Two Thirds of the Major Presidential Candidates Will Be Gone Soon

I take no pleasure in concluding today that our current President and de facto nominee for the top of the Democratic ticket in 2024 will be stepping down from the race in the next few weeks. I don’t want to see it, but circumstances indicate that’s what’s going to happen.

I see the current campaign to oust Joe Biden as a centrist calculation holding that it’s necessary to shift the Overton window to the right to defeat Donald J Trump.

President Biden wasn’t my first choice in the 2020 primaries, but I have to admit he’s exceeded my progressive expectations. While nobody is coming out and saying this dump Biden movement is about policy, I look at who has been willing to associate their names with it and see people representative of the traditionalists in the Democratic Party. They talk the liberal talk, will vote for some well-intentioned legislation (provided that it’s watered down or heavily earmarked), and exercise a considerable amount of institutional control both as office holders and as party officials. 

In terms of the health issues being brought forward, I thought we were electing a team; that Joe Biden was captain of that team; and that this election shouldn’t be treated as a reality tv show. It’s sad that the older demographic is dominant among elected officials in Washington and my basic desire politically is that younger people (younger than me- I’m a boomer) need to have a much greater role in determining our nation’s future.

If, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (a Biden supporter) let slip in a New Yorker interview, Joe Biden can’t put three sentences together, then I’ll concede that a stronger candidate would be a good idea. It’s an idea that should have come to the fore yesterday, as in last year.

Which brings me to the other candidate I see dropping out: Robert F Kennedy, Jr. I know about his assertion about not dropping out in the wake of a leaked video conversation with Donald Trump. But why would any supporter rooted in the Kennedy mystique stick with RFK Jr after hearing about him playing footsie with the GOP standard bearer?

There’s more, like the story in Politico asking why he’s disappeared from public view:

• The independent candidate, who has sought to be the biggest threat to the two major parties in a generation, has canceled key campaign appearances in the last two weeks. He hasn’t sent a fundraising email since Saturday. And after trying repeatedly to counterprogram past events in the election, including June’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Kennedy is doing little to shift the focus away from the Republican National Convention or to exploit a raft of questions from Democrats over whether Biden should still be the nominee.

I’ll admit that Politico in general has gone over the top in portraying non-Trumpist candidates in a poor light, but this would seem to be a time where a serious third party candidate would be prospecting among the party in disarray. 

Much of RFK Jr’s financial support has come from the nihilist wing of the Silicon Valley donor class, and his biggest donor (other than his VP candidate) is also a top Trump donor.

So maybe it’s possible in light of GOP convention “unity” news and polling showing he’s more damaging to Trump vote total than Biden’s he’s being shown the door. Or maybe RFK Jr was freaked out by the assassination attempt this past weekend. 

Whatever. I think he’s finished. And hope he doesn’t get whacked on the ass by the door where he keeps post-its of his lies on the way out.

Finally, we need to talk about the barely hidden subtext in the Democratic party decision making, namely opposition to elevating Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket. This move should be a no-brainer, but if circumstances allow it, an “open to other candidates” process will come about, I fear.

I say the shadow manipulators of this unfortunate movement to dump a candidate midstream is coming from individuals who would be a lot less likely to feel the consequences of Trump being re-elected. 

If Biden decides to drop out (I’d expect him to finish his term), then I want to see Kamala Harris (warts and all) at the top of the ticket. It would symbolize a commitment to build upon the successes of the past four years. 

That’s all I have to say for now. I’ll publish the next section in the ongoing Project 2025 series later in the morning.

Meanwhile in  Milwaukee…