Literally Unpresidented
Well, so much for the article I’d already written for today. Throw that sucker out, and start with a blank page. And Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest...
Okay, so Democrats and President Biden have acted for the good of the party and the country, as well. Now it's time for the Republican Party to do the right thing and convince their party leader that he's much too old with even more and greater cognitive issues -- in fact, early dementia -- as well as 34 felony convictions, liable for rape, and guilty of fraud, and should drop out of the race.
How big is the news of President Biden withdrawing from the campaign on Sunday? Perhaps for the first time in his Chaos Agent political life, Trump is unable to control the news narrative. Not only is his “I Gave My Life for You” Martyrdom Tour off the front page, the news for the foreseeable future, up to the Democratic Convention a month away and then through it, will be entirely focused on the Democrats, from the biggest decisions down to the smallest hiccup. With two weeks off for the Olympics.
Okay, all that out of the way, first things first: the answer to every question and situation to be discussed below is “I don’t know.”
Furthermore, anyone who tells you that they know, they are either flim-flamming you, self-delusional, or so over-pumped up with hot-air arrogance that even just one more gulp might cause them to burst. “I don’t know” is the only legitimate answer.
So, onward – with random thoughts. After all, there is no structure to dealing with this in real life, so there is no way there can be structure in dealing with it.
The biggest question isn’t who will replace President Biden as the Democratic nominee, now that he’s dropped out of the race, but how that process will occur. Though the President has endorsed Kamala Harris, that doesn’t resolve the situation. There are other hopefuls in the wings – will they endorse her, as well? Drop out, but not endorse her? Still keep their name active as candidates?
No doubt the party would love to figure out a way to winnow the possible nominees down to one before the convention, so that it can be a launching pad of unity, and avoid floor fights on national television day after day. And that appears likely. However, the challenge is doing that without cries of unfair, underhanded, party-pushed backroom deals.
Kamala Harris certainly is the likely nominee (maybe even by this week) for many reasons – notably that she’s been endorsed by President Biden, she’s the Vice President, and she would be the only candidate who can have access to the fund-raising already done by the Biden-Harris campaign. She has access, as well, to the campaign’s national organization already in place, though I’m sure that would be made available to whoever is the choice. The question is not just about the other candidates, but whether she will be accepted by the supporters of all other possible candidates as The Nominee so that they don’t feel unfairly disenfranchised, or if there will still be some manner of rogue “battle.” I don’t know.
As a codicil to what the process is, while there will surely be some disappointment and even bitterness for the candidates and their supporters not selected to be the nominee, even if they make a gracious withdrawal and endorsement, I hope it can done in a way that there is no divisiveness (or at least kept to a paper-thin minimum), where almost everyone understands that the party must be unified to defeat the fascism and wannabe dictatorship of Trump, which is the only goal. I hope so, I think so – though this is the Democratic Party, so I don’t know.
The question remains, too, is who the vice presidential selection will be. There’s been a lot of possible names mentioned, but no one leaps out as an obvious choice. Nominating a senator risks losing an important Democratic seat (even though there are some possible safeguards to that). Nominating a member of the House likely wouldn’t help. Nominating a governor is possible – but most (while very good) come with some possible “baggage” to a general public. Perhaps someone from the military? (Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley comes to mind.) Or would you put two women on the ticket? A woman and a Jew? A woman and a gay man? Perhaps – or not. (That said, if you haven’t already scared voters off horrified by the idea of a Black woman as President of the United States and most powerful person in the world, then adding a woman, Jew or gay man to the ticket shouldn’t make a difference. If you fill a cup to the brim with angst, anything more is just spillover….) But who will it be – let alone who should it be? I don’t know.
And perhaps the most substantive question is would Kamala Harris or whoever the nominee is do better against Trump than President Biden would? And that’s the biggest “I don’t know” of all. Any current polls are meaningless, not only for being much too early, but also for the public not really having the new candidate in serious mind before as a real possibility. Before when asked, everyone knew it was always “Biden versus Trump.” Any other name was merely a distraction.
I do think it likely that whoever the Democrat nominee is, Democrats will eventually get over any disappointment (including disappointment that the nominee isn’t Joe Biden) and strongly unite and vote for their candidate. Undecided independent voters are not as certain how they'll react – but anyone who hasn’t yet committed to supporting Trump or President Biden would seem very open to an alternative who (unlike a third party candidate) has an actual chance to win. Especially since the biggest complaints about both men have been their ages, and that they already ran against each other – not to mention Trump’s chaos and felony convictions. Kamala Harris or any other Democrat nominee would seem to change that dynamic instantly. But I don’t know.
Even more to the point, the most important group of undecided voters are the “Double No’s” – voters who dislike both Trump and President Biden. Any other candidate could seem to have a better chance of picking up those critical votes, merely for automatically not being either man. But I don’t know.
And how will this affect third party candidates, who were seen by many as alternatives to a Biden-Trump rematch? It would seem that Kamala Harris or some other Democrat provides an alternative to third party options. Not just an alternative to Trump now, but one with an actual chance of winning.
What I also don’t know is if Trump will agree to have another debate. But if so, and if it turns out to be Kamala Harris, that’s something I’d pay cash money to watch. While I don’t think she’s necessarily a great debater, I do think she’s not only very smart with facts and details at her fingertips, but, critically importantly, as a former two-time Attorney General of California and District Attorney of San Francisco, prosecuting a case against Trump – and doing so directly to his face – is the kind of thing Kamala Harris has spent much of her career doing. Is it a challenge debating a Trump who relentlessly lies (assuming they do debate)? Absolutely, without question. But again, prosecuting criminals and liars is precisely what Kamala Harris spent her life doing. And simply being prepared to say time and again “You’re wrong” and “That’s a lie” and follow that up with whatever case you want to make is ultimately not that big a challenge for any Democratic candidate who is the new nominee.
Having said all this, I think the funniest story has been that Republicans are thinking of suing to stop Joe Biden from dropping out of the race. I can’t imagine this lunatic effort not being laughed out of court. The Democratic Party is a private organization that makes its own rules. There isn’t even an official nominee yet -- and won’t be until the delegates decide! And the candidate himself made the decision to drop out, citing his health and physical condition, something Republicans themselves were making a case about. Moreover, assuming Vice President Kamala Harris is the nominee, she not only was on the same ticket as President Biden, but it's a vice president's specific job to serve if the president in unable to! But in the end, making the challenge especially nuts is that if for some utterly inexplicable reason a lawsuit somehow went forward…there would be legal challenges back and forth, would would risk delaying the election. And delaying the election would give the new Democratic nominee extra time to campaign and get better known across the country. After all, the Democratic party wouldn’t stop their process just because Republicans are trying to. And all the while, Republicans would be hard-pressed to even campaign against someone they're suing because the person shouldn't be their opponent, since that would give legitimacy (as it should) to that candidacy.
This change of the Democratic ticket has not only upturned the Democratic Party – it has totally thrown the MAGOPs for a complete loop. Everything in their plans – everything for the past three years -- has been to run against Joe Biden. Their impeachment hearings. Cries of the supposed “Biden crime family.” And Hunter Biden and his laptop and conviction. And “Sleepy Joe.” All gone. Poof. The only conviction left on the table is Trump’s. And the only candidate who is old and has cognitive issues is Trump.
And now, the MAGOP have to come up with a completely new campaign strategy. Democrats' strategy remains the exact same, running against Trump, fascism, and Project 2025. Now, too, MAGOPs will have to defend their anti-abortion position against a woman likely leading the opposition. Further, this makes the selection of J.D. Vance all the more problematic, given (among many things) his stance that women should stay in an abusive marriage.
In the end, there are three things that I do know.
One is that President Biden will make a centerpiece speech at the Democratic Convention to unite any lingering hurt and, even more, enthusiastically rouse everyone to aggressively unite behind the new nominee – with a photo of the two on the front page of newspapers around the country and world. And perhaps he will even be introduced by former President Barack Obama, who will surely speak at the Convention.
A second thing I know is that if Kamala Harris is the nominee, then having to run against a Black woman will drive today’s racist, misogynist Republicans off-the-chart nuts. They’ve had their “reasons” for the past three years where they’ve tried to explain why they hate her, but they all translate to “She’s a Black woman.” And for Trump, it not only will drive him crazy, but it’s his worst nightmare. Imagine already his hatred of Letitia James. And his hatred of Fani Willis. And his hatred of Tanya Chutkin. All three Black women overseeing whether he is convicted and even in prison. Just imagine now Kamala Harris debating Trump, and her telling him repeatedly to his face that “You’re wrong” and “You’re lying.” It might be something he can’t emotionally handle.
And the third thing I know is that at the Democratic convention, unlike at the RNC, the party’s nominee for President will not fall asleep when sitting there in attendance.
This presidential season, one presumptive nominee said he will drop out of the race for the good of the party and country, and pass the torch to someone else. The other presumptive nominee said he wants to be a dictator.
Joe Biden's selfless act on Sunday was the literal definition of "unpresidented."
What kind of a day was it? A day unlike any other. The only difference was...you are there.
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