Friday, July 19, 2024

Today's News: Trump babbles while Biden burns


I didn't watch it - apparently a good decision - but here are some comments about the Trump speech at the Republican Convention last night:
Trump is their guy now, they're stuck with him. Win or lose ... Biden deserves an apology: But I guess that is unlikely now. 
He is being pushed out, and maybe this will turn out to be for the best. It's increasingly evident that the "He's too old" smear has become the 2024 version of "but her emails" and Democrats simply will not put up with that again. But Biden IS old, damn it, maybe too old to inspire voter confidence anymore - he barely won in 2020 - less than 100,000 votes made the difference in key swing states -- and Americans will never vote for someone they think is weak. 
His most credible replacement now is Kamala Harris, and Americans have already shown that they won't elect a woman as president. Anyway, Harris has her own problems, because she would have to deal with the "she's just a ho" smear. 
Josh Marshall writes:
... we are facing an extraordinary set of circumstances, which afford little-to-no historical points of comparison. Also, as I’ve defined the decision above, there’s really nothing that could be considered secret data. It’s just people’s very strong assumption that an 81 year old president, who appears to have undergone a significant and recent physical decline, cannot inspire confidence or robustly campaign to win. Certainly not when he’s already a bit behind.
The simple fact is that it’s a tough call. We’re not remotely going to have enough evidence to make the decision in any kind of educated way. Both choices are very risky. But here we are.
My only real point here is to say this is all based on assumptions and gut instincts. And the truth is that’s kind of all we have. That isn’t a reason not to do it. But I think it’s worth being clear that that is what we’re going on. I’m totally ready to get on board behind Kamala Harris. I’m excited. She can win. But we should all be clear on these realities.
Marshall also writes about many observations on Biden's recent, and serious, physical decline. He speculates about the amount of travel Biden has had to do lately, but I also wonder whether the Hunter Biden trial and verdict may have profoundly discouraged Biden too. And maybe there is some physical condition that is just getting worse.  
Ezra Klein sums it up in an X post:
Where things stand:
1. Top Dems who believed even a week ago Biden would stay now believe he’ll go.
2. House and Senate Dems have lost faith in his ability to win and there’s no way to win them back. His calls and interviews have hurt him badly. Confirmed debate wasn't a one-off.
3. Donors are also gone. Biden may well not have the money to run a real campaign against Trump if he stays in. Money will go downballot.
4. Biden is thinking things over in a way he wasn’t before and the view is he needs time to process and consider.
5. If Biden digs in after the weekend, public pressure from Dems will increase. Ugly in a way no one wants. But a lot of grim determination. Also a growing sense that if Biden stays in, this will come to be seen as the kind of political catastrophe you don't want to later be seen as silent in.
6. The moment Biden bows out, he will be treated as a hero among Democrats — a statesman who made the kind of country and party-first decision that Trump never would. People get that this is hard. He's being asked to do something very few leaders do.
7. Uniting around Kamala Harris feels a lot likelier than an open convention, much as I’ve supported the latter. This is grueling enough. Few Democrats have the stomach for another hard thing. And time is very short now.
8. Many thought RNC would help Biden by changing the subject. Instead, seeing a united Republican Party has focused Dems. They've realized they can't rely on Trump just to lose this.
9. Democratic Party is acting like an…actual party? Quite a thing to watch.
But Democratic leaders should never forget that Joe is beloved, and respected: Moving on:
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1 comment:

lungta said...

Only thing that struck me in this news was that both Vances and Trumps spouses were in Handmaid Tale red at their final appearance.
The Heritage 2025 project boys will be wiggling with excitement.

12:28 pm

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