Judging by the fallout from Thursday’s presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the media was the biggest loser of the proceedings, and they know it. On Friday, several left-leaning media outlets published pieces floating the idea of replacing Biden, who performed worse than Peter McNeeley against Mike Tyson in 1995.
The debate was a cringeworthy affair, especially if you happen to be a Democrat. Biden appeared weak, underwhelming, and doddering as he struggled to answer even the simplest of questions. He had some decent moments for sure, but these were an eyedrop in the Pacific Ocean of the overall proceedings. To put it simply, no amount of spinning is going to salvage this trainwreck.
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Now, folks on the left are desperately struggling to figure out what to do about their Biden Problem. Time Magazine published a piece on Friday noting that “Within 10 minutes of the CNN-hosted event’s start, some of even Biden’s most loyal supporters found themselves asking if the nomination was, in fact, settled.”
Biden’s showing did little to remedy that reality. Message chains among Washington Democrats devolved as the night unfolded into crippling anxiety. “Unintelligible must have been the [closed captioning],” one senior Democrat strategist mused. “It would have been the most honest.”
Politico detailed opinions of Democratic Party insiders who expressed doubts about Biden’s viability as a candidate.
Three strategists close to three potential Democratic presidential candidates said they had been bombarded with text messages throughout the debate. One adviser said they received pleas for their candidate to step forward as an alternative to Biden.
Another adviser said they had “taken no less than half a dozen key donors texting ‘disaster’ and [the] party needs to do something,” but acknowledged that “not much is possible unless” Biden steps aside.
A Democratic donor described the president’s showing as “the worst performance in history” and that “Biden needs to drop out. No question about it.”
Business Insider put out a piece also highlighting commentary from several members of the left-wing chattering class. Political consultant and former White House official said the president “seemed a little disoriented at the beginning of the debate” and suggested the Republican Party would be in “trouble” if Democrats replaced Biden.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote an op-ed in which he admitted to weeping alone in a hotel room after watching the debate. “I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election,” he wrote.
Friedman argued that “To give America the greatest shot possible of deterring the Trump threat in November, the president has to come forward and declare that he will not be running for re-election and is releasing all of his delegates for the Democratic National Convention.”
In another piece, The Guardian provided a list of potential candidates who could replace Biden on the ticket. These included Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Businessman Dean Phillips.
While some have suggested that it would be impossible to replace the president against his will, RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar set the record straight.
Under the DNC’s Call for Convention, it’s essentially impossible for Biden to be replaced at the convention against his will because of the rules related to pledged delegates. He’d have to drop out. However, there’s a provision allowing the DNC to replace the nominee for President or Vice President after the convention occurs in the event of “death, resignation, or disability of a nominee.” From Article IX, Section G of the Call:
Filling a Vacancy on the National Ticket: In the event of death, resignation or disability of a nominee of the Party for President or Vice President after the adjournment of the National Convention, the National Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee shall confer with the Democratic leadership of the United States Congress and the Democratic Governors Association and shall report to the Democratic National Committee, which is authorized to fill the vacancy or vacancies.
The document doesn’t specify how that disability needs to be certified or who makes the determination of disability, but after Biden’s abysmal performance and the panic setting in among the Democrat ruling class, it stands to reason that DNC leadership will construe that section in the manner that allows them to replace Biden. There’s no way donors will continue to pump big money into the party coffers unless there’s a different person at the top of the ticket.
At this point, it seems unlikely that the Democratic Party would replace their candidate at or soon after the Democratic National Convention, which is set to take place in August. Removing Biden with only a few months left in the season would be a risky move.
However, in 2024, political junkies know it’s best to never say never. Given Biden’s performance on Thursday, Democrats could decide that it is even more risky to keep Biden in the running. At this point, it is unclear what they will choose – but it is abundantly obvious that they have some serious issues to consider before November.
