We Must Hope This Latest Biden Development *Isn't* True

Townhall ^ | 07/18/2024 | Matt Vespa

[SeekAndFind]

Is Joe Biden close to dropping out? Those chances shot up to 50 percent after the proverbial dam appeared to have broken yesterday. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on Biden to exit the race, with Sen. Chuck Schumer and Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) echoed those sentiments. They showed him polls highlighting the president’s inability to win and Biden becoming a weight on the entire party.

NEW — "According to my sources, President Biden agreed to step down as the Democratic nominee. It will happen as early as this weekend..."

- Mark Halperin on Newsmax just now pic.twitter.com/89vkN7VV0Q— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 18, 2024

Democrats behind the scenes have probably been doing the same for days. When Biden didn’t listen, they began leaking the details, and they’re damning. To make things worse for Biden, the president tested positive for COVID in Nevada yesterday. This development comes after Biden said he’d step aside if he suffered some medical episode. Huddled in his Delaware home, reports poured in this morning that Biden is resigned to the fact that he might need to go, thanks to bad polling, a total Democratic Party rebellion, and donor money drying up. The New York Times added this evening that Biden seems prepared to accept that he needs to back away: 

Several people close to President Biden said on Thursday that they believe he has begun to accept the idea that he may not be able to win in November and may have to drop out of the race, bowing to the growing demands of many anxious members of his party. 

One of the people close to him warned that the president had not yet made up his mind to leave the race after three weeks of insisting that almost nothing would drive him out. But another said that “reality is setting in,” and that it would not be a surprise if Mr. Biden made an announcement soon endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. 

This account is based on interviews with four people close to the president, all of whom described the situation as extremely delicate and spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid offending the president. Mr. Biden remained in isolation at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., after being diagnosed with Covid on Wednesday. 

Many other Democrats more distant from the White House said expectations were rising within the party that the president would soon relent, a shift from just days ago when many were in despair about changing his mind. But there was also caution about reading signs from a president with an exceedingly small circle of confidants. 

The latest Democratic defection to become public came from Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a key member of the House committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A letter he sent to Mr. Biden on July 6 and obtained by The New York Times on Thursday compared the 81-year-old commander in chief to a tiring baseball pitcher and urged him to consult with fellow Democrats about whether to continue his campaign. “Everything we believe in is on the line in the next four and a half months,” Mr. Raskin wrote. 

In The Washington Post, Nancy Pelosi is telling Democratic allies that the president “may soon” be persuaded to step down: 

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has told some House Democrats she believes President Biden can be persuaded fairly soon to exit the presidential race amid serious doubts he can win in November, according to three Democratic officials familiar with her private discussions. 

Following Biden’s halting debate performance, and the panic it unleashed among Democrats in and outside of Washington, Pelosi is taking a strong, behind-the-scenes role in trying to resolve the political crisis by playing intermediary for upset rank-and-file Democrats and relaying those messages to the White House. 

The former speaker, who left her leadership post in 2022 but still wields enormous clout, has told California Democrats and some members of House leadership that she thinks Biden is getting close to deciding to abandon his presidential bid. Some Democrats fear that by staying in, Biden will end up handing the White House to Donald Trump, three Democratic officials said. 

“Speaker Pelosi respects the confidentiality of her meetings and conversations with the president of the United States,” a spokesperson for the former speaker said. 

Biden’s campaign advisers continued Thursday to dismiss talk of replacing him on the ballot. “I don’t want to be rude but I don’t know how many more times we can answer that. Joe Biden has said he is running for President of the United States. Our campaign is moving forward,” Quentin Folks, deputy campaign manager, told reporters at a news conference outside the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee. 

While Democratic disunity and chaos are good, we must hope these developments are false. Yes, we must hope Biden’s communications team is right and the president will remain for the projected Electoral College blowout he’s about to experience. The latest round of polls shows that Trump is leading in all the crucial battleground states. Even Virginia is now showing Trump with a slight lead over Biden. The president has remained adamant that the polls are wrong. However, it’s becoming clear that forces within the Democratic Party, some very powerful voices at that, want him gone, and this weekend might be the final opportunity to make a change.

At this point, I'm confident the Republicans can defeat anyone the Democrats put up should Biden be wheeled into political retirement, but it's becoming more likely that he will lose his re-election bid. For now, he holds the Democrats hostage since he has the pledged delegates. We shall see what happens this weekend. 

Joe, please stay. 

1. Arizona (+7)
2. Georgia (+4)
3. Michigan (+2)
4. Nevada (+4)
5. North Carolina (+4)
6. Pennsylvania (+3)
7. Wisconsin (+5) https://t.co/YKtWxCHBxc— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) July 18, 2024

🚨Trump has moved ahead of Biden in the RCP Average in Virginia.

https://t.co/FwDFIGOgHa pic.twitter.com/Mwgg6Ie9Mp— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) July 18, 2024

[hinckley buzzard]

I guess idiot Clyburn is still “ridin’ with Biden.” I can hear old Joe now— “if I’ve lost my boy Clyburn, I’ve lost America.”

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

Such WILD political times we live in…

[DIRTYSECRET]

I thought BJ was through when he found a new use for cigars. Didn’t happen.

[know.your.why]

Put up a gd monkey with a big blue ‘D’ on its shirt and dems will vote for it. Brainless bastids.

[zeestephen]

Very convenient.

Rumors of an imminent Biden resignation just hours before Trump's acceptance speech.

Distraction, anyone?

[11th_VA]

The only way this is good news, is if Kamala is passed over and a certain demographic stays home Election Day

[Drew68]

Biden's team immediately came out strongly denying Halperin's scoop.

Which is good. I want to see Biden at the convention freezing up, rambling nonsensically, and misreading the teleprompter as dozens of powerful Democrats take to the stage and one after the next, grit their teeth, and proclaim Joe Biden as "The Man of the Hour! A leader so full of vim and vigor that nobody can keep up with him!"

[KingofZion]

It is true and he will be out within a week.

But do not dispair, Kamala is the most likely replacement and she is polling worse. Her DEI/California profile has no juice in the swing states. And Gavin would be a disaster.

Also it will be hard to get all wings of the party to rally behind anyone. That’s why Joe was here in the first place as a consensus candidate.

And finally any candidate not named Kamala will not have been properly vetted by the media. So there is a strong likelihood that skeletons will emerge.

[Sarah Barracuda]

I dont believe Biden is going anywhere..he was screwed in 2016 by the Dems who told him that Hillary Clinton was the only one who could beat Trump..they showed him the poll numbers of Trump losing to Clinton easily..and he won..so I dont think he makes the same mistake twice..stay in the race Joe all the way to November so we can kick your ass in the ballot box

[goodolemr]

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

But I do believe the average person does want to hear from Donald Trump. And I also believe the they see this dem infighting as the lowest form of slimeball politics.

[Romulus]

Joe may yet get his electoral college blowout if social conservatives stay home after Eric Trump’s idiotic and insulting comparison of marriage and human life concerns to a stain on the wall in the basement. Romney and McCain went down to defeat, and the same will happen to Trump this year if the GOP thinks it can take conservatives for granted and blow us off after the election. I am seriously pissed off about this.

[Col Frank Slade]

What happens if Biden drops out, doesn’t endorse Heels Up, DNC open convention nominates a rival, then Biden dies and Harris becomes POTUS before the Nov election?

[desertsolitaire]

We will all give it our all. It wont matter who they run in place of Joe. We give it our all like we are 20vpts behind and we will win. It is a sea change movement. Michelle Obama will still be tied to the same Sh*t Barak was doing through senile Joe for the last 4 years. Trump needs only hammer again and again, are you better off than under me last time? Over and over and over because it will be the same sh*t with Moochelle and Barry running things for her. Emphasize her divisive hate America attitude over and over and over. Dems are f*cked this election no matter WHO they run. And will lose Housd and Senate too.

[FreedomForce]

Hang in there, Joe. Don’t let them push you around. “No one f**** with a Biden.”

[bankwalker]

I think I’ll wait a few days for confirmation ...

[apillar]

I think many are worrying too much about a "switcharoo". It's going to weaken the democrat's chances, not strengthen then, and no it doesn't matter who it is, even "Her Majesty" that seems to terrify Freepers for some odd reason, Michelle Obama.

For one thing any switch is going make the democrat party look weak and a party in chaos. The democrat party like the Republican party is not one huge monolith, it's composed of various factions. And which ever faction wins, means all the others will lose. It's one thing to lose over the course of a Primary where there are months to heal and mend wounds before the convention. But by switching out the nominee at the convention, the wounds are going to be raw going into the election. Sure, the democrats will try to pretend like they are united behind the eventual nominee and show a united front to the public, but behind the scenes it will be a bloodbath.

Then there is the matter of money. Biden's campaign fundraising has dried up for the last month and nobody is going to donate next month either. Why would you if you don't even know who the nominee will be? Sure, the money will come pouring in after the convention, but it will 60 days before the election. Trump and Republicans will have already bought up all the prime airtime and internet advertising through election day. Not to mention, the candidate will have to spend time fundraising that would otherwise be spent on the campaign trail.

Next is the matter of campaign infrastructure, a national campaign and ground game take a long time to build. That isn't a problem in a normal primary cycle. But somebody coming into the nomination in August is going to have to build their team and infrastructure from scratch. Sure, they will likely inherit some of Biden's, but they might not want (or even trust) the same people he did.

[supremedoctrine]

All of those statements 100% true and very very accurate and shrewd. You ARE the King of Zion!

[Macho MAGA Man]

When did Eric say this?

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I think he will step down because you know how democrats work - If you get in their way they’ll try to lock you up or kill you using a 20 year old brainwashed kid.

I am pretty sure Trump has the election locked up, but if the democrats somehow convince big Mike to run, then Houston we have a problem. I don’t think that will happen though as Mike is too lazy.