In all the talk about whether Joe Biden should “step aside,” there hasn’t been enough discussion of the rationale he should present if he does so. So I offered one at New York:
The Democratic Party’s semi-public bickering over what to do with Joe Biden needs to come to an end very soon, lest it turn into a horrific party-rending conflict or a de facto surrender to Donald Trump. While he can technically be pushed out of the nomination, it would be nightmarishly difficult to do so given his virtually unopposed performance in the primaries and the lack of precedent for anything like a forced defenestration of a sitting president. It would also express disloyalty to a brave and dedicated leader. But Biden has already lost the united, confident party he needed to make a comeback. He’s trailing in the polls right now. And even more importantly, his own conduct and fitness for office will command center stage for the rest of the general-election campaign, which is precisely what he cannot afford given his poor job-approval ratings and the sour mood of the electorate.
So Joe needs to go of his own accord, and it needs to happen quickly before Republican and Biden-loyalist claims of a “coup” become all too credible. But it’s obviously a humiliating exercise. So if Biden comes to realize the futility of going forward, what can this proud and stubborn man say that will make him something other than an object of derision or pity?
I have a simple answer: He can tell the truth.
The truth is that Biden’s firm commitment to the pursuit of a second term, despite his advanced age and increased frailty, hardened into inflexible determination when Trump made his own decision to launch an initially unlikely comeback. When Biden took office, Trump was a disgraced insurrectionist whose very defenders in his second impeachment trial mostly denounced his conduct, even as they urged acquittal on technical grounds. The 46th president was in a position to serve one distinguished “transitional” term and retire with a wary eye on his fellow retiree festering in anger and self-righteousness in Mar-a-Lago. But as Trump slowly recovered and eventually reemerged as a more dominant figure than ever in a MAGA-fied Republican Party, Biden became convinced that as the only politician ever to defeat Donald Trump, he had the responsibility to do it again and the ability to remind voters why they rejected the 45th president in 2020.
As this strange election year ripened, Biden had a perfectly plausible strategy for victory based on keeping a steady public focus on Trump’s lawless conduct (including actual crimes), his erratic record, and extremist intentions for a perilous second term. The polls were close and Biden wasn’t very popular, but these surveys also showed a durable majority of the electorate that really didn’t want to return Trump to power, particularly as economic conditions improved and the consequences of Trump’s Supreme Court appointments grew more shockingly apparent each day.
Then came the June 27 debate, and suddenly Biden lost the ability to make the election about Trump. He needs to look into a camera and say just that, and conclude that just as the threat posed by Trump motivated him to run for a second term, the threat posed by Trump now requires that he withdraw so that a successor can make the case he can’t make as he’s become the object of endless speculation about his age and cognitive abilities. Biden does not need to resign the presidency, since his grounds for withdrawing his candidacy are about perceptions and politics rather than any underlying incapacity. Biden would be withdrawing as a weakened candidate, not as a failed president.
For this withdrawal to represent a stabilizing event for his administration and his party, it’s critical that Biden not equivocate or complain, and that he show his mastery of the situation by clearly passing the torch to the vice-president he chose four years ago. For all the talk of an “open convention” being exciting (for pundits) and energizing (for the winner), the last thing Democrats need right now is uncertainty. No matter what the polls show and how badly his old friends want him to succeed, it’s the prospect of 100 days of terror every time Biden makes unscripted remarks that is feeding both elite and rank-and-file sentiment that a change at the top of the ticket is necessary. The fear and confusion needs to end now, and Biden effectively made his choice of a successor when he made Kamala Harris his governing partner. The president needs to reassert his agency now, not look like he is abandoning his party and his country to the winds of fate.
A straightforward and honest admission of why Biden 2024 is coming to an end could go a very long way toward enabling Harris and other Democrats to shift the nation’s gaze back to the ranting old man whose acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention showed that he has not mellowed or moderated at all. Of course Biden wants to solidify and extend his legacy over the next four years. But right now, the clear and present danger is that it will be extinguished altogether. He alone can address that threat, not as a candidate, but as a president and a patriot who recognizes his duty.
One component forcing Biden out appears to be a buyers’ strike.
Perhaps it’s time for a sellers’ strike.
A number of the donors engaged in this behavior appear to be myopic and narcissistic to a surprisingly self-destructive degree. They imagine some sort of open convention completely shorn of primary voter input where candidates will vie for for their affection like contestants at a beauty pageant, bruised feelings from the blood-letting be damned. This open auction would complete the vision of open bribery that Justice Louis Powell had when he went from the Chamber of Commerce to the Supreme Court and redefined this corruption as “protected free speech.”
We’ve already seen the effects of this buyout when Peter Thiel and Elon Musk put J.D. Vance on the ticket. (The companies in Vance’s “venture capital” portfolio read like a how-to for rent-seeking landlords to rig markets, jack up asset prices, launder money (uh, enhance “financial privacy”) and dodge taxes – even privatize our common biology.)
This entitled attitude of oligarchs has engendered a backlash among Democrats who rightly fear the party won’t be able to heal after this mess.
To prevent that, I think Joe Biden should outright resign the presidency, leaving Harris in the best position possible as the new incumbent and lob the following poisoned apple at Trump in his resignation speech:
“My fellow Americans, I’ve recently had what I believe is my third Covid infection. A month earlier, I had a cold during the debate. These illnesses have sidelined me during a critical campaign that will determine the future of America. Though I am perfectly capable of governing now, at my age the risks get worse with each new Covid infection. Because I could possibly spend the next few months unable to fully campaign effectively, I will be resigning my office at midnight to give my Vice President the best possible chance to run against Donald Trump. I am taking this action to make it crystal clear that Kamala Harris is our party’s nominee.
“This is in the best interest of preserving our legacy and the hard work we have done to repair the economy. I leave office with a proud track record. Though the toll from Covid has been high and the recovery long, we’ve done more than any administration in sixty years to reinvest in America. Our peace and growth are the envy of a troubled world.
“Kamala Harris started her career as a capable criminal prosecutor and has been enormously consequential at passing our agenda through a razor-thin Senate majority. I have complete confidence in her. I would like to continue the fight myself, but the voters have spoken about their concerns over my age and I have listened. It’s time for a new generation.
“There are also justifiable concerns about Donald Trump’s frailty and his recent injuries. He’s also been affected by Covid and his recent rambling speech at the RNC has lead many to wonder if his recent horrific head injury has adversely affected his brain health. He has not released his full medical records like brain scans and military doctors tell me that even seemingly superficial bullet wounds can cause significant brain trauma later due to the shockwave.
“I am truly sorry he was injured in such a savage way. We must come together as Americans and do our best to heal our divisions. That’s why I’m calling on Donald Trump to step aside too. The voters also regard Donald Trump as too old to serve out a second term, so he should also step aside for the good of his own party and a new generation. Though I personally find the Republican Party agenda horrific, by all accounts he has picked a young and vibrant standard-bearer for his party in J.D. Vance. I congratulate Donald Trump on finding a Vice Presidential candidate who is far more vigorous and articulate than he is. That was truly selfless.
“Though I disagree strongly with his beliefs, J.D. Vance will far more effectively carry out the Republican agenda. He will eliminate income taxes on the wealthy altogether and replace them with heinous sales taxes and tariffs, driving up inflation. He will get rid of pollution laws, putting our children’s health at risk. He will abolish reproductive healthcare and prosecute women and doctors. He will deport our agricultural and construction workers and even full citizens born here in horrific and unconstitutional ways, further driving up food prices and damaging our economy. Deporting lawful homeowners is not a plan for affordable homes, nor is eliminating income taxes on the hedge funds buying up these houses and jacking up rents.
“We shouldn’t be abolishing NOAA, the weather prediction center either; we don’t need to bury our heads in the sand like ostriches over about super hurricanes juiced up by air pollution. Instead we need affordable home insurance on the Gulf Coast with a public utility that doesn’t squeeze its customers for investor profits. Kamala Harris will get that done. And she has a proven track record tackling gun crimes. As recent tragedies show – and I warned just days earlier – we must do more to keep assault rifles, bump stocks and other weapons of war out of the hands of crazies instead of marketing to them.
“But if that is the future the voters choose, then they deserve to get it from a new generation of leadership. That’s why I’m stepping aside and recommending that Donald Trump do the same.
“I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris because I know she will tackle these problems well and more.
“I also understand Donald Trump has some concerns about rampant crime in America. He should. This year he was convicted of thirty-four felonies for election crimes that got him into the presidency in his first campaign when he paid for fake news stories to help himself and smear opponents, sometimes with deadly false accusations. Donald Trump’s also been held liable for defrauding his banks and charities of more than $400 million and of running companies engaged in numerous criminal activities. Several of his employees have gone to prison for these crimes already, not to mention not one but two juries found Trump liable for raping a woman and lying about her and ordered him to pay her almost $100 million.
“$100 million here and $100 million there starts to add up, even for a supposed billionaire. These were all juries, by the way, with some of his own Republican voters on them. They all found him liable and guilty once they sat in a courtroom and heard the facts and weighed the law. The constitution is supposed to provide justice to everyone harmed by criminals. It’s a cornerstone of American belief, that we should all be held equal before the law, under God.
“In the interests of ending his one-man crime wave, I encourage Donald Trump to plead guilty to the some sixty other felonies he’s still facing for stealing the 2020 election, endangering the lives of public officials in his January 6th coup attempt and stealing top secret nuclear documents, leaking them to people – including a foreign billionaire – and obstructing the FBI. Donald, recommit yourself to honoring the constitution. Please. For the good of the country.
“When a president breaks the law so often like my predecessor did, the public rightly looks at him committing crimes in office and wonders why they should follow the law when the commander-in-chief never does. A fish rots from the head down. There’s a reason crime has plummeted to a fifty year low while I have been president. Donald Trump no longer sits in the White House.
“J.D. Vance, at least, has no criminal record. All the more reason to let him take up the Republican Party’s torch.
“When it comes to respecting the rights of the people he’s harmed, Donald Trump’s judgement has never been sound. I fear now with advancing age and injury, his endless repetition of Hannibal Lector and shark jokes shows that Trump is only getting worse.
“While we should all be treated with equal respect under the constitution, we have to make this happen with our own actions. Head to the polls in November and do your part by choosing good leadership with a track record of respecting others and representing our interests in a peaceful and prosperous country.
“Let’s see if the Supreme Court is truly concerned about presidential candidates getting on the ballots in all fifty states like they recently claimed or this is another hypocritical double standard designed to advance the interests of Trump’s wealthy donors who have so corrupted this court.
“Good luck and good night, my fellow Americans.”
If Donald Trump doesn’t spend the next three months fuming out his ears and savaging his own V.P., I’ll be shocked.
Kamala doesn’t have lifelong followers like Hillary did.
Hillary first became a national public figure in 1992, so when she first ran for President 16 years later in 2008 she was already requesting a coronation.
A coronation would have been wrong then (as proven by Obama’s primary win) and it was wrong in 2016.
The 2020 primary made Biden a stronger candidate. His post-win overtures helped solidify the party. It helped make him a middle of the road candidate and a better debater.
Biden’s win was not particularly solid though, so party insiders (the same ones who backed Clinton’s coronation and are now calling for Kamala’s) should have mobilized quickly to make sure he was a transitional president. Instead they chose silence and to only speak up once the primaries were over. The optics are terrible.
There is a major issue with Black voters inside the Democratic coalition (just like there is one with upper middle class white voters).
If Black voters will only turn out in really high numbers for Black candidates, how is their approach to politics any less racist? (Also a problem with Muslim voters and the whole Gaza controversy.)
The rising American electorate is Hispanic and Asian. Their weight inside the Democratic coalition is undervalued. (Yes Kamala is also Asian, but barely anybody is arguing that Asians won’t vote if she isn’t coronated).
The reason it is undervalued is because their values and interests more often align with white working class ones that are despised by upper middle class white voters.
The coalition of white elites and minority career politicians only works in places without competitive elections (ie/eg New York and California).
Their response to every crisis is to try to return to business as usual as quickly and untransparently as possible.
Their whole narrative of every election being the most important election of our lifetimes is exhausting. Everyone must vote so that things mostly stay the same.
We are in a deep crisis because of mistakes in the past. But we must repeat those mistakes almost exactly because short term instability is even worse than long term democratic/Democratic decline.