Thank you Tim and Amanda ( miss you, love when you guest ) oddly, I feel a little bit better now...and I have to apologize to you Tim, you didn't know this, but, I totally misunderstood your standing on Biden, and now I feel better about that.
( sorry this is late, I am just really behind, so much going on)
The idea of Biden resigning the presidency was (finally) discussed, but only from the perspective of whether he needs to for health reasons. Please (SOMEBODY!) discuss him stepping down so that Harris can serve as incumbent president. That’s the only way she can prove she’s capable of it. Campaigning while Biden is prez will play to her weakness (unlikeable, insincere, weird) with the American people. Showing she can lead, however briefly (sooner the better) will allay the fears and we will have a candidate people can be excited about.
There are many VP options. My pref is Buttigieg, but anyone young-ish and capable would do.
This is even more critical now that Trump survived the magic bullet. We need a candidate who will change the narrative.
I fail to see a meaningful distinction between wishing death on someone by natural causes and wishing it by unnatural ones. I can appreciate not wanting someone to *suffer* gratuitously, but otherwise it's all the same to me.
Hoping Fate or God will do the dirty work is asking for a free ride, like hiring a heavenly hit man.
Granted, it might pacify Trump's followers if they could blame the Almighty instead of the Democrats, but I suspect they'd still find some lethal conspiracy to attribute to the latter.
It seems you missed my point by more than an inch.
I've done my share of fantasizing about how trump being gone would move the country back toward sanity. In reality, I don't want to live through the civil unrest that would ensue.
On the one hand, it may be better to uncork that bottle while we have a functioning government, law enforcement and judiciary. However, we may be shocked to see just how not functioning those systems are in the face of a Hillbilly Rebellion.
The failed assassination is far better for trump than no assassination attempt at all. That doesn't mean a successful assassination is better than a failed one.
Well, if you want to fantasize about one thing and profess another, that's obviously your prerogative.
I lived through the '60s. It happened, and then it was over - with the important caveat that the loonies took over a lot of cultural institutions while Republicans were fetishizing tax cuts.
Trump is more dangerous in office than leaderless "hillbillies" are in the streets. Of course now we may get the worst of both worlds.
Basically, the election is over. The act of one person has given Republicans the gift of self-righteousness and proven that the hand of God touched Trump. He is the One. Or at least that is how it will be seen. If Trump got a boost from his convictions, the effect of this is exponentially more.
Biden's staff and true believers clearly see the "fire breathing" announcement of his first 100 days/second term agenda as an opportunity to save him. I wish I could agree. While I think the platform is fantastic, it just had me thinking, "now if we only had an electable candidate who could fulfill it." Policy can't overcome the ravages of time, no matter how inspirational.
Totally agree with Tim. Write! Call! Jam the phone lines. I called Warnock and left a message because it was a Saturday. Call during the week and make the staff answer.
The age problem was always going to be a very heavy lift for Biden going into the election.The debate happened and it is now Katy bar the door. It has gotten worse and won't improve. Bad news doesn't get better over time. As of now, Joe loses every national poll on the average of three, four points. He is currently losing all swing states plus there are four or five blue states that are now up for grabs. I've seen a couple of reliable polls have Harris up on Trump by two and three points. That is the data folks. If you don't understand that, then as JVL says, "I can't help you". In my fantasy politics,I want Pete or Gretchen or Ron as the Democrats. Adam or Liz as the Republicans. That is not happening. I honesty don't see Joe handing it off to Kamala as a hail Mary. So let the now Republican turned MACA party run against Harris. I can see them chant: Joe and the ho must, plain as the nose on my face. There will be other such vile chants. After all they are the party of Trump. He will now have to defend those vile rantings as well as Project 25 instead of the one issue about old Joe.
I have no more of an opinion about what our best chance of winning is than I did the day after the debate. But to your point about Biden losing in all the current polls, just an FYI: not the case in NPR' s latest poll: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/12/nx-s1-5036518/biden-trump-poll. Title is "After Biden's debate performance, the presidential race is unchanged."
Here's one excerpt: "Biden actually gained a point since last month’s survey, which was taken before the debate." Here's another: "...no other mainstream Democrat who has been mentioned as a replacement for the president on the ticket does better than Biden."
I have no idea how reliable NPR polls are considered to be; and trust me, I'm not trying to argue one side or the other, just passing on info. I haven't seen this poll mentioned anywhere else.
Don't know if you ever watch/listen to HCR's "Politics Chat," but in her most recent one she said she doesn't trust ANY polling. I truly wonder how accurate they are; a good friend who hates TFG as much as all of us do is the only person I know who was polled last time, and she told them that's who she was voting for to intentionally screw w/ the data.
DD, Thanks for the info. NPR must be new since I just saw it.( it hasn't been on 538 and RCPolitics yet) As far as polls are concerned, they do spot trends (many of them over time). I look at 538 and Real clear politics. I have also noticed that Newsome, Whitmore and Harris are either tied or very slightly ahead of Trumpster. To me that gives me a little more hope than you generally hear now. But Democrats need to move soon and not look disorderly. (before and during their convention) I don't know if you listen to Beg to Differ, but I thought Linda Chavez raised some excellent points regarding an open Democratic convention. I'm open minded but as JVL has said, Biden of last March could have beaten Trump. I don't see that now. So lets pass the torch and give Harris or Whitmer(if she wants it) a chance.
I'm going back thru my email notices and just discovered I missed this. I wish we could've known when we wrote these comments how much brighter the picture would be two weeks in the future: Harris is indeed getting her chance - and killing it!
I rarely look at polls, and have decided I'm definitely not going to now. I'll leave it up to TB folks to fill me in on the latest. Besides that, I'm not sure how accurate they'll be from here on out. I mean, realistically, how many under-30 folks are going to be polled? And hopefully there will be high turnout from young voters.
I love Biden. I think he is a good human with great intentions. His debate was extremely alarming and heartbreaking because he perviously wiped the floor with Trump. Biden is a very intelligent individual with so much valuable experience. My concern is that when you are in your eighties, cognitive decline can happen suddenly and quickly. It happened to my mom. So, what if everything is great right now but suddenly it changes? My mom was doing great. However, when she got sick with a stomach bug, she became delirious. We didn’t know what was happening. But, upon talking to doctors and reading up on things, illness can bring underlying dementia to the forefront. It can go unnoticed for a long time. I wish both Trump and Biden would undergo tests. People can have MRI’s to see if amyloid plaques are present in the brain and how many. I would want to know if it was me, especially as the leader of the US.
Exactly. Neurodegenerative symptoms are exacerbated in times of illness. They are also sometimes exacerbated later in the day (the "Sundowning" phenomenon). Biden won't do appearances after 8pm anymore? Well...probably smart. But, unfotunately, possibly revealing, as well.
What is the point of having a convention any longer? Maybe the RNC did not invite Nikki Haley to attend; and certainly not to speak. She has released her delegates to vote their support for the man she was running against before the convention has started. If Trump announced his vice-president pick today the whole thing would be unnecessary.
Pretty much same thing for democrats unless Joe steps down.
Let’s say Biden wins, slips even further & more often but still doesn’t want to step aside. Does his cabinet have to 25th amendment him to force him to finally step aside? Why would we do this to ourselves? #25thAmendmentElection 🤦🏽♀️
Since Jill is so unAmerican telling Joey he's the best, she has her eye on doing an Edith Wilson redux when Woodrow was a vegetable for the last half of his second term.
Biden says all the right things, maybe, until he flushes it all down the campaign toilet by calling President Zelenskyy, Putin, or Vice President Harris, Trump. The attack ads/TikToks write themselves and they aren’t cheap fakes. Thanks, Tim, for raising this point just in time for me to finish typing this comment. Biden’s (and American democracy’s) greatest vulnerability is Biden’s alleged dementia and these gaffes are not sustainable… It’s time (rather, minutes before Trump takes the stage this week) to put the lime in the coconut!
Just to correct the record, Tim, the President DID mention Proj 2025 in Thursday's presser. Toward the end, he asked a reporter a series of rhetorical questions about his predecessor's record & plans, including, "Do you think democracy is under siege based on Project 2025?"
So there's that.
Obviously, if you're a less news-attentive voter, that's not a very useful critique. More impactful would be to tell various groups of voters specifically how Proj 2025 threatens their rights, standard of living, status quo of happiness, etc. Maybe NATO presser not the venue.
Excellent podcast Tim, it's always great to hear Amanda's insights and perspective too. I always learn from both of you. I agree that Biden sounded a little better at the NATO press conference than he did at the debate, but not by much. He still seems brain fogged, slurs his words, and does not inspire any confidence that he can even begin to turn this thing around. I am really angry at him, his family, and his team for putting all of us through this and risking this country and its future. I sincerely hope that Obama and Pelosi can encourage him to drop out. If he refuses, hopefully they would be willing to publicly withdraw their support for his candidacy. That may be the only thing that would push him out. I greatly fear for our country. I detest Biden for holding all hostage to his pride and delusions.
The only analog to try and do what Nancy Pelosi did to secure her succession in a unifying way across the house would be if Biden has input privately with Kamala Harris on her VP choice and then the Dems get unified behind a new ticket as it is being presented to the American people.
Thank you Tim and Amanda ( miss you, love when you guest ) oddly, I feel a little bit better now...and I have to apologize to you Tim, you didn't know this, but, I totally misunderstood your standing on Biden, and now I feel better about that.
( sorry this is late, I am just really behind, so much going on)
Tim said this is where to submit questions to the mailbag. Cananyone tell me how to do that?
The idea of Biden resigning the presidency was (finally) discussed, but only from the perspective of whether he needs to for health reasons. Please (SOMEBODY!) discuss him stepping down so that Harris can serve as incumbent president. That’s the only way she can prove she’s capable of it. Campaigning while Biden is prez will play to her weakness (unlikeable, insincere, weird) with the American people. Showing she can lead, however briefly (sooner the better) will allay the fears and we will have a candidate people can be excited about.
There are many VP options. My pref is Buttigieg, but anyone young-ish and capable would do.
This is even more critical now that Trump survived the magic bullet. We need a candidate who will change the narrative.
Eh, speaking of life or death: Thanks to an errant bullet, the insurrectionist now gets to double down as a hero-savior.
What imbecile considered himself eagle-eyed enough to do the country and so many of its politicians a favor?
Calling it "a favor" is a mistake. I welcome the day Trump wakes up dead, but death by bullet would not do anyone in this country a favor.
I fail to see a meaningful distinction between wishing death on someone by natural causes and wishing it by unnatural ones. I can appreciate not wanting someone to *suffer* gratuitously, but otherwise it's all the same to me.
Hoping Fate or God will do the dirty work is asking for a free ride, like hiring a heavenly hit man.
Granted, it might pacify Trump's followers if they could blame the Almighty instead of the Democrats, but I suspect they'd still find some lethal conspiracy to attribute to the latter.
It seems you missed my point by more than an inch.
I've done my share of fantasizing about how trump being gone would move the country back toward sanity. In reality, I don't want to live through the civil unrest that would ensue.
On the one hand, it may be better to uncork that bottle while we have a functioning government, law enforcement and judiciary. However, we may be shocked to see just how not functioning those systems are in the face of a Hillbilly Rebellion.
The failed assassination is far better for trump than no assassination attempt at all. That doesn't mean a successful assassination is better than a failed one.
Well, if you want to fantasize about one thing and profess another, that's obviously your prerogative.
I lived through the '60s. It happened, and then it was over - with the important caveat that the loonies took over a lot of cultural institutions while Republicans were fetishizing tax cuts.
Trump is more dangerous in office than leaderless "hillbillies" are in the streets. Of course now we may get the worst of both worlds.
Basically, the election is over. The act of one person has given Republicans the gift of self-righteousness and proven that the hand of God touched Trump. He is the One. Or at least that is how it will be seen. If Trump got a boost from his convictions, the effect of this is exponentially more.
Biden's staff and true believers clearly see the "fire breathing" announcement of his first 100 days/second term agenda as an opportunity to save him. I wish I could agree. While I think the platform is fantastic, it just had me thinking, "now if we only had an electable candidate who could fulfill it." Policy can't overcome the ravages of time, no matter how inspirational.
Totally agree with Tim. Write! Call! Jam the phone lines. I called Warnock and left a message because it was a Saturday. Call during the week and make the staff answer.
Can’t the current administration just decide NOT to share security briefings with Trump until after the election?
Unfortunately, that would just delay Trump's ability to commit treason by two-and-a-half months.
If you remember, T***p's folks refused to do any of the transition stuff when Biden was incoming - even after the election.
The President would certainly have immunity from prosecution if he were to make this order.
The age problem was always going to be a very heavy lift for Biden going into the election.The debate happened and it is now Katy bar the door. It has gotten worse and won't improve. Bad news doesn't get better over time. As of now, Joe loses every national poll on the average of three, four points. He is currently losing all swing states plus there are four or five blue states that are now up for grabs. I've seen a couple of reliable polls have Harris up on Trump by two and three points. That is the data folks. If you don't understand that, then as JVL says, "I can't help you". In my fantasy politics,I want Pete or Gretchen or Ron as the Democrats. Adam or Liz as the Republicans. That is not happening. I honesty don't see Joe handing it off to Kamala as a hail Mary. So let the now Republican turned MACA party run against Harris. I can see them chant: Joe and the ho must, plain as the nose on my face. There will be other such vile chants. After all they are the party of Trump. He will now have to defend those vile rantings as well as Project 25 instead of the one issue about old Joe.
I have no more of an opinion about what our best chance of winning is than I did the day after the debate. But to your point about Biden losing in all the current polls, just an FYI: not the case in NPR' s latest poll: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/12/nx-s1-5036518/biden-trump-poll. Title is "After Biden's debate performance, the presidential race is unchanged."
Here's one excerpt: "Biden actually gained a point since last month’s survey, which was taken before the debate." Here's another: "...no other mainstream Democrat who has been mentioned as a replacement for the president on the ticket does better than Biden."
I have no idea how reliable NPR polls are considered to be; and trust me, I'm not trying to argue one side or the other, just passing on info. I haven't seen this poll mentioned anywhere else.
Don't know if you ever watch/listen to HCR's "Politics Chat," but in her most recent one she said she doesn't trust ANY polling. I truly wonder how accurate they are; a good friend who hates TFG as much as all of us do is the only person I know who was polled last time, and she told them that's who she was voting for to intentionally screw w/ the data.
DD, Thanks for the info. NPR must be new since I just saw it.( it hasn't been on 538 and RCPolitics yet) As far as polls are concerned, they do spot trends (many of them over time). I look at 538 and Real clear politics. I have also noticed that Newsome, Whitmore and Harris are either tied or very slightly ahead of Trumpster. To me that gives me a little more hope than you generally hear now. But Democrats need to move soon and not look disorderly. (before and during their convention) I don't know if you listen to Beg to Differ, but I thought Linda Chavez raised some excellent points regarding an open Democratic convention. I'm open minded but as JVL has said, Biden of last March could have beaten Trump. I don't see that now. So lets pass the torch and give Harris or Whitmer(if she wants it) a chance.
I'm going back thru my email notices and just discovered I missed this. I wish we could've known when we wrote these comments how much brighter the picture would be two weeks in the future: Harris is indeed getting her chance - and killing it!
I rarely look at polls, and have decided I'm definitely not going to now. I'll leave it up to TB folks to fill me in on the latest. Besides that, I'm not sure how accurate they'll be from here on out. I mean, realistically, how many under-30 folks are going to be polled? And hopefully there will be high turnout from young voters.
I love Biden. I think he is a good human with great intentions. His debate was extremely alarming and heartbreaking because he perviously wiped the floor with Trump. Biden is a very intelligent individual with so much valuable experience. My concern is that when you are in your eighties, cognitive decline can happen suddenly and quickly. It happened to my mom. So, what if everything is great right now but suddenly it changes? My mom was doing great. However, when she got sick with a stomach bug, she became delirious. We didn’t know what was happening. But, upon talking to doctors and reading up on things, illness can bring underlying dementia to the forefront. It can go unnoticed for a long time. I wish both Trump and Biden would undergo tests. People can have MRI’s to see if amyloid plaques are present in the brain and how many. I would want to know if it was me, especially as the leader of the US.
Exactly. Neurodegenerative symptoms are exacerbated in times of illness. They are also sometimes exacerbated later in the day (the "Sundowning" phenomenon). Biden won't do appearances after 8pm anymore? Well...probably smart. But, unfotunately, possibly revealing, as well.
What is the point of having a convention any longer? Maybe the RNC did not invite Nikki Haley to attend; and certainly not to speak. She has released her delegates to vote their support for the man she was running against before the convention has started. If Trump announced his vice-president pick today the whole thing would be unnecessary.
Pretty much same thing for democrats unless Joe steps down.
Let’s say Biden wins, slips even further & more often but still doesn’t want to step aside. Does his cabinet have to 25th amendment him to force him to finally step aside? Why would we do this to ourselves? #25thAmendmentElection 🤦🏽♀️
Since Jill is so unAmerican telling Joey he's the best, she has her eye on doing an Edith Wilson redux when Woodrow was a vegetable for the last half of his second term.
You understand there is a succession plan already in place?
Biden says all the right things, maybe, until he flushes it all down the campaign toilet by calling President Zelenskyy, Putin, or Vice President Harris, Trump. The attack ads/TikToks write themselves and they aren’t cheap fakes. Thanks, Tim, for raising this point just in time for me to finish typing this comment. Biden’s (and American democracy’s) greatest vulnerability is Biden’s alleged dementia and these gaffes are not sustainable… It’s time (rather, minutes before Trump takes the stage this week) to put the lime in the coconut!
“Hot Mom School Bus Drivers” is a great movie idea!
That’s what I’m saying t
Just to correct the record, Tim, the President DID mention Proj 2025 in Thursday's presser. Toward the end, he asked a reporter a series of rhetorical questions about his predecessor's record & plans, including, "Do you think democracy is under siege based on Project 2025?"
So there's that.
Obviously, if you're a less news-attentive voter, that's not a very useful critique. More impactful would be to tell various groups of voters specifically how Proj 2025 threatens their rights, standard of living, status quo of happiness, etc. Maybe NATO presser not the venue.
Joe's Friday night speech in Detroit was GREAT!!!
Excellent podcast Tim, it's always great to hear Amanda's insights and perspective too. I always learn from both of you. I agree that Biden sounded a little better at the NATO press conference than he did at the debate, but not by much. He still seems brain fogged, slurs his words, and does not inspire any confidence that he can even begin to turn this thing around. I am really angry at him, his family, and his team for putting all of us through this and risking this country and its future. I sincerely hope that Obama and Pelosi can encourage him to drop out. If he refuses, hopefully they would be willing to publicly withdraw their support for his candidacy. That may be the only thing that would push him out. I greatly fear for our country. I detest Biden for holding all hostage to his pride and delusions.
The only analog to try and do what Nancy Pelosi did to secure her succession in a unifying way across the house would be if Biden has input privately with Kamala Harris on her VP choice and then the Dems get unified behind a new ticket as it is being presented to the American people.