..only the Pope knows for sure..
I don’t understand the Handlers’ decision to stage a debate next week. Maybe it’s a Lucy Football event? At the last moment Joe withdraws from the debate due to indignation at something Trump says or does, or maybe a disinclination to give a convicted felon a national venue.
Maybe they have some new super concoction of mega-amphetamines and cognition enhancers that will enable him to simulate razor sharpness for 45 minutes without a teleprompter.
Or maybe they want him to crash and burn spectacularly, oh my gosh we didn’t know Joe was this bad, so we’re going to shoehorn in a different candidate, and a huge wave of sympathy and relief at not having to vote for Joe will carry the replacement to victory.
However, for that to work, it has to happen a lot closer to the election. They can’t give the electorate that much time to question and evaluate the replacement. The waves of sympathy and relief will die down and oppo research will ignite the Hey Wait A Minute reaction. Better to spring the swapout as an October surprise.