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— OPINION —
Imagine, for a moment, that in the span of two weeks 20 congressional Republicans called for Donald Trump to quit his presidential race on account of being a felon/coup instigator/serial liar/old/confused/mentally unstable (take your pick… multiple selections possible). What do you think would happen?
MAGAgeddon, i.e., utter mayhem and chaos.
Trump would immediately lash out at them all individually, hint at repercussions and violence, and the lawmakers in question would receive death threats.
That’s not just speculation. We know this because of Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) tell-all account of Washington, DC, in which he revealed that Republicans did not vote for Trump’s insurrection impeachment because they were concerned about their families’ safety.
Not the Democrats.
Which is truly astonishing, if you think about it.
Right now, there is a movement underway to either get the president of the United States to step aside voluntarily as the party’s nominee — or to find a way to topple him during the convention.
Until now, this fight has been playing out mostly behind the scenes… and it has been extremely civil.
And that’s even though the stakes are incredibly high. The shared goal of all factions is to protect the country by keeping Donald Trump out of the White House.
Both sides believe that their strategy gives them the best chances of winning.
The camp of President Joe Biden thinks the incumbent, with a sizable war chest and the experience of having defeated his Republican challenger already, is best positioned to do so again regardless of his apparent challenges.
The other side is convinced that these challenges, i.e., Biden’s advanced age, increasing frailty, and disastrous debate performance, not only make the president a significant underdog but also a liability for down-ballot Democrats.
There isn’t much of a middle ground here.
And yet, those Democrats who want to nudge Biden out the door have been really nice about it. They generally talk about how great the president has been, the debt of gratitude the nation owes him for defeating Trump in 2020, and the need for “passing the torch.”
For example, Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) on Friday praised Biden as a “good man who has served his country faithfully and admirably” for decades. She also professes her “deep admiration and love” for the president.
Up to that point, her statement still sounded like a ringing endorsement.
But then she talks about having to make the painful decision of asking Biden to step aside.
“Joe Biden saved our country once, and I’m joining the growing number of people in my district and across the country to ask him to do it again,” Pettersen said. “Please pass the torch to one of our many capable Democratic leaders so we have the best chance to defeat Donald Trump, who is the greatest threat to the foundation of this country that we have ever faced.”
That is what virtually all the Democrats who want Biden to get out of the race have sounded like.
Along the same lines, the president has not used his bully pulpit to go after the lawmakers.
The whole thing has been strangely pleasant.
And that is incredibly important going into November.
If Biden is forced out, then this has to happen in a very gentle and cordial way since a messy fight would benefit no Democrat.
In the intra-party contest the president still has the considerable advantages of an incumbent, but he clearly is not a candidate his party is all that enthusiastic about.
If he were to be replaced at the top of the ticket, very few Democrats outside his immediate family circle would be genuinely upset … whereas Trump’s ousting would probably result in riots, and there is no way his replacement could win with a huge chunk of MAGA supporters staying home.
That’s not the case for Democrats. In fact, a different ticket – any different ticket – would likely generate more, not less enthusiasm among Democratic-leaning voters.
What’s truly interesting is how openly Democrats are talking about whether a sitting, non-term-limited, and fairly successful president should retire.
Essentially, they are saying, four months ahead of a pivotal election, that they no longer have confidence in their own candidate.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter to the Democratic caucus on Friday, in which he informed lawmakers of a meeting he had with Biden where he “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.”
In other words, he went to the White House Thursday night to tell the president of the United States that many Democrats want him to drop out.
Let that sink in.
With Biden vowing to stay in the race, it remains to be seen whether this harmonious dynamic continues, or if some Democrats become seriously frustrated with the president for not making way for a better candidate. This could happen quickly if more polling shows that others are better positioned to defeat Trump.
In addition, the tone of this “civil civil war” could also change quickly if an actual contender for the nomination appeared and openly challenged Biden.
For now, however, apart from there being no resolution in sight, this has gone as well as it could have without leaving the party in shambles.
They can probably thank Trump for that.
The best thing Democrats have going for them is that the former president is the ultimate uniter of their party.
Trump is the greatest insurance policy against the possibility that any potential cracks in the party resulting from this process become rifts, and the rifts become chasms.
Ultimately, no matter which path Biden and the Democrats choose, they must stand united against an existential threat to the country.
The bottom line, however, is what undecided voters and moderate Republicans in a handful of swing states will do. For the Democrats to give themselves the best chance of winning, they need a candidate who is palatable to those constituencies.
And, ideally, they have to rally behind one as quickly as possible, because the longer this so far polite impasse drags on, the more likely it is that things will get really messy.
