The Curious Continuing Case of Joe Biden and Whether He Should Keep Running For Re-election or Not

 It's July 2024 and it's been more or less two weeks since the first presidential debate of the 2024 race between current president Joe Biden and former electoral vote winner Donny. The earliest debate ever for an American presidential race, it was also one that found Biden struggling both with a reported cold and having to both answer questions wow doing the sole job of fact checking his predecessor while Donny seemed to pile on the gish gallop and refusing to answer one question. In the wake of a bad debate performance there been a number of calls for President Biden to drop out oh and not seek a second term, thus leaving the race open to someone these people feel can handle the task of a battle with the former electoral vote winner and keep him from returning to office in November.

Personally, I'm not sure whether Biden should drop out of the race or not. Yes he did bad and was struggling early on but he did pick up more as the debate continued. I was intending this to be a straightforward post commenting on the debate itself but since we seem to be unable to avoid this issue it's clear that it needs to be discussed.

First let's address the debate itself. It's an unavoidable fact that President Biden faltered here. Some reports since claimed by an even admitted to trying to stay awake under the debate stage as a result of international travel. Add to this the early explanation that he had a cold and some of this appears to make sense. However, President Biden needed to bring the energy he had during the State of Union Address a few months earlier to this debate, which he unfortunately didn't.

This wasn't a win for the other side though. Former electoral vote winner Donny veered quickly to his talking points projecting racism, and projection that early on actually seemed to turn some debate watchers off. This was an instance where he needed to give the illusion that he was a nice person somehow managed to get Biden a minor bump in the polls afterwards (though this has reportedly reversed itself since).

That's still doesn't stop the party insiders, consultants, pundits and others who are now calling for Biden to step down. Motivated by a growing fear that keeping Biden in the race will tank any chance of keeping Donny from winning in November they're hoping that pulling out before the convention would still give them time to make up the gap. I understand this concern (I'm worried as well) but there are a couple of things we need to take into consideration when looking at the possibility of President Biden dropping out the race.

WHO WOULD REPLACE HIM?

With the election only four months away any decision by Joe Biden to leave the Presidential race brings about the question of who would replace him.

The seemingly obvious answer would be vice president Kamala Harris as a way of keeping at least part of the ticket consistent. However, there are reports that power brokers in the Democratic Party are overlooking Harris as a possibility for the Oval Office despite four years being one heartbeat away. A couple of other names have been mentioned but from what I understand none of the reported potential Biden replacements are well known enough nor have enough money to fully fund a race against the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago at this point in the game. Most of them or else are saying publicly that they're standing behind Biden for now.

In addition, a recent poll finds that, of the people thrown about to supposedly replace Biden such as Michigan Governor Whitmer and California governor Newsome to name two examples, only his running mate vice president Kamala Harris seems the poll better than the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago.

While I have some issues with Kamala Harris I realized that choosing her to step up if Joe Biden decided to drop out of the race might not be as problematic having somebody completely knew the race step out and run for the highest office in the land either starting at the convention itself or just before the convention would.

WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME EITHER A PRESIDENTIAL OR VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DROPPED OUT OF THE RACE?

With the talk about weather Joe Biden should drop out or of a brokered convention for the Democrats One needs to remember that it was kind of done before.

In 1972 the Democrats appointed Tom Eagleton to be George McGovern's running mate for the presidency. A short time later it was revealed that Eagleton had previously receiving electric shock therapy for depression at Barnes Hospital in St Louis. The news from that caused Eagleton to be dropped from the vice presidency consideration to be replaced by Sergeant Shriver. Thought the circumstances weren't exactly like they are now they were similar enough to have a similar reaction in the mind of public. In the November 1972 presidential election the government was trounced by Nixon in landslide, winning 49 of the 50 states.

In hindsight, Nixon's victory would be a short lived as Fallout from the growing Watergate investigations would lead to a number of convictions amongst his staff and several key resignations, including vice president Spiro Agnew in 1973. Nixon himself, facing an overwhelming possibility of impeachment as well as possible criminal charges in regards to his possible role in Watergate, would resign in early August 1974 leading to your presidency of Gerald R Ford and vice president Nelson Rockefeller (the only time in American history when both the President and Vice President were neither elected but appointed by Congress). With the current Supreme Court giving former electoral vote winner Donny immunity for "official acts" (though leaving the door open as to what counts as an official or an unofficial act) it's extremely unlikely that if Donny gets a second term he would face that level of accountability with his own party being willing to support everything he does and an opposition party you might be facing prosecution for political reasons under project 2025 and the power it would give him.

AS THINGS ARE NOW.

As I finish this piece Biden has said that he's in it for the long haul. While several key Democratic allies are siding with them for now there's still the incentive beating the media that Biden is too old and may not have what it takes to Donny this November. There may be a possibility this is true but it overlooks that Biden has advisors and a team to help him through this. It also seems to forget that this could become a self-fulfilling prophecy if they keep banging on the drum saying that Biden needs to go and that the Democrats will automatically lose in November otherwise.

Yes, Joe Biden will be 86 years old at the end of the second term if re-elected. There are no guarantees that he will survive another term. But there are no guarantees that any present will survive one term in office, much less two. Even if a leader is in perfect health there is always the risk of assassination while in office or even death by something unforeseen like a plane crash. A food line of continuity is supposedly what having a good vice president is for (at least if one believes Dubya's former Vice President Dick Cheney. Others have different on that). That should also be considered when it comes to the issue of whether Biden can hack out a second term or not

In other words, it doesn't have to be this way. If the Coupublicans could make Donny electable in 2016 despite his playing footsie with white supremacists on social media in the hot mic Access Hollywood moment where he discussed grabbing women "by the pussy" apparently without consent, little if any reason why the Democrats can't make Joe Biden electable this year

SHOULD BIDEN DROP OUT?

As I said earlier I'm still not certain whether Biden should stay in the presidential race or not. However. The best made by Biden and his family, not by Consultants are pundits who may be hedging their best regardless of the election results. I also concur with comedian John Fugelsang the decision should be made until after former electoral the winner Donny names his VP candidate.

Should Biden and company have prepared for this possibility? Yes. Does running around acting like all is lost if Biden stays in do anything constructive? Not really. Whatever happens - it's important to note that project 2025 and the current GOP platform (which, according to some, seems to embrace a lot of Project 2025 in it) is far more pressing and far more of a threat than weather the top of the Democratic ticket is Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or somebody else.

I don't know who's going to win in November. Neither do you right now. What is important and necessary is to let people know how horrible project 2025 is and it's important that the party and leader it would give power to, while stripping rights away from the rest of us, needs not just merely to be defeated but has to go down in flames like the Hindenburg.

Right now that's what needs to be done regardless of who gets the Democratic nomination. Now let's take a deep breath, remember that, and get the word out.

THE MAD FUHRER OF MAR-A-LAGO'S ROAD TO ELECTION LOSS CERTIFICATION

 Hey! Sorry for not being on the blog more but a combination of a lot of hours at the paying job and family situations have kept me from doing this as often as I'd like. Also, when every day brings a new twist or turn it can be hard to keep up.  

In about a day and a half (Monday December 14, 2020) the final step of the 2020 Presidential election will take place when the electors chosen by each state will cast their votes in the election as part of the electoral college (something we've learned way more than we ever wanted to know about in the past two election cycles). While this comes with little fanfare most election years as usually the person who lost the election has conceded and it's merely a formality. However, with the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago refusing to concede (and taking forever before allowing the GSA to allow President elect Joe Biden's team to start the transition tasks) and many many lawsuits whose persistence is only matched by their lack of making a clear case of election fraud and it's clear that there might be a chance for fireworks on this front as well, 

Mainly this exists on two fronts. The first is the concept of a faithless elector who may change their mind as cast an electoral vote for the Mad Fuhrer in a state that Biden won. Theoretically if enough faithless electors do so than there could be some shenanigans. The problem here is that the votes are cast into envelopes that Congress won't read until January 6. In addition, while there were some faithless electors in 2016 on both sides the Supreme Court is allowing states greater leverage in requiring electors to cast the assigned votes. 

Then there's the pressure on Repub state legislators in states where Biden won (particularly in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona) to replace the assigned elector with an alternate hat would choose the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago over the assigned electoral vote for Biden. Normally this wouldn't even be thought of but since the Mad Fuhrer and his minions have proven themselves to be poor losers this time around it is something that needs to be taken into account more than a generally faithless elector.  

Should these be a concern? Maybe - but there are deadlines passed and measures in place that will likely prevent this from becoming too big of a deal. 

Several of the states being targeted by Repubs for choosing Biden over Donny (Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada) require their electors by law to vote for the person who won the electoral votes for the state, While this doesn't prevent a faithless elector said person would be charged with a misdemeanor and pay a $1,000.00 fine as a result. Add to this, for example, that if a Repub state legislator in a state like Pennsylvania that has a Democrat governor chose to appoint their own electors the governor would simply overrule them and use the electors appointed to vote that way the state voted - and while it's still possible, it doesn't appear likely (though, as we've learned from this year, never say absolutely never on that front). More important in how this election and the electoral vote will occur is what occurred on December 8th 2020.

On December 8th the electoral votes reached safe harbor status - the time when all the state level election challenges (such as recounts and audits) are supposed to be completed, including any state level lawsuits. At this point the states should have certified all their votes and that Congress shall be compelled to accept their results. In other words, once all the votes are certified and safe harbor is reached then, while the faithless elector remains a possible issue [and somewhat expected] Congress has to accept who won which state's electoral votes. At that time, with the exception of a state level lawsuit in Wisconsin and Hawaii not finishing certification, Joe Biden had already reached ov er the 270 electoral votes needed to win the Presidential election. 

In most cases this would've likely been a done deal but the Mad Fuhrer's reusing to concede meant him and his minions and fans would continue with ridiculous lawsuits including two with the U.S. Supreme COurt. The first asked that the court overturn the electoral win for Biden in Pennsylvania. This was followed by a lawsuit from TX Atty General Paxton to challenge election laws in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin claiming the changes in rules to make voting easier allowed for voter fraud that was indetectable. SCOTUS refused to hear either case.  

And with that the 2020 election is closer to being done. The one obstacle left is on January 6,2021 when Congress will have a reading of the electoral votes where Repubs in either the Senate or House may challenge some of the electoral votes for Biden. While these challenges are likely to happen (and the Repubs will make a big show out of it) the face that Democrats control the House of Rep[resentatives means that it's unlikely, barring any unforeseen event, for the election result to be overturned at that level, especially given safe harbor nailing down the electors and their votes.

And with that the election will be over. Once again many of us will wish to scrap the electoral college and go with the popular vote (if we did that already this would've been over a long time ago). And many will move on tired from politics but while the office holder will most likely change the damage the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago has done to the Repub party will continue for a long time to come.

ELECTION WITHDRAWAL: THE MAD FUHRER OF MAR-A-LAGO'S MINIONS REFUSING TO CONCEDE ALONG WITH WAY TOO MANY LAWSUITS TRYING TO STOP THE ELECTION

 So there was an election in the U.S. nine days ago.  It seems like it's still going on but it was on Tuesday November 3, 2020 that election season (which began with the end of primary season in late August and really kicked off when the states that allowed early voting getting their requests and sending out ballots)went from the big day to its wrap up phase.  
 

As the nation went to sleep that night it appeared that the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago might win re-election by a mandate as much of the heartland went for Repubs. However, several key swing states that had to count mail in vote last said it would take time and by Wednesday night it appeared that predictions of a red mirage were, in fact, correct. AS the election became the map show many Americans were waiting hours upon upon as the electoral map seemed to br frozen until at 10:24 am Eastern time it was announced that former vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris had won Pennsylvania, thus gathering the 270 (or283 if you went by the sites that called Arizona several days earlier, mainly Associated Press) electoral college votes needed to become President elect.  
For many average Americans this was a sigh of relief as, if someone's not all that interested in politics, this means they can move on to life, work, the Holiday season, etc. However, after returning from the golf course The Mad Fuhrer has bunkered down and...refused to concede.Instead electoral vote inner Donny's minions decided to hold press conferences and file lawsuits claiming voter fraud is causing this election as mail in votes coming from areas that leaned towards Democrats changed the race.  So far all of the cases have been thrown out of court because they either have covered things that have already been fixed or were so full of errors that one has to wonder why they're wasting money on this shit.  
 

In the meantime the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago has ordered those in his minions who can help with the transition not to work with Biden's transition team, including refusing to sign the paperwork to allow him funding as well as security briefings. In addition government agencies have been ordered to come up with a new budget under the guise of nothing happening. Biden also hasn't been given access to message from world leaders that are at the State Dept. Normally the transition is semi smooth at the least but it appears the Mad Fuhrer's minions are giving orders to make things as difficult as possible.
However, as the final votes get counted the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago has lost the 2020 presidential election in terms of both electoral college votes and the popular vote. Many of the lawsuits are over amounts that appear to be a fraction of the late coming votes and, even if they were thrown out in court, would be very very unlikely to overturn Biden's victory.  
 

So why is this going down now? Part of it is the the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago is acting exactly as expected given his refusal to say he'd accept the election results and have a peaceful transfer of power. Some people are even suggesting that his minions are trying to instigate a coup so he can remain in power with the help of his toadies in the Repub party, who seem hell-bent on using him to stay in power (especially in light of both Senate seats being up for grabs in Georgia and heading towards a runoff in early January 2021) rather than sitting him down and telling him to concede and be graceful in moving forward.
 

Then there's the Georgia Senate races, both of which have been forced into runoff elections. Both Democrats and Repubs are aware that whomever wins this will likely control the Senate. Thus, while Dems are energized to donate and campaign for Warnock and Ossoff, Repubs are being scared into line in order to try and make sure they don't lose their grip on what had long been a reliably Repub state.
As I said earlier so far the court cases filed by the Mad Fuhrer's minions have been failures as judges either rule against them or throw them out of court outright due to the cases being based on conjecture rather than actual instances or facts. Still, there’s a possibility that this could change down the road,. While such an action may be unlikely to succeed given the current vote counts (the Mad Fuhrer's minions have already called off the Nevada vote count) the Repub enablers desire to keep power at any cost means we, unfortunately, have to at least consider this possibility.
 

At this point, some are still seeing someone around Donny as a political master playing 5-dimensional chess. However, unlike Bush v Gore in 2000 the legal team pushing to either stop the count or count the votes are often relying on hearsay and claims that were thrown out of court in earlier attempts. Also, plans to have Repub legislators in states like PA or WI call their own electors to vote for the Mad Fuhrer are unlikely to succeed given they have Democratic governors who'll quash that.
 

Which leaves us at this point with the Mad Fuhrer staying barricaded in the White House while his minions try and enact his trumper tantrum in an attempt to steal an election that he pretty much solidly lost (and not just because of the strangeness in the theories that the Democrats rigged it against Donny but somehow didn't make the legislative branch a Dem supermajority). What happens now is still up in the air but it is something we need to be on guard about and ready to do everything in our legal power to stop if the asshole tried to have a coup to stay in power.  Hopefully it won't get to that point. However his refusing to go away with some dignity does have aftereffects in his fan base who still think it was rigged and, contrary to any calls to reconcile, will prefer to act like they did in the Obama years rather than work together.
 

Either way, barring something truly over the top going down (something to still consider given the Mad Fuhrer fired four top officials at the pentagon and will likely replace then with people who are even more yes men than Espey et al) it's likely that even if all else fails [including Repub Senators refusing to count the electoral votes] on January 20 2021 the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago and co electoral vote winner Mikey won't be in power anymore which would likely make the House Majority leader acting president.  
 

Since the election was only nine days ago it's beyond conjecture to say it'll get to that point (and it shouldn't). If we do get to that scenario are Repubs sure they want a President Pelosi?

ELECTION SEASON AND VOTING ....

 I've been meaning to talk about the upcoming election for a couple of weeks but have been drawing a blank.  Every time I start it seems a lot of what I want to say has been better said by other people. However, I also know that it's a topic I have to bring up since it affects pretty much everyone, either here in the U.S. or beyond its borders.  

First, if you haven't already voted I encourage you to do so. I know that for a number of readers the choice isn't all that inspiring and it may take time to wait in line just to cast your ballot even if you  have the option of voting early. However, given the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago and his minions have given numerous hints that they either don't plan to recognize the result if they lose or don't plan to commit to a peaceful transition of power, it appears one of the main ways to fight many shenanigans from electoral vote winner Donny and company from trying to once again steal the election and get another term (one that seems to have ambiguous endings given the Mad Fuhrer's urging his fans to chant 12 more years at his COVID superspreader rallies) is for people to either vote early by mail or vote in person early (if you live in a place where that's possible). If all else isn't possible there's gong to the polls on election day and casting your vote. 

With that out of the way I just want to say a few things.  Much of this has been said before but I want to get this out in the open.  

First, DO NOT BE TEMPTED OR LULLED INTO COMPLACENCY BY THE POLLS.

 I know the polls seem to consistently show Biden in the lead over the Mad Fuhrer but we need to point out that four years ago people Hillary Clinton was favored to win over Donny and we know how that turned out. Reportedly the polling companies under-counted  the "white uneducated voter" demographic (sometimes also known as the "non college educated white "voter).  While the polling firms claim to have fixed that problem, those on the Democratic side of politics shouldn't take that for granted. The reports I've heard that some activists (and even some campaigns) are running like they're several points behind in the polls until November 3rd  even if they are in fact ahead in the polls in one reaction.  While that is a logical response (ans as one person I know working on campaigns told me - the only poll that matters is on election day). This is a logical response and probably good strategy but even with that one must remember that these are not normal times.

Which leads to complacency vis a vis Biden's lead in the polls. This means there's a possibility that some people will look at the polls and, thinking it's a done deal, decide not to vote. Maybe it's because they're dissatisfied with the choices or maybe it's because they think their vote won't matter. While I hate to say this, people need to get that thought out of their heads. Thinking like that four years ago was one of multiple things creating the election results.  While this may be less of a problem this time around it's important to keep that tendency to be complacent out of our minds and exercise one's right to vote.

Also, EARLY VOTING APPEARS GOOD BUT TIME WILL TELL WHAT COMES FROM IT

One of the big news stories of this election cycle as we head towards election day is the huige amount of early voting in states that allow it. Part of it is form people concerned about the riswk of the current coronavirus pandemic (which is still a thing and we could face another wave) and want to be safe. Others are voting early to try and avoid any issues regarding possible voter intimidation.  The media has pointed out that the numbers who have received early or absentee ballot are tending to lean towards Democrats. However, while that and the mass numbers voting can be seen as a good sign we must be careful. It's somewhat likely that a good chunk of those early voters might be hella enthusiastic about the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago and want him re-elected. If the polls regarding early voting turnout and in which places are correct it's might not be all that likely but it's still something we have to take into consideration as election day nears.

POST FINAL DEBATE 

The last debate happened a few nights back. While some in the media are trying to keep that the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago stayed calm and reasoned compared to his shit show at the first debate and the town hall that substituted for the second debate because Donny refused to have the plexiglass as protection, most people watching saw him revert to his talking points from the rallies he's spreading COVID at rather than speak to the nation as Biden did. In the next day or two we'll see whether Biden won the debate or not (though, to be honest, all Biden had to do was not throw up on himself  to keep momentum going). Odds are the debate didn't change most people's minds as the MAGAssholes are still ride or die behind Donny and Biden's supporters are going to stick with him.

As for the undecideds the question is how many are still actually undecided/ Some may have decided and not told anyone. Other may lie come election time. A few are leaning Biden but the Mad Fuhrer's minions hope whatever last ditch dirt they try to throw can lure the ones who react from emotion rather than reason. However, we;re currently at the week from the actual election day mark and the Mad Fuhrer's minions attacking Hunter Biden or rumors of deals Biden supposed had with China (after news was revealed that electoral vote winner Donny had a private Chinese bank account and paid more in taxes to China than to this country) reeks of desperation. 

Does that mean the polls will be right? Time will tell but early voting has been extremely high and if reports of high mail in voting and early voting coming from registered Democrats and Democratic party strongholds prove correct than the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago will have to not only keep his base (mainly white supremacists and white conservative christians [calling them evangelicals leaves out not just the differences between Black and Latinx evangelicals (who leaned Democrats more than not) and white evangelicals (who love Donny) as well as leaving out white fundamentalist christians and charismatics (both of whom differ subtly but have distinct differences for those in the know) but also gain strides in moderates and win over some liberal voters. Constantly speaking to the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago's base instead of reaching out doesn't help Donny.  

We're a week before election day and it's still hard to tell what will happen. The polls could be very right but it's safe that people working on Democratic campaigns are operating as if they're behind in the polls instead of ahead in many of them. As voter suppression efforts get cranked to full in an attempt to scare those who'll vote against the Mad Fuhrer away from the polls the long lines for early voting can be a double edged sword. If these were normal times it'd be easier to say who might be a winner early on but these are not normal times and, with people still remembering 2016, things are up in the air and odds are good the winner won't be called on election night. 

We'll see what happens in early November.