Biden Drops Out of Race

Even having had time to prepare for this, and knowing it was essentially inevitable, this feels heavy in a way that I'm not sure how to express yet.

He needs to spend every free minute between now and his last day seating judges. Fuck blue slips. Appoint until there’s not a vacancy to be found.
The inevitability of an even worse Democratic replacement.
- How can it possibly be worse than Trump?!
- Which would be who? Before it was too late and it's all about his team, now it's that the others are worse?

Yeah, the Dems better not fuck up this hard pivot!

It doesn’t have to be hard. Harris should go to the top of the ticket, and the campaign apparatus stays the same.
Have her, a former prosecutor, debate Trump and treat that shit like a cross examination.
And make Sanders the VP to make me excited.
- Sanders is too old. God love him, but it would not inspire confidence. If we're going for a prominent progressive on the ticket, we'd have to go AOC.
  More likely though, Harris will pick someone who is an old white moderate male, though, unfortunately.
- I'd love someone like Hakeem Jeffries, Katie Porter, or (if God exists and is benevolent) Jasmine Crockett. Any of those choices would make me ecstatic.
- That is a ticket I would be happy to vote for
- Trump and his team are not happy that Biden isn't the Nominee anymore. There is absolutely no chance Trump agrees to debate her.
It is, and always has been, in the hands of the voters. It's the non-voters who fuck it up.
- It's voters who don't listen or remember that fucks things up
Knowing the Democrats, they'll probably run an even older ticket somehow lol.
Jimmy Carter/Bernie Sanders 2024!
- Sanders is old but I still think he would have a shot on the ticket. He's still got the same fighting spirit he had in him when he was getting arrested at civil rights protests.
It's already fucked up. Biden dropping out just handed the whole fucking thing to Trump.
Edit: Alright, alright. This was a gut punch and I really felt Biden was our best shot. That said, this could be an opportunity and I'm here for it.
- Oh, stop. We're you one of the ones also saying him not dropping out handed it to Trump? Or that the assassination attempt picture handed it to Trump?
  Nothing has handed it to anyone. There are more liberal voters than conservative, including in battleground states. We just have to decide to rally around Harris and stop with the quibbling about one issue or another.
- Defeatism gets us nowhere. We live in unusual times - they are what we make of them. And I say we make this a Dem fucking victory so we don't have to live (or die) under a fascist fucking regime.
- This is such an extraordinary circumstance that no one can predict what will happen. Don’t give up.
- Nah this is just typical American behavior. After exhausting all the wrong options we are finally seeing Biden do the right thing.
- Today, since there's an influx of comments essentially proclaiming "it's Joever, Trump Wins" or "Harris won't be able to win in November", I've had to resort to checking people's comments from a week before if they were saying Biden had a solid chance or if "everyone and anyone would be a bad choice so don't bother".
  You were one that genuinely believed in Biden unlike some of the anti-US trolls. I'm sorry, you don't deserve the downvotes, I know your disappointment is legitimate. (You can see the user cabron who replied to you is one example of the other type I'm talking about). Don't give up, there is still hope yet.
- No, I've talked to people who aren't MAGA, but weren't fans of Biden. If Harris can mop the floor with Trump in a debate (because he only looked strong because Joe was SO bad) she'd win over a lot of people.
- Nope.
- "Biden staying is handing it to Trump!" "Biden leaving it's handing it to Trump!"
  Fuck off back to Russia, you're just trying to persuade Democrats not to vote because Trump winning is what you want.
- It was trump’s win ever since the debate. Pull your head out of the sand.

So, now we get to see how many “blue no matter who”’s actually meant it.

Remember folks, it applies to anyone who might be the candidate.

That over…. Harris/AOC or Harris Whitmer !!

You think people are lying about that? Weird.
- "I Know you don't like MY candidate, but you know... Blue No Matter WHO!!!!! You don't want a fascist to win, do you?"
  people are absolutely lying about it. the question is... how many.
If the blue pick is a broken toaster oven, I'm still voting for it rather than tump
- I'd vote for a battered cardboad cutout of Reagan over Trump. Hell. I'd vote for a cardboard cut out of trump over trump.
  (cardboard cut outs can't talk.)
- A ficus. Like in 2000
Kamala all the way! It won't be AOC or Whitmer though. Most likely Kelly or Newsom. AOC is the future, though.
- Newsome cannot and will not be the VP. Harris is also from California, which would cause issues in the electoral college. Electors cannot cast both the Presidential and vice-presidential ballot for someone from the same state as themselves. Because both Harris and Newsome are form California, it could cause issues, and they might not get the electoral votes from California.
- so what debate one-liners are you putting on your bingo card?
- I doubt Newsome, you wouldn't want both from California
If the ticket is something messed up like Harris/Bob Menendez, or Harris/Blagoyavich, I might have some reservations, but would quickly look past them considering the alternative.
- Only problem I have with menendez is that I’m too broke to buy him off.
  (I suspect the people who don’t have a problem with him… are rich enough. Funny how that works.)
I think AOC isn't old enough to be VP. I don't say that as a matter of opinion. I think you have to be at least 40
Edit: it's actually 35, but AOC is 34 so I was partially correct
However I think the relevant language is:
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
So maybe it's okay for VP
- AOC's birthday is this October, so I believe she would be eligible just in time lol
- She’ll be old enough to be POTUS by inauguration.
  So, she’s probably old enough to be VPOTUS…
Before I left home this morning, I pointed to the bottle of mustard on the table and told my girl that I would vote for the mustard. We were talking about the rumors of Biden dropping out.
At least the mustard is honest about its color. So are carrots, for that matter. I'd totally vote for a carrot.
- Turnips too.
  What kinda carrot? Chatennay or Danvers?
We also get to see how many of the anti-Biden kids will actually vote now.
Or Harris Wittels, best of both worlds, AND the afterlife.
As much as I'd love to see it in my lifetime, no way she chooses a female VP. Way too risky.
- Did you vote for H Clinton, though? I bet not.

I'm sure this was a really hard decision, but it shows courage and strength that Biden put his own ego aside for the good of the country...

...is what I would have said if he'd done this two weeks ago. Now, I'm just glad he was able to take off his narcissism glasses long enough to see how badly he was going to lose, and I hope his prolonged tantrum hasn't damaged Harris' chances too badly.

I wouldn't say this is bad timing in hindsight.
The news media moves on from Trump's pity party, the debate, the President Putin and Vice President Trump gaffes.
Facing COVID, Biden has a legitimate reason to drop out without saying that he is weak to pressure
Trump is now the old and doddering candidate, turning much of the past brainwashing of Republican media on its head.
Trump will get bigly mad since the attention's going to be off of him. Potential for a stupid outburst.
The media will be hyperfocused on what's to come from the Dem campaign, an excellent opportunity to highlight Biden's achievements and articulate a bright future for the party and country.
The pre-emptive smears from Republicans are on their way, but the Dems are a moving target until they officially announce the ticket.
It relies on Democrats getting the message right though they'd faltered before. They get one more chance to fix it in this soft reset.
- Good post. Insert maybe maybe meme!
- Yeah, but none of these benefits are better than ending the uncertainty 2 weeks ago; at that point, the polling was clearly showing Biden was dropping in key swing states, and the party was starting to go into full panic mode, but he still let them twist in the win while he made up his mind. Hell, even if he made the announcement during the convention, he could have stolen some of Trump's publicity this week and forced a whole lot if RNC speakers to rewrite their speeches. Instead, he left the party in chaos for a month, then gave Trump a victory lap convention before finally stepping aside.
I was about to literally write the second half of your message then I saw you wrote it haha
I'm glad you had the proper timing figured out better than anyone else.
- Anyone? We were saying this 3-4 weeks ago. You can check my post history, The Rest is Politics, or most commentators.
  Here's my post here with the BBC article referring to calls for him to step down.
  https://lemmy.world/post/17162474?scrollToComments=true
- Yeah, you don't have to be a political genius to realize that almost four weeks of your own allies coming out and saying you need to step down is, ya know...bad. Like, maybe if your political implosion was creating a period of fear, uncertainty, and chaos, and there was you could do to end all that and restore order, you should do that quickly...like, as quickly as possible...as in, not nearly a month later.

If Kamala does become the new nominee, I wonder how hard Trump will fight to avoid debating her.

Shit would be funny as hell to watch. Trump would be balling by the end.

Why do you refer to the female candidate with her first name and the male candidate with his last name? The same thing regularly happens with Clinton. I assume the casual disrespect is not intentional but I'm very curious as to why this happens.
- I think people tend to choose the more unique/recognizable name to call candidates by. For example, we also call Bernie Sanders by his first name more often than his last. “Harris” is a more common name than “Kamala”. “Clinton” could be confused for Bill, but “Hillary” isn’t going to be mistaken. I don’t think it has anything to do with the candidate’s gender.
- "Harris" is a more common name than "Kamala", and "Donald" is a more common name than "Trump". This is just my opinion, but I think Kamala is a more powerful sounding name than Harris, and that helps with her image as a stern prosecutor who wants to crush injustice towards women.
  "Clinton" refers (in most people's minds) to Hillary's husband Bill moreso than Hillary herself. In her campaign, she leveraged her first initial for her slogan "I'm with Her" with the stylized right-pointing arrow in the H. For her, it seems to be her choice and more clear. For Harris, it just seems to be because "Kamala" sticks out in people's minds more than her last name.
- They want to signal that they’re close to them, like Springsteen fans calling him “Bruce”.
I hope you meant bawling.
- Nah, djt has a sick turn around jumper.
- I'll take bailing
- Rolled up in the fetal position, crying like a baby balling.

Give me a Jon Stewart / Katie Porter ticket!

Make it Harris / Stewart.
Harris up top because she’s already on the ballot, has Biden / Harris war chest, and won’t get as fucked with by republicans who try to block a new name.
Jon Stewart has said he'd never run and I believe him, unfortunately
I would work the phone bank for that ticket

I'd forgotten what hope felt like.

Assuming the new candidate(probably Harris) avoid any major disasters as does Trump, we’ll be returning to the May 2024 status quo of things. Harris is more popular than post-debate Biden, was slightly behind pre-debate Biden, and will probably need a month to get back there(winning the nomination and undoing all the damage from 4 weeks of infighting.)

On the plus side, that’ll drop the hemorrhaging, New Mexico and New Jersey safe, Virginia and Minnesota probably safe. On the downside at this point Georgia and North Carolina are lost, there just isn’t time and the Republicans spent 4 years pouring resources into them.

This is back to the main 5. Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The important factor is that if they lose Pennsylvania, they lose. They can win the other 4 here, but it’s 268-270. Unless they snag something extra like Georgia(unlikely in this scenario), that’s it.

If they win Pennsylvania, they need at least two others in ideal circumstances(Michigan needs to be one of the two and Nevada can’t be one of the two, second one would have to be Wisconsin or Arizona), 3 others in unideal circumstances if Michigan isn’t there and they get Nevada. I should also note several of these scenarios are razor thin (270-268 with Pensylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin and 271-267 with Arizona instead) and thus vulnerable to faithless electors. Or worse, if Maine’s statewide went red(which is more likely than Georgia going blue or Virginia going red at this point) the former would be a win and the latter would be a tie. In the tie scenario the House picks the president(so Trump) and the Senate picks the Vice President(so Vance would be ousted) which would be an absolute nightmare and gambling on Trump dying in that situation isn’t worth it.

I note this because even in the base line May scenario Pennsylvania was one of the worse polling one for democrats(Arizona and Wisconsin were the blue edging ones), and Pennsylvania is not a state where the stars are aligning. It was Biden’s home state, Scranton boy, him being off the ticket hurts things there probably more than they help. AND, while it’s true nationwide the post-shooting bump for Trump was relatively minor, Pennsylvania is where the shooting happened and has gotten the largest bump in the polls since, 3 or 4 points. Biden leaving demotivates the base there harder than anywhere else in the county and the Trump shooting re-motivated the base there harder than most.

My call? If they don’t pick Shapiro or Whitmer, it’s over 100%, and even with it’s iffy. Pennsylvania is perhaps the one state where any replacement is going to do worse than Biden even post-debate, and the one state the Trump shooting caused a notable bump. What are the odds it’s also the single most crucial state in this election?

I disagree. Harris is basically polling within the margin of error of Biden, that's true, but she's also been the incredible invisible woman basically forever. It's to the point that really the best the republicans can do against her atm is ads that amount to "LOOK AT HER LAUGHING >:{". There's good and bad there, but the positives outweigh the negatives in that she's something of a known quantity at the national level, she's got experience in the executive branch, and she really doesn't have much baggage to speak of while still being able to claim Biden's wins. If the democrats lean in behind Harris, get her polished up and just re-tool the Biden campaign for her, and she goes swinging out of the gate, I think she'll make for a strong contender.
- I'm going off the week 1 polls. She was weaker than everyone else when adjusted for name recognition and was the only one within the margins of Biden. I also don't disagree on the base point, but there's 3 months, the war machine needs time to spool up and the Republicans have had a 2 week headstart. It's gonna be tight and Pensyllvania is not going well
I appreciate your analysis. Is there anything Harris can do or say that can make the situation any better for the Dems? A pivot to a message of Obama hope would be something I could think of. It's not too late, they have more than 3 months.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election.

And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted to his X account.

Biden’s decision came as he has been isolating at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, huddling with a shrinking circle of close confidants and family members about his political future.

The announcement is the latest jolt to a campaign for the White House that both political parties see as the most consequential election in generations, coming just days after the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

Now, Democrats have to urgently try to bring coherence to the nominating process in a matter of weeks and persuade voters in a stunningly short amount of time that their nominee can handle the job and beat Trump.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced that it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin.

The original article contains 1,303 words, the summary contains 244 words. Saved 81%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

He was giving too much away for the wealthy donors to stomach.

So instead if two oldsters, we have a choice of two people who will persecute poor people, which is much more in line with wealthy donors to the the Bloomocrats.

pov: you've never heard of kerning
- That's definitely an important thing to focus on here.
- It's called tracking when you refer to the vertical spacing. That's what stands out to me as not so good.
- Thanks for the feedback, fixed!
A politician who's only really known in one state and another octogenarian? No thank you.
- Are you kidding me? Fox news screeches about Newsom all the time.
- It's disingenuous to say Newsom is only known in one state. He's the governor of a highly populous state who has already explored a presidential run. That's essentially equivalent to saying that Abbott or DeSantis aren't nationally relevant. Disliking the idea of that being the ticket that the Democrats trot out is one thing, I'm certainly not on board with it either. Dismissing it on a false premise is something else altogether, and it's not a helpful narrative.
- Most politicians start off known in one state...
No offense at your choice, but there's not many Californians (47% disapproval rate by last Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll), who like Gavin enough to vote for him. He's a mouthpiece and a showman for sure, but he's useless when it comes to getting anything done.

I think Biden should step down as president too. I don't think it looks right for them to be saying Biden isn't fit to run but is fit to fill the remainder of his term.

Unless he's fit for now but not for 4 more years.
- He's not fit for right now either, hasn't been for years. What we saw at the debate is who he's been for years. Many of us saw it in 2020 and earlier