It’s My Party and I’ll Try if I Want To
Just before the holiday weekend, I shared some thoughts on The Nojoementum, the growing media and insider pressure on Joe Biden to step aside. I’m not sure much has changed in regard to those trends. But in a letter to Congressional Democrats and some feisty interviews, Biden is so far making it clear he has no intention of dropping out and has told party members who suggest otherwise to get off his lawn. “The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. Its time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.” Biden tells Democrats he’s not leaving the race, and it’s time to stop talking about it. (Editor’s note: People are not gonna stop talking about it.)
+ “Despite credible midweek reporting that Biden had conceded to allies that he might not be able to save his candidacy, his posture has since hardened—publicly and privately—into the unalloyed defiance on display at his Friday rally in Wisconsin: ‘They’re trying to push me out of the race. Well, let me say this as clear as I can: I’m staying in the race!’ The Defiance Defense, as I’ve come to think of it, has a clear strategic aim: to create pressure on elected Democrats not to go public with their private fears/convictions by raising the potential political cost of abandoning Biden at this late stage. But it also has a political price tag of its own: the wide and growing sense among those who aren’t members of the Biden family, or on the payroll, that the defiance of the president and his people is being animated by some lethal combination of denial, delusion, and desperation.” John Heilemann with some interesting takes from inside the party on Puck (Gift Article): Biden vs. The World. The fact remains that Biden is staying in until Biden decides he’s not. Biden reminds us of our own mortality. Trump reminds us of America’s.
