A lot of people, myself included, will be eating crow in 2028 when Joe Biden, by then 109, celebrates the completion of a second term by running a marathon.
After sprinting through a red ribbon at the finish line, he’ll regale throngs of delirious supporters with tongue twisters in a breathtaking display of rhetorical dexterity. “And folks, I just want to say: ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers!'” he’ll shout, sweating and dressed in a HOKA jogger.
The crowd’s deafening. He reaches down and shakes the hands of three college girls wearing “Ridin’ with Biden” shirts. They swoon and faint.
“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?!” “Yahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!” “She sells seashells by the seashore!” He’s shadow boxing now. Journey’s playing over the loudspeakers. “Don’t stop believin’!” He roundhouses the tripod boom, does a backflip and catches the mic. “If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?!” “Yours Joe! Yahhhhhh!”
There are nine House Democrats who suspect that scenario’s unlikely. Four of them — Joe Morelle, Jerry Nadler, Adam Smith and Mark Takano — aired their reservations during a Zoom call on Sunday, when Hakeem Jeffries canvassed the caucus. The others are Angie Craig, Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, Seth Moulton and Mike Quigley.
In addition to those nine “defectors,” 16 Democrats have raised what The Washington Post, in their defection tracker, describe as “concern.” There are two heavyweights among the concerned: Jim Clyburn and Nancy Pelosi, both of whom know a thing or two about being old.
Conspicuously absent from the list of defectors and the concerned is the only man Biden says he’d listen to — namely, Rep. Jesus Christ, (D-Nazareth).
“You know, invoking the Almighty as the only intervention that’s going to dissuade you from going forward — I hope Joe didn’t really mean that,” Gerry Connolly mused, on CNN, referencing Biden’s rather alarming remarks to George Stephanopoulos, who learned last week that “the Lord Almighty” and the Lord Almighty alone is capable of swaying this president.
“This is a very human process, not a divine process,” Connolly went on. Not if you’re Biden. If you’re Biden, this is in fact a divine process. Joe’s a man of faith. And God bless him for that: If “the Lord Almighty” took my first wife, my one-year-old daughter and, 43 years later, one of my sons, I’d cast my lot with Mephistopheles. (“Listen, you’ve got a really — really — bad reputation, but at this point I don’t think I’ve got a lot left to lose.” “Don’t believe everything you hear. Souls are overrated and my Google reviews don’t accurately reflect the value I can deliver. As for this forked tongue and my tail… I mean, look, I was born them, ok? What can I do?”)
One argument says it doesn’t matter. That the vast majority of Democrats know they’re voting for President Kamala Harris anyway, and that putting a woman of color at the top of the ticket risks alienating whatever tiny sliver of the bigot vote Democrats still capture all these decades after making the “difficult” decision to abandon the white sheet constituency in the south.
Another, related, argument says Biden was right in 2020 to suggest he was the only Democrat capable of cobbling together a patchwork coalition to beat Trump, and that he’s right again in 2024. It’s not exactly as if Biden was young four years ago, after all, and there were gaffes aplenty during that campaign too.
I could go on. There are lots of arguments for letting Biden ride this out. The problem — and several readers have expressed this just as concisely as I can — is that it’s impossible to imagine Biden speaking regularly in public three or four years from now. He was noticeably sharper in 2020 than he is today. It’s possible that 81 to 84 will be kinder to Biden than 78 to 81, but it’s far from guaranteed.
Over the weekend, Biden showed up at a Black church in Philadelphia where he delivered a rambling, de facto sermon and solicited prayers. “The joy cometh in the morning,” he avouched. “We’re all imperfect beings. The Scripture says all things work together for good.”
That’s — ummm — not helpful. Whether he knows it or not (and I’m by no means sure that he does because a history buff America’s last president most assuredly isn’t), Donald Trump’s a fascist dictator. Sure, a second term for Trump might go “ok,” but it might not. A lot of Americans seem to be hanging their hats on the idea that if you don’t count the pandemic and the impeachments (and who does, right?) Trump’s first term went relatively “well.” He didn’t gas any Muslims, he didn’t subject any immigrants to firing squads, he didn’t go through with his idea to buy Greenland, the Democratic party wasn’t banned and a comically reckless Mideast gamble came up aces.
But, as discussed in the market context in the last Weekly, if you roll the dice enough times, you’re going to crap out eventually. Giving Trump four more years in the Oval Office is very likely to result in some manner of catastrophe, at some point. If there’s any chance — any chance at all — that by staying in, Biden’s increasing the odds of a red sweep in November, he should step aside.
As WaPo noted in their weekend coverage of Biden’s campaign stops, the president “trailed off numerous times with unfinished thoughts” while chatting informally with community organizers and union members in Harrisburg. Bottom line: He needs a teleprompter and he needs it to not be past dinner time which, for Biden, is probably around 3 PM.
At the church event, he said that although God’s children “don’t know where or what fate” the Almighty will “deliver us to or when,” everyone can “seek a life of light, hope, love and truth no matter what.”
In his remarks to CNN, Gerry Connolly dryly noted that “while we all hope for the blessings of God, politics is a very human business.” “Democrats have to make some very hard decisions going forward,” he went on. “And so does he.”
https://youtu.be/CgsFCyD4nEw?si=I3OGqKL5Px4e_bkZ
Your article reminded me of this old Bill Cosby comedy routine about God (aka The Invisible Man in the Sky) talking to Noah.
The DNC strategy looks clear: lose, resist, and then sabotage Trump´s second term. Kamala Harris is not a winnable alternative, while Gavin Newsome, Gretchen Whitmer, and Wes Moore are already posturing for 2028. Michele Obama does not want the job. And, if Trump has a disastrous second term, the chances of a more left-leaning candidate (AOC) winning in 2028 will improve. The liberal media also would secretly love to have Trump back in the Oval Office because he will give them daily, “deplorable”, material that is good for ratings. If losing were not the strategy, Biden would have been pushed out a week ago.
condor, while I would generally agree there is a very real chance that if Trump wins a second term there will not be a 2028 election. Reading the “Project 2025” website (who Trump claims to know nothing about, never met them, just low-level coffee boys) should scare everyone with a vested interest in American democracy. I.E. most of the world
“Biden says he’d listen to — namely, Rep. Jesus Christ, (D-Nazareth)”
Thanks for the laugh, funny stuff.
Appreciate your putting things in perspective
I’m not sure breaking out the W playbook here to justify ignoring pretty much everyone is a great idea. Also couldn’t agree more that Jesus would indeed be a D as much as the R’s try to claim him. I mean if you completely avoid the gospels, sure, Christianity is a conservative religion. Problem is, the Christ is only recorded in those books and he sure did not agree with anything about the current GOP in his words and actions.
Got it, he should step aside if someone else has a modicum of a better chance to win than him.
Let’s flip this though, what if he has the best chance to win? The ‘keys to the white house’ guy seems to think Biden is the best shot.
Is it worth keeping Biden on the ticket if he isn’t the most fit to actually govern if he wins?
Assuming he doesn’t get 25th amendment-ed in a potential second term, most people have to assume they’re voting for a bunch of nameless advisors whose composition is subject to opaque change. Essentially voting to have a cadre of appointees as president.
I’ve almost been amused at how commentators and media have accepted the notion that Jill Biden is the evil witch here. She is being villified almost as much as Kim Yo-jong. Perhaps with reason.
But now I notice that it is being accepted as fact that Biden is also relying on advice and counsel from Hunter. It lept from idle speculation (denied) to fact status in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Trump is being very quiet and subduded …. It must be hard for him!
Watch how the right and the Biden camp handle the NYT story about the Parkinson’s Desease specialist’s frequent WH visits.
Scroll over to America’s trusted news source, the NY Post, to see how the right will handle this…. According to their august journalists, it is rather clear that the WH is covering up that Biden is suffering from Parkinsons.
Probably political BS from the right, but if it comes out that there is a cover up, Bye Bye Biden.
imho the only way Biden can settle the masses would be to pass a neurological assessment…otherwise he will be scrutinized relentlessly and mercilessly … he deserves better given his decades of service but family have to step up for his sake at this point … something’s gotta give…
IDK, now that dementia has become the narrative it’s already too late for Joe.
Let’s say you and your siblings are starting to worry about mom’s ability to drive. Because there have been some incidents. So you have a group discussion and agree to have a neuro assessment which she passes (barely). How long until taking the keys comes back up again?
This isn’t going away and any glimmer of cognitive hope is only delaying the inevitable outcome.
Fun read. As an atheist, when Biden asks me for a contribution should I say I’m waiting for Almighty approval? Great budget strategy. Political religion, yuk.
I know I’m being too hard on Joe. But I just wish, as a progressive, that Democrats would run somebody people can get excited about.
With perspective, what’s your take on Sanders in 2016 or Warren in 2020? Do you think they really could have beaten Trump (2016) or done better than Biden (2020)?
IDK. Most progressive stuff seems either too close to neoliberal status quo/incremental or whacko identity politics that annoys the hell out of most people while achieving strictly nothing for the minorities they pretend to care about?
Agree, self motivating can get old. A little excitement would certainly help. I’ve been canvassing for Dems about 8 years. I find my local candidates motivating: Katie Porter, Mike Levin, etc. Wish Katie had stayed put, her old district is now in jeopardy.
Nazareth happens to be very close to Scranton (look it up). Joe and Jesus probably grew up together, hence Joe waiting to hear from his old pal.
I expect that the Lord Almighty might be contacting Joe one of these days, depending on how things play out. For a religious person, it’s a simple matter to change your mind: you heard a message from God.
I think the democratic party is currently dysfunctional. They should go up to the white house and lay it out for Biden. Thanks to the supreme court, the stakes ar very high….Trump is an agent, whether witting or unwitting…I think Putin’s nickname should be Karla. I would run Harris for president and Whitmer for vice. I would pound the table about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.