Never-Trumpers are more perceptive than many Democrats. Dutch Uncle The greatest challenge in American politics is to ensure that Donald Trump and his plans for a revanchist, all-powerful presidency never make it to the White House. If Joe Biden can help make that happen, we will support him wholeheartedly. If he can’t, we will be ruthless in replacing him.
In contrast, many Democrats are too polite to openly criticize their party’s presumptive nominee. Fortunately, Never-Trumpers have been accused of many things, but they have never been accused of being too polite. So let’s peel back the scab.
Almost two weeks Gentle prompting Instead of reconsidering his position, Joe Biden has now entrenched himself, refusing to demonstrate that he is still fit for office or to withdraw from the race. His main argument is that having won the primary, it would be undemocratic for him to withdraw from the race. Primary Debateshas lied to Democrats. If he had stood on stage and shown the American people what they saw two weeks ago, we wouldn’t be having this debate right now.
But for now, let’s ignore Biden’s debate performance. Biden has been a good president overall, even though I personally don’t agree with all of his policies. But he is the worst communicator I’ve ever seen in the Oval Office in my lifetime. He mostly got the ball rolling and got the country out of COVID, but voters’ confidence in Biden’s ability to manage the economy has gone down. Lowest in history.
Despite two years of impressive growth, half of Democrats believe the economy is in a recession. Half of Americans People think unemployment is at its highest in 50 years, when in fact it’s at its lowest in 50 years. Half of Americans They believe the stock market is falling even though the S&P 500 is falling. It went up About 25 percent over the past year. If I believed this kind of drivel about the economy, I might not be so keen to vote for Biden myself.
This is all 100% Joe Biden’s fault. It would never have happened under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or even George W. Bush. Sharing good news is one of the most basic skills of a president. And Trump is adamant that even if it is Utter nonsenseBut Biden is different. Forget selling a vision to voters, Biden has failed to effectively communicate basic facts.
I don’t care what the reasons are, all I care about is the result, and Biden simply does not have the communication skills to get that result.
The situation is serious. Four years ago at this time, Biden 9 Points Go ahead. Now he Five points In 2020, Biden ultimately won across the nation. Four pointsAnd in the key states that helped him win, the margin is much smaller. Do the math.
Now, let’s turn to the issue of age. Biden has been dogged by concerns about his age. 2020 and beyond Those concerns escalated into a full-blown crisis after the debate, one that Biden has had two weeks to address but that only gets worse every time he speaks without a teleprompter. badAsked afterwards if he had watched his own debate performance, he replied, “I don’t think I did.”
Just look at his public comments over the past few months: Can anyone really feel comfortable betting American democracy on Biden not having another “seizure” when it’s already too late?
The only way Biden can remain a candidate is if he has a plan to address these issues and can execute on it. “Warrior” And get knocked down, get up, but a cliché is not a plan. And even if he had a plan, Biden lacks the political skills needed to execute it. He has not been able to sell his record of the past three years, and there is no reason to believe he can do so in the next three months, much less address voters’ very real and growing concerns that he may be too old.
And let’s not even discuss how to convince voters that Biden is still qualified to serve as president in four years, given what we’ve seen so far.
The possibility is now probability — It is all too real that Trump will win the election. If Biden continues to run, the Democrats will have to rely entirely on the anti-Trump vote to get the 270 electoral votes. But the anti-Trump vote is already determined. Even if the Democrats served tuna casserole instead of Biden, they would still be sure to get around 45% of the vote.
Voters deserve something they can get excited about and support, not just something they oppose, and since Biden can no longer provide that, there’s no reason to keep him in office.
Kamala Harris has her own Communication issues But she can certainly think on the fly, and I think a candidate like Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, would fundamentally change the race. Whoever the candidate is, they’re going to be much better than Biden.
He has to go.
None of this brings me joy. Early advocates For Biden, but there’s no room for sentimentality: too much is at stake.
Party leaders and Democrats, ask yourself: “Do I truly believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate to beat Donald Trump in 2024?” If the answer is no, then take a public stand and do your duty.
Chris TrucksHe is a Republican and a lawyer on the Court of Appeals.
