To Win, Dems Must Move Against Biden in Days, Not Weeks
Dug in, the president is trying to force their hands.
IT WAS SAD TO WATCH PRESIDENT BIDEN lost in his ego Friday night, the oldest-ever president failing visibly for all the world to see, telling us his record and his good intentions are enough—even if Donald Trump wins in November.
Biden’s rescue effort—in a televised interview with ABC News Friday—failed miserably, not because he lost his train of thought but because of what he said clearly: that this is, essentially, about him.
Biden can’t see the damage he is doing. He is blinded by his desire to prove doubters wrong, to defy odds and come out on top.
In his interview meant to quell doubts, Biden couldn’t tell George Stephanopoulos if he had watched the debate afterwards. He said he wasn’t sure of what happened to him during the debate. He lied that Trump screamed in the debate and the sound had distracted him. He said he doesn’t believe the polls.
Biden also avoided answering direct questions with Trumpian deflections and word salads. He rejected the idea of taking neurological or cognitive exams, insisted he was the most qualified to win the race, said his critics don’t know what they are talking about, and declared “I’m running the world.”
It was arrogant and delusional. But most disturbingly Biden expressed peace with Trump winning as long as “I gave it my all and I did the good as job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”
Democrats being told Biden would reverse the damage from his debate debacle were not assuaged, they were infuriated. Several more of them joined others Sunday saying he must step aside.
Sunday wasn’t good for Biden’s rehab tour. Republicans posted disturbing videos of him at several stops in Pennsylvania, mangling words and sentences again, as Jill stood by with her worried face on.
IF DEMOCRATS AGREE that the threat of a second Trump term is existential, and that Biden cannot win, they must move swiftly and decisively to push him off the ticket. Many Democrats feel that Biden must be given the chance to host the NATO summit in Washington this week as the leader of the free world, without a swirling crisis. And that swan song would likely ease what comes next.
Congressional leaders (and not former presidents) should tell Biden in the next few days—privately—that he has until the weekend to draft his speech or that they will publicly abandon him next week. Biden’s exit should take place next Monday, July 15, to blow up coverage of the GOP convention starting that day. He can cap off his career with a celebration of his record, of the French elections, the strength of NATO, the resilience of democracy abroad, and our commitment to freedom in Ukraine and throughout the West.
The Biden family needs to realize, and Democrats need to emphasize, that his decision to step aside allows the party to run on the Biden record, and preserves his legacy. A refusal to withdraw, while Democrats flee an isolated campaign and candidate, will destroy democracy as well as Biden’s legacy.
As soon as Biden delivers this address to the nation, the Democratic party narrative can shift immediately to focus enthusiastically on turning the page to the next generation of leadership that is coming—whether it is uniting behind Vice President Kamala Harris or heading to an open primary.
This break needs to occur as soon as possible. It is clear Biden cannot “recover” and prove his fitness. And the longer the focus is on Biden refusing to step down, the more the GOP will paint Democrats as complicit in a coverup of his infirmity. While many party insiders and political analysts are claiming Harris’s ascent to the nomination could be the easiest—as in the most friction-free—she could also be tainted by what Republicans will paint as a dangerous conspiracy to fake a presidency.
House Republicans are asking the White House physician to testify before the committee on Biden’s “declining mental state,” but also about his business dealings. House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer claims to have obtained information showing that Dr. Kevin O’Connor is involved with Americore Health LLC along with James Biden, the president’s brother. In a letter to O’Connor, Comer wrote: “The Oversight Committee is concerned your medical assessments have been influenced by your private business endeavors with the Biden family.”
The GOP is also circulating a report from the New York Post that a Parkinson’s disease expert has visited the White House eight times in the past eleven months, according to visitor logs. Some Republicans are demanding that Harris testify.
Republicans will raise tons of cash off this new “investigation” and will paint the Democrats as deceptive and untrustworthy. Democrats must appreciate how damaging the GOP attacks could be.
This is not the fault of Democrats downballot whose support has made Biden’s successes possible. It is the fault of Biden and his family: Instead of a dignified end, they chose an ugly battle. But their coverup is now endangering Democrats and democracy itself.
Democrats have the power to force his hand. They must use it.