(LibertySons.org) – In a shock move, President Biden has stepped down as the presumptive nominee for November’s election. Although Biden has been under growing pressure for weeks, he remained defiant –- until, suddenly, he didn’t. Now, the Democrats face the challenge of finding a new candidate.
Biden Finally Gets The Message
Since Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate against Donald Trump, growing numbers of senior Democrats have been calling on the president to give up his bid for re-election. At first, Biden insisted he wasn’t going to drop out and that he was the only candidate who could beat Trump.
However, after a series of further gaffes –- including shocking a NATO conference by calling Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin” –- the opposition became louder and more public. Over the weekend, the list of Democrat legislators openly calling on Biden to quit began to grow rapidly. By early afternoon on July 21 four senators and about two dozen House members had gone public with demands for him to retire. Finally, Biden gave in to the inevitable.
At 1:46 pm Eastern on July 21, Biden’s official X (formerly Twitter) account posted a message announcing he was withdrawing from the race. Observers quickly noted that the statement didn’t endorse a successor, and the only reference to Vice President Kamala Harris was a brief statement thanking her for “being an extraordinary partner in all this work.”
However, shortly afterward, he released another statement saying he’s giving Harris his “full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.” Other Democrats quickly jumped in to back Harris for the party’s nomination; the VP’s own team had already been on maneuvers for weeks, including threatening protests if she’s bypassed for another candidate.
Can Harris Snatch The Nomination?
There’s no guarantee Harris will slip effortlessly into Biden’s place, though. While she has her supporters, several key Dems who were calling for Biden to withdraw have stopped short of endorsing Harris. Notably, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) didn’t mention Harris at all in their statements about Biden.
Likewise, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has apparently been calling for an open process instead of a coronation of the VP. After Biden resigned, she issued a statement praising the man whose political career she had just assassinated and pointedly offered support to “whoever” the party chooses to replace him.
There’s no doubt Harris wants the nomination, and many Democrats are backing her. However, some senior party figures fear a coronation would leave them open to Republican attacks about being undemocratic –- while others are well aware that Harris is a terrible candidate who has even less chance of winning than Biden did.
The Democrats might have got rid of one problem, but Biden’s arrogance has left them scrambling for a new candidate with less than four months to go before the election.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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