats made their bed, let them sleep in it. The problem is, we are all in the same bed with them, like it or not.
Consequently, we are now in a position where the leaders of the Democratic Party, those defenders of democracy, are either going to stage a palace coup in relatively short order, or they are going to acquiesce to running a man to be Commander-in-Chief despite the fact that his mental deficiencies are clearly disqualifying.
Ordinarily the problem could be isolated. The political party that acted as irresponsibly as the Democrats could be simply cashiered at the next election. But there are still 3 ½ months until the election is held, and 6 months until a new President is sworn in.
There is only one solution for the mess we are in, and it is decidedly sub-optimal. Democrats should force the issue so that Mr Biden resigns and Vice President Kamala Harris takes the oath of office.
But we still have the issue of the November election. Ms Harris is manifestly unqualified for the job. But so is Mr Trump. Perhaps, in the meantime, the Democrats will find and nominate someone who is competent and electable. They will have to look awfully hard.
JFB
