Biden Bows Out
Monday, July 22nd, 2024 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio |
75F and sunny this morning, only going up to 81F today.
I'm having a hell of a time waking up!
Don't know why... I got to bed at a decent time... but I feel right now like I'm coming out of hibernation!
I'm on hold with ComEd, hoping to cancel the damn stop-service request.
And I just ordered another 24-can pack of moist food for Prowly.
Both these things are ridiculous, because a stop date of the 25th, and the original 24-pack allowed WAY more time for the deal to close than the worst case scenario!
Just went down to check the mail, then sat outside for a smoke, listening to hold music.
Now I'm back... still on hold.
"We are experiencing high call volumes..."
Well, either hire more people, or fix your shit website!
Okay!.. thank God!.. it's cancelled!
I didn't bother changing the date, I just had them cancel the order so the power stays on like normal forever.
I'll stop service after the house sells... if it ever sells!
Okay, time to get ready for work!
I've been ignoring politics all year, because I've had so many giant problems of my own with the foreclosure.
So it's funny that just as I finally have some time to pay attention... the presidential race has changed, such that nothing before now matters anymore!
Biden bowed out of the race yesterday, and today the entire democratic party has united behind Kamala Harris, and in 24 hours, the campaign has raised a record shattering 100 million dollars in small donations!
The timing is also perfect because the RNC convention is over, but the DNC convention isn't for a few weeks yet.
So Trump and his new, borderline-nazi VP, JD Vance, are locked in... but their whole strategy is now irrelevant.
And this turn of events could well lead to Harris winning quite decisively.
But how exactly did we get here?
It all goes back to the Trump V Biden debate back on Thursday, June 27th.
It wasn't that Trump bested Biden in a spirited debate... it was that Biden was... in a state of full-on dementia for the entire thing!
He couldn't complete a single thought!
And understandably, everybody on the left began calling for him to get out of the race.
But why the hell were they even having a debate in June?.. before either of the conventions?
Before this year, no debate has ever happened until September!
I turned up an article by KOAT 7 News out of Albuquerque New Mexico that explained it (emphasis mine)...
"One reason the debates are earlier this cycle is that Biden and Trump both ran away with their parties’ nominations, wrapping up the primaries only weeks into 2024. Another reason is that this year’s debates will be the first since 1988 not to be sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
Biden and Trump both criticized CPD for some of its rules and schedule. In May, the campaigns struck a deal to circumvent the bipartisan nonprofit, which has chosen the site, selected the moderators, established the guidelines, and set the dates for every presidential debate for over thirty years.
Part of the deal the campaigns agreed upon was to hold earlier debates so that the candidates could face the American people well before voters went to the polls.
In past elections, the first debate would take place after some states started sending out mail-in ballots. As of the time of publication, 10 states mail ballots to voters more than 45 days before the election: Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
By agreeing to the earlier schedule, Biden and Trump seem to want to ensure that every voter is well-informed before submitting a ballot."
Tim had a theory that the Biden campaign wanted to put Joe out there in full dementia mode... specifically to raise alarm!.. to show everybody he wasn't up to doing another four years... because Biden himself, and perhaps those closest to him, were stubbornly refusing to face that reality.
And Tim first expressed this theory on Friday night, June 28th.
He didn't know what I just turned up, above, which was written hours before the debate.
But I think it corroborates his theory.
It says both campaigns struck a deal to sidestep the commission, and hold an insanely early debate... in the name of better informing the voters.
And what that sounds like to me is... the Biden campaign approached the Trump campaign with this idea... knowing that if Biden didn't debate Trump until September, he'd goddam lose the election!
Like, Look, guys!.. neither of us like that stupid Comission for Presidential Debates telling us what to do!.. Both our candidates have their nominations locked up!.. Let's start debating right now!.. Unless you're scared!..
And Trump's campaign played right into their hands!
For 16 days after that debate... better than two weeks... Trump was riding high, having kicked a senile man's ass in a debate.
The Democratic party was in free fall, and polls were looking bad for Biden.
Trump took that confidence to a rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13th... and got shot at by some weird kid on a rooftop better than a football field away, with a rifle and a scope.
His shots killed a few people at the rally, but Trump himself was only grazed on the ear by a piece of shrapnel.
Still, Trumply quickly leaned into the impression people had that his ear had been grazed by an actual bullet that... if he hadn't turned his head just so, at just the right split second... would've gone right into his brain!
So... two days later, when the RNC convention began, on Monday, July 15th... he was looking like this brave would-be martyr spared by God because he was chosen to save America!
I do not think the assassin was part of any conspiracy plot.
I think he was just a rando, and he got as far as he did because Trump rally's have always been extremely lax about guns, and security.
But I do think the media and polling boost Trump got from surviving an assassination attempt right before the convention... was a factor in Biden finally agreeing to bow out of the race.
As I've said, I think people in Biden's campaign set up a June debate, knowing he'd do miserably, in order to create serious pressure from the public, and party insiders, for Biden to step asside, while there was still time.
That was the immediate result of that debate... and that pressure did build over the next three weeks, as Trump's star began to rise.
But the attempt was an unexpected boon for Trump, two days before a convention that was all about trashing Joe Biden.
And I think that's what finally forced Biden's hand... on a quiet Sunday, right after the RNC convention was over.
We can only speculate about the assassin, but I think it's clear he was that type of guy who's... nerdy enough to be invisible to people... but intelligent enough to use that to his advantage.
He knew he could get on that roof with a rifle, and even be seen up there by people at the rally, but that nobody would act, because... 2nd Amendment!
Trump has routinely allowed people into his rallies, armed!
And his base is all about defending mass shooters!
So this guy knew, if they saw one in their midst... they'd get confused as to whether he was a threat... or just... one of them!.. up on that roof to protect Trump!.. and exercise his gun rights under the constitution!
Why he wanted to kill Trump?... I mean... it's not hard to think of about five dozen reasons why somebody would want to kill Trump!
It's actually surprising nobody tried it at all, over the four years he was in office.
I mean... how many buildings are within range of the golf course at Mara Lago?.. fifty?
But I do think that June debate could've been the trigger!
Clearly he was not a fan of Trump.
So in that atmosphere for two weeks, where it seemed like his victory was inevitable?...
But he was not the sniper he thought he was, because from that distance... his bullets were going every which way off course, in the breeze.
So... he saw an opportunity and took it... but only because he imagined he was a better sharp shooter than he really was.
That's what tells you this was not some kind of conspiracy.
Trumps own hype, after the fact, wanted to pretend this guy was a crack shot, who only missed by a hair because of a miracle.
But no!.. those bullets were going everywhere!.. and Trump only got hit by some incidental shrapnel.
Okay, so let's tie this all up!..
Back in 2016, it should have been Trump V Biden... because Biden was Obama's VP for 8 years, and the natural nominee to run against Trump.
But Biden didn't run in 2016, because he'd lost a son to cancer.
Bernie Sanders was a strong contender for the Democratic nomination, but party elites (Obama included) have always felt Sanders is too progressive, so they made sure Hillary Clinton got the nom instead.
Trump won because he was an unknown to presidential politics, and had a thousand times more charisma than Hillary... who half the democratic base didn't want, because they wanted Sanders!
The nightmare of Trump's first term happened.
And then in 2020, Sanders came back as the front runner... but Joe Biden also got into the race, and the party elites (Obama included) made sure Biden got the nom.
Biden did beat Trump, partly on merit, and partly because of the foul mood after four years of Trump, and the Covid disastter, and the George Floyd protests all summer, and Amy Coney Barret getting installed on the Supreme Court in the 11th hour.
But in 2020, everybody was already worried Biden had a touch of dimentia, and that he might not make it four years, let alone eight!
With Kamala Harris as his VP... everybody knew going into that election, that Kamala could become President at any time between 2021 and 2024!
That was... assuming Trump didn't overturn the election by force... which everybody predicted he'd try to do... months in advance of his actual attempt to do it!
Biden did get inaugurated in January of 2021, and... did a pretty good job?
I mean... didn't do jack shit about runaway inflation?... is my big criticism?.. but you know... he didn't turn us into a totalitarian dictatorship or anything, so...
Good job?
He did not want to bow out of this race!
And I do see what's happened over the past month as kind of a coup!
Kamala is not the ideal candidate, but her rise to the top of the ticket in this pivotal moment does represent an enormous breakthrough!
As one person put it, since 1980 there hasn't been an election year without a Bush, Clinton, or Biden on the ticket!
But we're talking about two Bushes and two Clintons, but only one Biden... Joe himself, who's been in government for one thousand years.
And geriatric people in power has been a big problem for years as well.
I mentioned Amy Coney Barret, but she wouldn't have gotten in if Ruth Bader Ginsberg had goddam stepped down when there was time for Obama to replace her with a younger justice who'd have defended ROE.
A big issue in 2020 was that the choice was back to two ancient white men, with gray hair!
A big issue this year was that it was just a bullshit re-match of those same two ancient white men... only now both more demented!
Bernie, for what it's worth, is a year older than Joe, so... despite everything, he too is part of the old white man rut that Obama created by picking Biden as his VP back in 2008.
Kamala's not part of a dynasty.
Her VP won't be part of a dynasty.
She's refreshingly far away from 80!
She's far more competent to be a President than either Trump, or Joe.
And she's eligible to serve two full terms!
This last eight years has been a walk thorugh the dark forest with a keychain penlight, between Trump and Biden.
And I believe it'll be viewed historically as... the only time we ever had two, one-term Presidents in a row!
Essentially, Trump and Biden split the last 8 years between themselves, with Trump being president for a single term, followed by Biden for a single term.
The, Triden Administration, they may call it, in hindsight... the eight years of chaos.
I have been arguing for over a decade that we need both anti-dynasty legislation, and upper age limits for judges and politicians.
The nightmare we've all endured over the past eight years, has been the direct result of dynasty politics, and the concentration of power in the feeble, trembling hands of geriatric politicians with one foot in the grave!
Obama offered hope and change, before that had become a problem.
But his pollyanna faith in the ability of Republicans to cooperate, together with his sentimental love of aging party leaders like Hillary and Biden... delivered us into the nightmare of the past 8 years.
A nightmare that may finally be ending... thanks only to unnamed actors within the Biden campaign, who... went for that third solution to the trolley problem... which is to just derail the trolley at the switch!
They got him into a debate in June... to derail his campaign while there was still time to save the election!
I do feel Trump stands no chance now.
Kamala's getting insane campaign donations, and... like, nobody's making a second attempt on Trump's life... so that's already old news, and he'll never get another lightning strike boost like it again!
He's doubled down on a borderline-nazi VP, but they're facing a black, female opponent, so they either have to be racist and mysogynist as fuck to play to the base, which won't get them the 270... or they'll have to try and be normal, to get the swing voters... which they have no Earthly idea how to do.
It's too late for Trump to bow out so... he's gonna have to take the second L... as he turns 80.
And I think that'll be the end of him trying to fuck with our democracy.
Okay, that's my take on a Monday night... trying not to think about the house that's gonna be in limbo all week.
See you in the morning!
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