It’s become the fashion, to put it mildly, among the thoughtful folk, to take out our frustrations with Donald II on poor old Joe Biden, and who can blame them? Joe did a terrible job on many big issues, most notably immigration and inflation, which alone were probably enough to sink the Democrats’ chances in 2024, but also COVID and especially foreign affairs, where he and his abysmal “team”—most notably Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan—stumbled from one disaster after another. And then there is the whole “age” thing, which has been both the focus and trigger for the current pile-on, with “THEY LIED” books like Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again (Jake Tapper and Alex Thomson) promising ultimate dish on those arrogant, incompetent shits—both in the White House and “the media”—who unwittingly greased the skids for His Corruptness’s return.
I can understand the temptation to beat up on old Joe, and his team, and “the media”. (Who can resist that target, eh?) IF Joe had run a “perfect” presidency, with COVID handled intelligently, instead of with authoritarian “Better SAFE than SORRY!” panic; IF the withdrawal from Afghanistan had been handled with foresight instead of wish for the best incompetence; IF the Biden administration’s spending policies had been conducted with an eye to “best economic practices” rather than satisfying the greed priorities of a fractured Democratic Party; IF we had controlled Ukraine and Israel instead of being controlled by them; and IF Uncle Joe had realized that his time had passed and had stepped down, well, maybe Kamala, or someone “better” (who, exactly?) might have won in 2024. In fact, if Joe had done all, or even most, of what I’ve proposed, why wouldn’t have Kamala won? I’ve never been a fan, but who is the only person to have trounced Donald Trump one-on-one? Kamala Harris, that’s who. In the end, she couldn’t escape Joe’s record. But if Joe had had a superior record, instead of a dismally flawed one, she wouldn’t have had to “escape” it.
The simple fact is (well, simple to my mind), it was highly unlikely that Uncle Joe was going to step down gracefully. Any man, or woman, who gets his/her butt in that chair behind the desk in the Oval Office is going to think, “you know, I belong here.” As for the supposed “duty” of the White House staff to stage a coup, how would that work? Wouldn’t leaking info about Joe, or deliberately making him look “bad”, simply infuriate him and make him more determined than ever to run? What did Ruth Bader Ginzberg do when Obama had her to tea? How has Justice Sonia Sotomayor reacted to suggestions that she hit the bricks?
As for “the media”, it’s true that the liberal press didn’t go after Joe the way the New York Times went after Hillary’s emails. But so what? There is a “conservative media,” after all. Are the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, “X”, the New York Post, Ben Shapiro, et al. chopped liver? Remember the furor touched off by special counsel Robert Hur’s report on Joe Biden being so soft in the head as to be virtually unindictable? Here’s the lead from that hippie outlet NBC News: ‘A nightmare’: Special counsel’s assessment of Biden’s mental fitness triggers Democratic panic. Biden’s March 2024 State of the Union address was specifically keyed to rebut the special counsel’s report. As CNN put it
Questions over Biden’s age and fitness for office have become a principal backdrop to the presidential campaign. Apart from the substance of his speech, how he spoke and looked were important factors in how Americans absorbed his message. The president came out fired up and gave an energetic speech that was a far cry from some of his more subdued efforts that have concerned supporters.
In my opinion, it was only Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump that provided the “across the board” support within the Democratic Party necessary to force Biden to agree to step down. If, say, two thirds of the party big wigs had been begging Joe to leave, I think he would have refused, and refused angrily. If he had been ousted, it would have split the party. If he hadn’t been, well, that would have split the party as well. Only when everyone except his wife was telling him to leave did he give in, and sourly at that. (Big surprise.)
We have had numerous unpopular first term presidents who have faced serious challengers: LBJ, Jerry Ford, Jimmy Carter, George Bush I. Notice anything “unusual” about them? THEIR PARTIES ALL LOST THE SUBSEQUENT ELECTION.
It is not the responsibility of Joe Biden, or Kamala Harris, or any other Democrat that we have Donald Trump back in the White House. It is the responsibility of Trump himself, of the tens of millions of Americans who voted for the biggest criminal in American history, and of the conservative elite, most particularly the six Republican Supreme Court justices, who, over and over again, displayed the most abysmal cowardice and lack of patriotism, betraying their country, and their honor, rather than face the wrath of the Trump-worshipping “conservative” masses.
