Nancy Pelosi told Pres. Biden they could do this the easy way or the hard way

Just so we’re clear, everything I said last week still holds. I’m still convinced that this whole “Biden must drop out” movement was one giant interparty ratf–k. The media went into a giant feeding frenzy post-debate, which spooked Democratic donors, who then applied pressure on elected Democrats to knife President Biden in the back on or off the record. The Democratic in-fighting drove down Pres. Biden’s poll numbers because he was being constantly attacked by his allies and by the Beltway media, and those poll numbers were cited as a self-fulfilling prophecy that Biden must drop out. So an old man, who still has Covid, was finally convinced that he needed to drop out. Politico has a new story about what happened behind-the-scenes over the past week.

Two of Biden’s senior aides came to Delaware: Early Saturday, Biden told senior aides it was “full steam ahead” for the campaign. But by later that evening, he had changed his mind following a long discussion with his two closest aides. Steve Ricchetti, who’s been with Biden since his days in the Senate, drove to see the president at his house on the Delaware shore on Friday. Mike Donilon arrived on Saturday. The two men, both of whom had been by Biden’s side during key decisions about whether to seek the presidency in 2016 and 2020, sat at a distance from the president, still testing positive for Covid, and presented damning new information in a meeting that would hasten the end of Biden’s political career.

Biden’s internal polls: In addition to presenting new concerns from lawmakers and updates on a fundraising operation that had slowed considerably, they carried the campaign’s own polls, which came back this week and showed his path to victory in November was gone, according to five people familiar with the matter, who, like others interviewed for this article, were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Biden asked several questions during the exchange.

Biden is sick of his own people: The announcement, which shocked the political world, almost immediately flipped the narrative around Biden: His own party, after three weeks of deriding him privately as an isolated, deluded lion in winter dragging other Democrats down with him, was showering him with loving tributes, praising his record, career of public service and a selfless decision they said put his country first. It wasn’t that the president had grown tired of the drip of defections from within his own party — although he had. Rather, it was that Biden himself was finally convinced of what so many other Democrats had come to believe since his poor debate performance last month: He couldn’t win.

Pelosi is Brutus: Senior Biden aides were bracing for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who’d worked behind the scenes to encourage others in the party toward the kind of collective action that might finally push the president to end his campaign, to go public this week and possibly even disclose Democratic polling clarifying Biden’s dire political straits. “Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” said one Democrat familiar with private conversations who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way….We were giving him the respect of the weekend to make his decision. We were hopeful that this is the decision we would make.”

Congressional leaders were pushing Biden privately: “He got the message,” said the House Democrat, granted anonymity to speak frankly. Referring to the Senate Majority Leader, House Minority Leader and Speaker Emeritus, the lawmaker said: “It was from Chuck, Hakeem, Pelosi.” Over three days late last week, Biden spoke privately with Pelosi, Jeffries and Schumer. The Senate leader traveled to visit the president last Saturday at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Obama’s role: Those leaks [from Congressional Dems], which coincided with a Washington Post report that former President Barack Obama was also expressing concerns about Biden’s campaign privately, signaled to other Democrats who’d yet to express private concerns publicly that the time to do so was at hand.

[From Politico]

There will be some who say that Pelosi did what she needed to do and that she’s still got her finger on the pulse of the party. But I disagree. To me, Pelosi wasn’t reading the tea leaves as much as she was orchestrating the entire operation. What should have been a moment in which Democrats overcame a few bad newscycles, they instead folded at the first sign of bad news. It’s a horrible precedent and something which will not be forgotten by the Democratic Party’s foot soldiers. The thing is, after Biden’s withdrawal, the vibes have been close to perfect… in spite of Pelosi, Obama, et al. I feel strongly that Biden made his withdrawal conditional on Democrats quickly getting behind VP Harris. If you go back and look at what all of the ratf–kers were saying before Biden’s statement, they had NO PLAN for what came after they knifed Biden in the back and convinced him to withdraw. President Biden’s last act as a presidential candidate was to ensure that the party quickly coalesced behind Kamala Harris.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

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148 Responses to “Nancy Pelosi told Pres. Biden they could do this the easy way or the hard way”

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  1. Hypocrisy says:

    Perfect to call her Brutus.

    • Megan says:

      Biden had one job and that was to not choke in the debate he asked for and that was delivered on his terms, and he failed. The mess was compounded by his insistence on doing TV interviews were things went from bad to worse, a al, “Look at the heat I’m getting because I, I named a, uh, the, uh, secretary of defense — the black man.”

      He can no longer run a successful campaign and that is part of the job of being president. He has been the most effective president of my lifetime and if Trump and Project 2025 didn’t exist, I might feel differently, but he is not the torch bearer for the moment.

      • DeltaJuliet says:

        I don’t disagree that the debate was bad but HOW to you effectively debate a man who lies constantly with every word out of his mouth? You know Biden prepares for these things with facts and then you have dipshit talking about his golf wins. WTF

      • Megan says:

        You do it by being a skilled politician who is sharp enough to rebut the lies from a convicted felon.

      • Mayp says:

        🎯, @Megan. Biden was no longer in the position to be able to excite and galvanize voters to get to the polls this Fall. I feel that a lot of Never Trumpers would have just stayed home. This is for the best and Pelosi is not a Brutus but rather a savvy political realist.

      • Ula1010 says:

        I regularly listen to the White House Press Briefings , and last week was BRU-TAL. The press have been grilling Karine for months regarding Gaza, but last week was endless hard questions about Biden’s capacity to be President again. Karine really didn’t have the answers. Probably because those answers weren’t great. The press sounded pretty fed up.

        I’m waiting for a well-known journalist to write a book about all the information they sat on regarding this situation. I’m sure its coming.

      • Kitten says:

        Exactly, Megan, and thank you.

      • Normades says:

        Completely agree MAYP

      • BellsTheWell says:

        Agreed. It broke my heart to watch that debate happen in real time, because I think he has been a fantastic president.

        But, he really raised some serious concerns about his ability to fulfill the duty of the president for 4 more years. It’s not treacherous to question that when he was clearly struggling…it’s putting the good of our country first. And even if he just had a bad night, it was done. Perception is reality in politics, and he did that himself. Nancy would never sow discord just to do so. It goes against everything she stands for. She just saw the same writing on the wall as the rest of us after that disastrous performance.

    • kirk says:

      “Perfect to call her Brutus.” ITA
      Also agree with Kaiser this won’t be forgotten by the Democratic Party’s foot soldiers. And yet the vibes are close to perfect following Biden’s withdrawal, in spite of Pelosi, Obama, et al.
      Because of the mental clarity and astuteness of Biden!
      Watched Allan Lichtman (13 Keys to the White House) last night and he said to avoid giving up the Party Contest key Kamala would need 2/3 delegate count on the first vote at convention. He said it looks like the party is uniting behind Kamala, but there’s speculation about some party members falling in line…

      • Jessica says:

        Those Democratic “foot soldiers”, of which I am one, overwhelmingly felt Biden was too old to run. I think 80 plus million in 24 hours in the Dem coffers on Monday tells you what you need to know about how the rank and file Dems felt about Biden staying in.

    • Christina says:

      Perhaps Pelosi is Brutus, and a ratfucker. She may also know about things we don’t know about.

      Biden was my choice, too, but there are a lot of people in this country who will only vote for people they feel are full of vigor. It is why short candidates lose. It is dumb, but humans can be shortsighted and shallow. Pelosi knows this, and she also gets information that we aren’t privy to.

      There was an op-ed in the Washington Post this weekend written by Sally Quinn, Ben Bradlee’s widow, to Jill Biden and the rest of us about how Ben Bradlee deteriorated little by little (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/15/sally-quinn-ben-bradlee-dementia/). Bradlee had dementia. While I don’t think that Biden has dementia, he is simply not vigorous and he is showing evidence of physical decline that won’t fly with the electorate in the United States. As hard as that is to hear, it is fact. Standing beside Trump, Biden looked weak. I hate that because Biden is brilliant, but too much of the electorate cares about that kind of stuff no matter how much we want to blame the press and the media. Did Pelosi call Sally Quinn? I bet she did, because they all knew each other. People high up in the beltway knew what was happening to Ben Bradlee, but the rest of us didn’t until it was announced.

      Politics are ugly if done correctly because the whole point of democracy is to work through differences instead of the authoritarian path that Trump and company want to take us down. Democrats mess up. We aren’t going to agree. Aliances are built and they fray. Biden survived because he kept trying, and so did Pelosi. They read the room and responded accordingly.

      Now we must coalesce around Kamala Harris. She has the ability and the stamina and a political education from a master of the game, President Biden. And from Pelosi.

  2. HillaryIsAlwaysRight says:

    Pelosi and Biden both did what was right in the interest of protecting our democracy. There’s too much at stake this year. It’s about appealing to voters in swing states. Pelosi lead by example. It was time to pass the torch. If immediate party support for Harris was Biden’s condition for stepping aside, then he was right to insist this did not devolve into an intra-party fight.

    • MichaelaCat says:

      Biden’s biggest problem was that social media bots, the Republicans and regular media completely shifted the conversation from policy to personality. They turned him into “the old guy with dementia”.

      It didnt help that he often played into their hand by saying things wrong.

      My family and extended friends circle are liberal-minded but out of them (talking about 50 + people I had conversations with on the subject), only 1 (!) actually agreed with me and said policy was more important. Everyone else just talked about his age and mental capacities, parroting whatever they had heard from others. He was too damaged to be re-elected. The Democrats did what they had to do and I think they had given him many chances, but it just wasn’t working.

      I hope people and the media will talk more about all the great Democrat policies in the fiuture instead of just “he said this” and “he looked like that”, including on this blog.

      • Ceej says:

        And wasn’t his time as VP punctuated by “hilarious” gaffes? Like it wasn’t new for him to occasionally mess up and say the wrong thing but suddenly he’s old with mental decline. (And I mean he is old and you could see how presidency aged Obama decades in 8 years and Biden had to navigate the aftershocks of a pandemic and *wilful* incompetence, so I can’t imagine how much stress has aged Biden in 4 years)

        I hope the dems are okay and win because I am terrified for a Trump term and even another republican in 4 years. Kamala could at least give America 8 years and hopefully time will burn out the maga death cult. But I am afraid for y’all that it’s so late for a change and Trump somehow does it again. I don’t see how any country survives him a second time

      • Beech says:

        In complete agreement.

      • CoffeePants says:

        I seriously wonder how much of the media shitstorm that went after Biden following the Debate had Russian roots. Russian meddling in elections might be less blatant than it was in 2016, but it is still there.

        As much as I am excited that we have another chance at a female POTUS (I’ve looked at Kamala’s platforms and past actions. She seems solid), I am furious that Democrats are really so stupid as to vociferously and openly break ranks to have an internectine feeding frenzy at this time. So much so that it is something I will look at in primary elections moving forward—if any potential candidate had a loud mouth involved in this little coup, I will absolutely vote against them. If they can’t be depended upon to keep their shit together now of all times, what good could they possibly be?

    • SarahLee says:

      Precisely. And just because they weren’t saying “what comes next” doesn’t mean they had/have no plan. They do, and its playing out.

    • MichaelaCat says:

      I also don’t understand why Politico is being used here.

      Not a credible source at all.

    • Arpeggi says:

      If 84 yo Pelosi really wanted to lead by example, she could opt not to seek reelection in November. Why hasn’t she worked on mentoring potential replacement?

      • LightPurple says:

        She has been mentoring replacements for her leadership role in the House. Jeffries and Clark and others in House leadership are her protegees. There is still nobody who has her command of the numbers. She endorsed Harris this morning. That means she knows Harris not only has the votes in the party but the votes across the nation. They just have to get out the vote. The First Woman Speaker is going to make sure she installs the First Woman President before she hands over her House seat. 2024 will likely be her last campaign.

      • Arpeggi says:

        She has been mentoring in the House but what about her constituents? Don’t they deserve someone who is likely going to be able to represent and act on their behalf for the full duration of the mandate? Was Diane Feinstein able to do anything for the people who elected her in the last 2 years of her reign? You can still mentor and advice the leadership without being elected.

  3. girl_ninja says:

    Maybe so, maybe no. I take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to Politico and all these other digital gutter rags. While I respect what Pelosi has done for the party, I haven’t been down with Nancy since she endorsed that Kennedy kid over Ed Markey. I am here to do whatever I can to make sure V.P. Harris is elected to the Presidency of the United States and Nancy better be too.

    I also believe that if President Biden could do it, he would.

    • CLOVE says:

      @girl_ninja you are hitting all the points this morning! Nope, I would not believe Politico either; it was purchased by Axel Springer (German) and, like most media, is pro-Trump.

      I listened to AOC; she provided information about what was happening behind the scenes. I don’t particularly appreciate how they treated Biden.

      I was bummed when Biden dropped out, a bit sad. Although he did what he thought was good, I wouldn’t say I liked his treatment. Moving on, I support Kamala!

      • seaflower says:

        /there was reporting last week in Rolling Stone that Axel Springer was asking his executives to pray for a Trump win.

        https://x.com/shay3322/status/1814395202389586320

      • kirk says:

        Politico became a suspect source with the Axel Springer purchase. However, they haven’t become so uniformly bad that the whole publication should be dismissed. There are still good journalists within the organization. This was obviously a big project with 4 authors in the byline, plus 2 contributors. And they granted anonymity to 22 people, including House members, to discuss sensitive matters in order to get a story at all. This wasn’t facile ‘gotcha’ reporting, unlike recent CNN and NBC.

    • Kitten says:

      The Kennedy endorsement was SO infuriating but knowing Pelosi’s particular brand of politics, it was also totally expected.

      You sound uncharacteristically down but I hope you snap out of it, NinjaGirl, because there’s a building wave of excitement and enthusiasm for a Harris campaign. Let’s fucking GO!!!!!

  4. Marjorie84 says:

    I am amped and ready to do all I can to help elect the first black female President. We have to defeat fascism in this country!

    At the same time, I am disgusted at the way Democratic leadership pushed Biden out. And I am appalled at how disrespectful they were as they went about it. It feels like a handful of celebrities and politicians (all millionaires ) decided to tell the sitting President to take a hike, then used the media to twist the knife. Joe Biden deserved better.

    • Betsy says:

      I am too, a little, but I can’t help but wonder what they had seen in Biden privately. He’d been slowing noticeably and while I think he could still do a lot, he was missing some figurative steps. He was still leagues better than Trump cognitively.

      • blueberry says:

        I can’t remember his name, but last week a congressman said that he felt Biden didn’t recognize him at the recent Dday event. Biden has been under a lot of stress and for whatever reason I do believe many people saw him slipping behind the scenes. This was the right call.

    • Megan says:

      Polling came out a few days ago that showed two-thirds of Dems wanted him to drop out. Unlike Trump’s zombies, we believe what we see and hear and it was clear Biden lacked the communication skills to win the election.

    • Joy says:

      The part that is infuriating is Biden already won the primary. He was the candidate WE THE PEOPLE voted for. So the party overruled the people. That is bs.

      Joe is a good man. And I love that he immediately supported Kamala. She will win. She has to.

  5. Berkeleyfarm says:

    One of Nancy’s excellent and relevant skills is that she always knows how to count votes. I had to remind hotheads of that so many times when they were whining “why isn’t Pelosi doing X”.

    I also think this is a RF, but … Pelosi knows how to count votes and Joe knows and respects this.

  6. LarkspurLM says:

    Excellent post Kaiser! I was hoping President Biden stay in the race and I felt punched in the gut when I heard the news. But…the injection of enthusiasm and full steam ahead is a beautiful thing to watch and support. Biden has done so much and let’s finish the job!

  7. Shelly bean says:

    It wasn’t just a few bad news cycles though. It was nearly his entire presidency, the visuals always made him look very, very, very old.
    I’m an American living in Australia, but I can feel the news vibe and the social media vibe and there was definitely a feeling for a very long time that he was too old.
    Trump is too old too though for that matter. What is up with all these pensioners running for president.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      Weird how you can see it in Australia, but people right here in North America still refuse to see it. President Biden was losing BEFORE the debate. The debate solidified the already present fears that he would not be able to win with such severely diminished communication skills. I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next gal, but party leaders had to do something to get Biden to step aside or risk losing not just the presidency but both houses of Congress. Thank God for leaders like Nancy Pelosi. I’m sure she did not relish having to get tough with her friend, but leadership sometimes demands tough, honest, even blunt talk. The American voters have been signaling for at least the last year that they wanted new candidates and that they would not support President Biden because they regard him as too old to serve another four years. Trump became the default candidate for “the double haters” after the debate simply because relative to Biden he seemed more coherent and able. As I stated in another post, the only purpose of a political party is to win. Sparing someone’s feelings should never enter the equation. It’s a tough, unforgiving business.

      • Kitten says:

        Not a surprise that I’m with you on every one of your comments, Brassy Rebel, but I’m thankful that you’re saying it so I’m not the only one lol.

    • seaflower says:

      Don’t forget most of the media here in Australia is either owned by Murdoch or reporters and senior execs are ex Sky News, or from the ranks of the LNP (our version of Repubs/Tories)

      • Shelly bean says:

        I consume ALL news media, not just Australian news media. Most people have the internet now ya know lol…
        Plus I have a Comms Degree so I try to consume news from as many sources as possible, while keeping in mind the sources’ spin.. while also trying to work out where the actual truth lies..
        Plus, just the general optics of all news for people who aren’t as critical when consuming news media. I don’t have to go far for that.. just look at social media comments under articles.. or you can talk to your boomer parents about their ideas lol.

  8. Kateee says:

    I don’t need to discuss how the sausage got made. Leave the man his dignity. Keep the focus on President Kamala Harris.

    • Kingston says:

      @Kateee

      Thank you! The sausage-making process of anything is very off-putting, and its especially so when those who dont know how sausage is made or how a particular sausage is made, put their annoying bits in.

      But politico loves to wallow in sausage-making….especially when its about the Dems. Its as if they believe its their duty to carry these kinds of articles all the time. Its mere high-stakes gossip and no better than sites like these. At least Celebitchy isnt pretending to be something its not.

      When an electorate votes its choices into office, the number one thing they want from them subsequently is RESULTS! What have you done for me/the people!!??!! We dont always need to hear about the behind-the-scenes wrangling….we just want to know that decisions are being arrived at that benefit the people.

    • Neners says:

      This. Enough is enough.

  9. Bambilee23 says:

    It feels hard to swallow coming from Pelosi, herself an 84 year old running for reelection this year..

    • HillaryIsAlwaysRight says:

      Reelection yes, but not officially with a party leadership position. And no one can say she’s slowing down. Everyone ages differently. I hope I’m still in kitten heels when I’m 84.

      • Agnes says:

        He does look like he’s got some beginning form of Parkinson’s to me. Pelosi doesn’t. This was probably more about general health than aging per se. If everyone had rallied behind him instead of turning on him I still believe he could have won. But I doubt he would have finished his second term. It will be better if Kamala Harris kicks Trump’s skeevy orange ass in an election than if she has to step in for an ill President.

      • Big Kahuna says:

        Agnes, one will NEVER succeed in getting people to rally around someone who they DONT feel good about. Too many people, myself included, did not feel good about Biden, who is clearly in steep decline. I cannot imagine what the next four years would have held for Biden, if the last couple of years are any indication (and they ARE).

        And you say that Biden could have won if everyone rallied around him. But the same could be said of ANY candidate! People need to take their “rally around Biden” energy, apply it to Harris!

    • DeltaJuliet says:

      I have to agree with this. If he’s too old, so is she. It can happen quickly and it’s high time for age restrictions.
      Of course I also don’t think convicted felons should be allowed to run for president either but who even makes the rules anymore.

    • MsIam says:

      Ironic that Pelosi herself was facing the same pressure to step down when she was speaker because she was “too old” and wasn’t preparing future leaders. Isn’t that why she supposedly started mentoring Hakeem Jeffries? But then again nobody has ever said politics was fair or clean.

      • LightPurple says:

        She was mentoring people for years. She took my rep Katherine Clark under her wing when she first arrived in Congress. Now Clark is minority whip.

      • Big Kahuna says:

        But was Pelosi displaying the steep cognitive decline that Biden has been displaying? Not that I can recall.

    • Arpeggi says:

      Absolutely. Part of being a good leader is knowing that you also need to pass the baton to the next generation. You can still be act as counselor, you can still help raise funds but holding on to power til your last breath is not beneficial to democracy.

    • Kim says:

      Yeah I’m not going to feel bad for Nancy when she gets shoved out next year after clinging on to power for too long. Nor will I feel bad when it happens to Chuck. They should be careful what they wish for because they basically just plotted their own demise.

  10. pottymouth pup says:

    The right thing to do would have been to do this BEFORE the primaries and to have done succession planning for Harris and groom a younger, effective and popular governor for her as a running mate. This whole situation was poorly handled by the old brigade. They should have been actively grooming GenX and Millenials to take over the party over the past few years. I had thought Pelosi was doing this with Jeffries and that the DNC had the sense to do this for the party itself.

    • blueberry says:

      I mean, Harris is gen X and so are most of the VP names being floated. I actually think the late change might work out in a weird way. First, primaries are brutal. We would have had a year of democrats attacking her and each other. Yes, that’s part of the process, but we aren’t living in the ideal timeline here. Second, Trump now has to pivot and he’s not good at that. He’s gonna keep going after Biden (forgetting who he’s even running against) and is now himself the old guy. This gives them less space to come up with some faux conspiracy to pin on her. Nobody who was planning on voting for Trump is going to switch, but I do think she will energize more uncommitteds to vote.

      • Chaine says:

        @blueberry i think you have a point there. he is not going to be able to pivot adeptly. he is still bringing up hillary clinton for goodness sakes.

      • Becks1 says:

        Also, I think this has been so sudden and shocking that the Dems are rallying around Harris in a way we can be slow to do. I know this wasn’t some long term strategy at play here – but this may end up being better than a long drawn out primary with lots of mud being thrown – Harris has a war chest that keeps growing (I saw on X that its 80 million now in the last 24 hours, but I saw somewhere else that had it at 94 million, either way its a lot of money), Dems are terrified of a Trump victory so they are ALL IN with Harris……

        I don’t know. I am completely pivoting from where I was when i first heard Biden was stepping down, but i’m starting to think this may end up working out and overall it could end up being a good thing (the suddenness of it.)

    • Feeshalori says:

      Yes to @Portsmouth 1000 times. I have been saying all along that President Biden should have gone into office knowing that he would be a one term president only and started planning four years ago at the outset for an eligible candidate to succeed him. The manner of his being ejected from his reelection bid by his own party is distasteful and disrespectful to a sitting president. This is why this should have been done long ago with a more careful plan of action with a younger generation. I hope this changeover to Kamala Harris isn’t coming too late in the game, and I hope the support for her will continue throughout these months into the election for a bombshell win. Is there a patron saint of politics we can all burn offerings to?

    • bisynaptic says:

      🎯

  11. Flamingo says:

    Democrats are always shooting themselves in the foot. I will never understand it.

    Trump is going to win again now. And how unfair it is to Kamala to have to mount a campaign with 106 days to the November 5 election. I will vote for her and just hope for the best.

    But realistically, get ready for another chaotic 4 years and your rights as women to be stripped away. Under his eye and all that.

    • Seraphina says:

      Yesterday I would have agreed with that statement but watching the energy mounting and the excitement of fresh faces may be just what this race needed (and what the Dems needed). This may woo the younger voters who were not happy with Biden. It may also help woo those who lost steam and interest with the Democrats.
      It’s also a plus that the republicans were caught completely unprepared for this turn of events. They have no clue who the final candidates will be until next month – that leaves them two months and those two months may be enough pressure to make them jeopardize themselves. Nothing surprises me at this point.

      • Becks1 says:

        I will say that a year ago, 6 months ago, my mom was not on board with VP Harris. My mom is a smart woman and a democrat and but somehow I think she gets some right wing headlines in her social media (she’ll parrot DM talking points to me about Meghan Markle for example) and she had similar anti-Harris talking points.

        I was talking to her Saturday and she thought Biden should step down and she is 100% for Harris.

        I know that’s purely anecdotal and its a sample size of one, but it makes me feel a little bit better.

      • Feeshalori says:

        Becks1, I’m probably around your mom‘s age and I totally agree with her. And I’m a Republican of the old party, not this newer travesty that’s been in existence now. Kamala definitely has my vote, so much hangs in the balance.

      • Jais says:

        Okay, I’m liking that anecdote @becks1. A few weeks back, my mom who is a ww democrat voter but married to my dad, the ultimate Reagan republican, said she wished Biden would drop out. And I said okay, but who would run in his place? And she said “why not Kamala Harris? I like her” Now my mom is a democrat more bc she’s from the Deep South and her mom was one before the whole racist southern strategy took place. So I think she has more in common with republicans sometimes and yet she’s all in on Harris. She didn’t like Hillary but she really likes Harris. Just another anecdote to add. Idk, I actually started crying today when I thought about the possibility that she will win in November.

    • MsIam says:

      Trump is not going to win. He’s his own worst enemy. An unmotivated electorate is the Democrats worst enemy and they know that. They need to keep hammering on Project 2025, abortion AND birth control rights, etc.

    • Kate says:

      I agree with @flamingo and hope @seraphina is right. The way NOBODY in the Republican Party said a word about Mitch McConnell’s fitness to serve after his live on air mini seizure but democrats turned tail leaking doubts to the press left and right after Biden’s foggy debate performance is infuriating. What’s even more infuriating is independent voters who aren’t magats yet still need to be perfectly catered to bc they can’t just pay attention to what’s going on. Anyway, go Harris and whoever she picks as a running mate. I sure hope all these polls were right and this wasn’t a colossal mistake.

    • Kitten says:

      Comments like this are strange, especially coming from the Vote Blue No Matter Who crowd. Harris will be the nominee because the polls did not agree with you. Implying she can’t win is insulting, defeatist, and downright harmful to the Democratic party.

    • Kitten says:

      Comments like this are strange, especially coming from the Vote Blue No Matter Who crowd. Harris will be the nominee because the polls did not agree with you. Saying she can’t win is insulting, defeatist, and harmful to the Democratic party.

    • Tursitops says:

      Dozens of successful democracies regularly have election cycles that are 60 days or less. Some of them have mandatory retirement at all judicial levels. Mandatory retirement applies to some legislators, too, because it’s an inescapable fact that a ninety-year-old does not have the same constitution as someone half that age.

      This isn’t the time for wholesale change, but there is a reason that the median age of world leaders is 62 years.

    • bisynaptic says:

      If Trump wins, it won’t be just four yers.

  12. Seraphina says:

    Politics is a dirty business – there is truth behind this statement. I don’t think it was only NP and big donors. The entire world is watching this election and the candidates. I keep hearing leaders are worried what will happen with a Trump win. We don’t know what is being said behind closed doors or what deals are being made. What I do believe is that the Dems realized they needed to play ball. I hope they get it straight because A LOT hangs in the balance. I also think President Biden is too good a man to play dirty. He is more a stateman than any other politician we have seen in a while. I also think he knew he had to step down in order to re-write the play book. Republican strategists are scrambling right now. They knew their opponents and now they don’t. Kamala will take no prisoners, this will be a different race with her at the helm.

  13. Veronica S. says:

    The only grace I’m giving to Pelosi is that I think she’s actually quite scared, perhaps rightfully so – remember, her husband was a victim of political violence, and she’s been the target of a lot of nasty rhetoric. But the time for this kind of chaos was a year ago, not four months before one of the most pivotal elections in American history. Let’s hope the gamble works out.

    • Ula1010 says:

      She was also a target on Jan 6th. She should have legitimate fears if Trump wins.

      • Big Kahuna says:

        I bet she DOES have legit fears about Trump winning, which is probably why she compelled Biden to step down in the first place.
        Biden was NOT going to win this election, y’all. Internal polling showed Biden losing.

        I cannot stand Pelosi, I think she’s an establishment crocodile who in no way represents the future of the Democratic Party and I wish she would retire, already. But she was correct to get Biden to step down

  14. Coco Bean says:

    I wept a bit yesterday when I saw the news, thinking we had just lost it. I’ve been very pissed how Dems have been f’ing this up, we should’ve been behind Biden all the way. I was proud to be Ridin with Biden.

    But, I am pleased to see everyone endorsing Harris and that the infighting seems to be over. Newsom and Buttigieg both endorsed her, the money that was raised yesterday, Nicki Hayley’s former PAC endorsed Kamala, my FB and IG feeds were blowing up with excitement…I am quickly changing my mind that this might’ve been the right call. Biden made a huge sacrifice and placed the good of the country ahead of himself and what he wanted. Shows what an amazing president he is and that he got everyone to back Harris.

    We have a real problem in our country when people are still voting for Trump even after his four long years as President, his Supreme Court, Project 2025. I think Dems got spooked and Biden had a bad few weeks where nothing was going his way between the debate, news conference, and Covid. The media, donors, and those already worried in our party jumped on it. I’ll never know if he could’ve beaten Trump again but the odds were going to be tough with all the handwringing, which is partially our own fault. I’m not sure whether to despise or thank Pelosi, time will tell.

  15. Alex Can says:

    It’s time to move forward, rancour and resentment will hamper the campaign that lays ahead. Too much is at stake. The party needs to be united and whatever happened is now irrelevant.

    • Seraphina says:

      THIS!

    • Tursitops says:

      This. It’s a regrettable but unavoidable situation. The strident focus on Biden’s record of service and sacrifices is missing the fact that many, many voters were calling for and supporting him stepping down. That drumbeat was going two years ago; it merely became louder recently.

      Constituents could see the writing on the wall well before party leaders did. It’s no use sticking fingers in ears and pretending that all would be well, and voters would ignore clear signs of trouble.

      Hope is not a plan.

      • Ula1010 says:

        I agree with this. If Biden stayed in the race, he could easily be remembered as a stubborn old white man who refused to hand over power and was willing to risk democracy to stay in the White House. That’s what a lot of people are now saying about RBG.

        The DNC needs a major overhaul. They’ve need to be better about cultivating younger talent.

  16. Anonymous says:

    “I feel strongly that Biden made his withdrawal conditional on Democrats quickly getting behind VP Harris.” I do too. I feel like his conditions for agreeing to step aside were “Harris is the nominee and everyone falls in line.” I can’t see him stepping down without a solid plan in place. Leaving it open would be chaos.

    I feel for him. He has had a lifetime of public service, had to deal with a pandemic and utter catastrophe of a previous administration, and he managed to right the ship and accomplish a lot. No one wants to go out on someone else’s terms, but I hope ultimately it was his decision, and it’s a good one for the country, and him personally. I hope he has many remaining years of happiness and health with his family.

  17. Sophie says:

    I feel really sad and heartbroken for Biden, a good man who did not deserve this.

  18. LisaT says:

    Biden has served the country well and history will show that. Nancy Pelosi played the heavy here. But the Democrats should have learned this lesson already with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Diane Finestein. The Democrats problem is developing the next generation leaders and the stepping aside before it is too lead to keep the advantage.

  19. og bella says:

    Listen. I am voting Dem no matter who is on the ticket. That said, once again, the Dems screwed up all around…per usual.

    Biden was supposed to be a one-term president, to get us over the clusterf *k that was 2016-2020. They were supposed to be shining the light on Kamala. They did not. They were supposed to push her front and center to be ready to run for Pres in 2024. They just didn’t.

    Biden is not just old; he is unfit to hold office. I don’t know why some people are refusing to acknowledge this. If he were my father, I would have taken his car keys away about 2 years ago. I would have voted for him again, but my goodness, man, how are people ignoring his mental and physical state?

    So, again, Dems messed up by waiting and hoping that things would be okay. I don’t think that Kamala is held in high regard by many people, but I have faith that Black vote, especially the women, will carry us to sanity.

    Tinfoil hat theory is that something happened with his health that isn’t being disclosed, be it mental of physical.

    I like Biden. He’s done a lot for this country. He shouldn’t have had to go out this way, but I put that on the DNC. They just don’t have game and can’t get out of their own way.

    • Mayp says:

      @OG bella, I agree with most of what you have said. However, I think that we arrived in this mess precisely because Biden did not stick to his promise of being a one-term President.

      • Feeshalori says:

        I agree with both of you, Biden should have stuck to the game plan of a one-term presidency so we wouldn’t have this debacle on our hands. Now that the inevitable is here, let’s hope this works to Kamala’s advantage.

      • Ula1010 says:

        Obama shared his shine with Biden. Biden never would have been president without him. All of Biden’s good qualities were emphasized and their caring relationship was highlighted.

        Biden hasn’t done much of anything for Kamala. I expected tptb to push her forward and that never happened. I’d love to know why this is.

    • Flowerlake says:

      It has advantages too.

      The Republicans used all their energy to take down Biden in the eyes of the world. All that effort is now wasted and now all eyes are on the new likely candidate. Now they will have only a few months to do the same to Harris.

      Also, I don’t know why there is always such a defeatist vibe amongst some liberals. If you want the spotlight on her, then maybe start shining it on her yourself to the best of your ability. If more of us did that even if we only have like 100 followers and just visit a few website like this one, we can accomplish a lot.

  20. jellitate says:

    I don’t know anything about political campaigning but I know what I would have liked to see. The second those articles started popping up, stay behind Biden, put out some ads/commercials showing that he can answer questions just fine thank you and just how much more political knowledge he has in his pinky than tRump and getting all the heavy hitters listed above to put out something positive about him moving forward showing solidarity…. then maybe this wouldn’t be such a *hitshow. If you knew how much I’ve been screaming into my phone that these idiots are allowing the media to control the narrative and for them to grow a pair and stand up together for once!!! I can’t sleep, I feel sick, I have a headache and we are already discussing moving out if the country in about 2-3 years.

    • blueberry says:

      “showing that he can answer questions just fine thank you”

      They tried. They put him on unedited interviews. He did *not* spark confidence. This has been an ongoing problem and I can only imagine what’s been going on behind closed doors getting people convinced to do something about it. The aides who work with him on the daily had to have been alarmed.

    • StarWonderful says:

      Certain Dems went along with the right-wing media and drove down Biden’s poll numbers. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m aghast at the phony praise of Biden by those still holding their blood-drenched daggers behind their back. Disgusting. VP Harris’ candidacy is not a done deal until after the open convention.

  21. TN Democrat says:

    The country desperately needs term limits and new leadership in both the DNC and RNC. The hard questions should have been asked about Biden before the primaries and he shouldn’t have been allowed to run. Orchestrating a weeks long media/big donor coup to invalidate every Biden vote in the primaries and give the magats soundbites without having a clear path forward shows/allowing weeks of chaos before the convention demonstrate how incompetent the democratic leadership really is. Pelosi has dragged the party down for years and needs retired since she won’t retire.

  22. Maxine Branch says:

    Nancy Pelosi is the same age as Biden and should relinquish her seat to the next generation of leaders. Her time to go is now. George Clooney will forever be on my “hit” list. His wife served on the war tribunal charging Israel with war crimes and did not receive support from the Biden/Harris administration she was rebuked. Therefore, he was pissed even coming out the gate after that Biden Fundraiser he and Julia Roberts hosted calling for Biden to step down and never Kamala Harris.

    The Democrats behavior towards Biden was disheartening. I agree, we need younger capable leadership but to behave in the manner they did when they knew Biden’s age when he ran in 2020 was an abomination. I will work hard canvassing to support Vice President Harris but I will never forget the treachery President Biden was subjected to within his own party. I also noticed Michelle Obama was MIA for Biden, she traveled along with Oprah and Clooney’s wife on a mission to save girls who were kidnapped in a country in Africa prior to Clooney’s wife heading the litigation at The Hague against Isarel for war crimes.

    I will be side eyeing the Obama’s for a long time.

  23. Jacques says:

    President Biden was in decline and it was painful to watch. He was once so vibrant and effusive, and now he just isn’t operating at the same level. I personally don’t believe more rest would have helped Joe regain his full cognition. Joe is dealing with something more insidious, and it is so sad to see. He is a great man with an incredible heart and spirit and he saved our democracy. He deserves our utmost respect and gratitude.

    Kamala Harris has the potential to be our next President. A Woman!!!!!!!!! She is a force and I want to see her reduce Trump to a puddle of orange Jello. There is far too much at stake and we absolutely need to win this election at all costs. Our way of life depends on it.

    Encourage people to vote. Join local campaigns. Defeat the diaper-eared Don.!!!

    • Mayp says:

      👏👏👏

    • Kitikonti says:

      It was pretty obvious that Biden was suffering from the onset of “something”. It’s been driving me insane all year to see people deny the decline. I’ve dealt with close family dying from Parkinson & Joe definitely dealing with something similar. He was never gonna last until November, too much stress and lack of sleep would have accelerated his condition. So glad that he’s now out and I really hope you get a Madam President in November!

      Edit – much respect for all Biden has achieved & may he enjoy many years with Jill and his family.

  24. Becks1 says:

    Well, did any of the internal polling numbers show Harris winning? That’s the key for me with how I regard Pelosi et al with this mess – if they had numbers that showed Biden losing Pennsylvania, for example, but Harris winning it, then I can be more on board with the strategy here. But if the numbers show that Trump is a lock for PA, WI, OH, MI no matter what Dem is on the ticket – then all this did was piss off a lot of party loyalists.

    I was devastated when I saw the announcement last night, but I do feel like the everyday Dems in my life are rallying around Harris in a resounding way and that does help me feel a little better about this. Maybe we can still pull this off. We have to, right?

    I swear to god if the next episode of Pod Save America isn’t about what a strong candidate Harris is……..

    • TigerMcQueen says:

      The way this was handled has done a lot to damage the party. I’m thrilled to see the quick coalescence of support for Harris among most pols and the overwhelming grass roots support for her. But that said, memories are long and these past three weeks will not be forgotten by a lot of people.

    • Truthiness says:

      The Pod Save guys have already been very enthused and immediately on the Kamala ticket. I truly wonder what background info we’re missing because Ben Rhodes, who STILL works with Obama was tweeting his Kamala enthusiasm/Biden is a selfless hero as soon as it dropped. He’s normally foreign affairs and speechwriting and he doesn’t social media much.

      • Becks1 says:

        I like Ben more than the other ones, they’re just so…..bro-like, lol. But to be honest I haven’t listened to it in years, I forget why I stopped….there were a few sexist pods that drove me crazy. And they did an interview with HRC that was a huge turn off for me, where Jon Lovett kept talking down to her. That was ages ago though.

        Anyway good to hear they are immediately rallying to Harris.

    • Big Kahuna says:

      Internal polling sure did show Biden losing, that’s for sure. And so if internal polling showed Biden losing, then how can you think that him stepping down was a bad idea?

      • Becks1 says:

        because if internal polling had both of them losing, then him stepping down just makes this messy and ugly and also pointless.

        But if internal polling has Kamala winning or a stronger chance of her winning, then his stepping down isn’t pointless.

    • Sunny says:

      Lovett used to work for her and I think has some inadequacy issues from him time there. He is forever telling stories of how brilliant she is and how dumb he felt in compassion and how she never found him funny(I think that is the sting).

      They, on the whole have been very pro Harris for a while now not so much as the nominee because those weren’t the discussion but praising her for being willing to talk on Palestine, abortion, and effectively attacking Trump. Biden has been weak on abortion historically because of his personal views until late and it is a huge issue to the base.

      One thing I will say to defend the pod bros is that post debate they told a story of being at a recent fundraising event with Biden in the summer. They were tactful about it but they said he was incredibly off. They chocked it up to coming off an international summit and being exhausted but it was bad. After lhe debate, the feeling was that the bad nights were more than on occasions. It could be the debate worried dem insiders who may have ignored one or two things they’d seen to full on comcern

  25. Twin Falls says:

    “President Biden’s last act as a presidential candidate was to ensure that the party quickly coalesced behind Kamala Harris.“ Agree, it was too well orchestrated after so many weeks of chaos to be coincidence of agreement so quickly.

    Prior to Biden getting the nomination I had concerns about his ability to go another four years but I was not part of the call to replace him. Without one hundred percent unity behind Harris (I am 100 percent behind Harris) and getting her nominated before August 7th, Ohio is up in the air and lawsuits to create chaos will follow.

    People are saying that election law is “firmly decided” by a 1980 SCOTUS decision but if the current SCOTUS has taught us anything, it’s that they are not unwilling to overturn decades of precedent if it suits their political purposes…and electing Donald Trump does.

    • Big Kahuna says:

      Becks1, How can the numbers show, at this point, that Trump would win certain swing states, “regardless of which Dem is on the ticket”?? How can you gauge how well Trump would do against someone when we don’t even know who that someone IS, yet??

      • Becks1 says:

        Because I’m assuming they were running polls with a Harris vs. Trump scenario.

  26. Malcolm says:

    “Et tu, Brute?”

  27. JustStop says:

    Interesting that Politico frames this with Nancy Pelosi as the villain. She has influence, but no hard power now, but somehow she was leading the charge to dump Biden? I don’t doubt that she gave her opinion clearly when asked, but she has no power to enforce the hard way, so it sounds like a misogynist’s dream–blame the evil woman.

    • MsIam says:

      Nancy gave the ok for the big donors to go against Biden. Supposedly so did Obama. Roland Martin claims that George Clooney told Obama about the NYT op-ed and got his ok before it dropped.

      • Truthiness says:

        The idea that billionaires are taking commands from an 84 year old ex-Speaker is a pretty pretty tall order. Billionaires don’t have to do squat.

        Jeffrey Katzenburg was organizing/aligning the big money donors and he was saying the donors were balking after the debate.

  28. Tina E says:

    I’m sorry but Biden was losing in all swing state polling BEFORE the debate, so blame his poll numbers on the debate and subsequent media frenzy is blatantly false. I think that’s the moment when they realized they were going to get worse, and certainly had no hope of improvement.

  29. Rnot says:

    It’s hard to watch age erode ability, but it’s inevitable for everyone who’s lucky enough to grow old. Many grandparents feel betrayed when the kids take the car keys away. It’s not disloyal, it’s tough love. It’s negligent to let grandpa crash the car (or the country) just to spare his pride. Democrats tried to do it privately but he refused to hear it. So the private pressure increased and he publicly doubled down. That’s why this dragged out for so long and leaked out everywhere. It’s sad that the timing worked out the way that it has, hopefully Harris wins in a landslide and he’s remembered like Washington rather than Ginsberg.

  30. Localady says:

    🗳️

  31. Eurydice says:

    The problems started way before the debate. I can’t forget that for the the first half of the primary season the Democrats were desperate to find any candidate except Biden. Once Biden was elected, his poll numbers crashed right after the Afghanistan pull-out and never recovered. So, for almost 3 years of Biden’s term he’s had a net disapproval rating averaging -15%. The debate just brought him to -17%. I don’t understand who’s been in charge of communications in the WH and why they haven’t been able to do a better job of highlighting Biden’s subsequent achievements. He’s had a cast of thousands working for him and a nation-wide network of Democrats and all they’ve been able to talk about is Trump or how Biden isn’t too old.

    I don’t think Biden has ever had the full-throated support of the Democratic party, which is why we only see fulsome compliments from Obama now that Biden has stepped down. I think the party planned on Biden being a one-term president and on Trump going to jail – the plan unraveled and they panicked.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Eurydice, I think this is a good explanation. We have to include the media, however, because they’ve never really given Biden credit for everything he accomplished. That’s a problem with the far-right owners and CEO’s of so many of the news organizations. It makes me think of the UK and how the media there convinced people to vote for Brexit. And Tories. Look where the UK is now because of that.

  32. Laura D says:

    As a Brit watching from afar I do wonder if Nancy went in hard because it would appear to many that President Biden went back on his word? When he campaigned in 2020 he did so as the “transitional candidate” and led most people to believe he was only going to serve for one term and pave the way for a successor.

    I’m sure the American Celebitchies will put me right but, I have to admit I was surprised when he put himself forward to serve a second term. If he had stuck to his original decision of 2020 then he could have stepped down with good grace and glowing accolades. He would never had done “that” debate and the rest of the world would never have known how frail he could appear in highly tense situations.

    As an outsider President Biden appears to have been a good president for America but, “that” debate was frightening. When Trump calmly said “I don’t think even he [Biden] knows what he’s talking about” it made me fear for the free world. In that brief moment it was chilling to see the sociopath convincingly show pity on a man who used to be a fierce debater.

    I don’t know enough about American politics to say who I think should be the Democrats choice to go up against Trump. However, I do know that in-fighting and slating the elders of the party (like Pelosi and Obama) isn’t the way to do it. In the UK the Labour party were annihilated at the ballot box in 2019 because the party couldn’t come together. If the Democrats don’t want to go the same way they should bury their differences and start working on who they believe should be the next president. Then when they’ve decided on who it should be, they should start canvassing and door knocking as hard as they can. To do anything-else is to hand the presidency over to Trump who will then (I believe) make changes to insure it will become a life time position – not only for him but, also for his grifting family.

    • Eurydice says:

      I can’t speak for Pelosi, but you’re right that Biden did say he was going to be transitional. Having watched Biden’s presidential ambitions over the years, I wasn’t surprised that he’d want another go, but I wasn’t so sure about his rationale that he wanted “to finish the job.” What job was that, exactly? A second term? Or some other specific goal? It wasn’t clear.

      • Saucy&Sassy says:

        Eurydice, I thought is was because of the Republicans in the House for the last two years that have been chaos creators and obstructionists. There evidently was a few things he wanted to start or finish. That’s just my thought.

        I kind of wonder if he would have stepped down in a year or two if reelected so that Kamala would step in as President. He might not have been confident that the Party would get behind her.

    • tealily says:

      I don’t think most people anticipated that Trump would be running again in 2024. If he wasn’t running, I think it’s far more likely that Biden would have chosen not to seek reelection sooner. The bickering and infighting was not a good look for Dems, but it seems that we have moved swiftly passed it and everyone is getting on board with the Harris campaign fairly enthusiastically! I think it’s the shift in momentum we needed! She’s already locked up a lot of delegates. I heard conjecture that she should have the rest by Wednesday.

  33. NikkiK says:

    This was not about a bad debate performance. The bad debate performance was just the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

    The fact that this election is even close shows that Biden’s team have done a shit job both messaging about his successes to the public and on his re-election campaign.

    With a new nominee there’s a chance to build on Biden’s successes and then talk about a path forward for this country.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      NikkiK, it will depend on what the media reports. They’ve been campaigning for Trump up to this point, so who knows?

  34. tealily says:

    Listen, I was in camp until yesterday that a change in ticket this late in the game was incredibly risky, but the truth is that a LOT of the country was holding their nose and voting for Biden even back in 2020. He didn’t even really want run then, but he absolutely was the stabilizing force that dragged us out of the Trump era and back to reality. He probably should have stepped down sooner, but I think he was going for it out of a sense of duty to the idea that he was the “only” person who could unite the country and defeat Trump. A lot has changed since 2020 though.

    In retrospect, I think this is probably the best way this could have unfolded. The RNC convention is over. They spent the whole week focused on bragging about their terrible VP pick and now have less of an opportunity to go after the actual Dem candidate. The Dems will dominate the news cycle through late August with this change, then the delegate vote, then their own convention. The Republicans will continue to lash out and make asses of themselves trying to pull attention, which will only turn more voters off. I think this is really good!!

  35. Bird says:

    Biden did the right thing by stepping down. The republicans are up in arms over it and that speaks volumes. They knew he was the weakest potential candidate and all their messaging has been blown. I heard rumors last week (from people who are very active in politics) that Biden was going to step down after the RNC which – if intentional – was a brilliant stroke. Regardless, his stepping down was the right thing to do and his legacy will most likely be that he was one of the best presidents ever.

  36. Tanisha says:

    Nancy has always been an issue and I am sad no one could see it before now. Brutus is definitely a good epithet. I also agree that the Dems are constantly reacting instead of being strategic. I am so upset for Biden. I really am despite my knowing he more than likely would have lost this election. It is just how they went about it. This should have been determined this time last year, not 106 days before election.

  37. CherBear says:

    Biden was tone deaf to the Arab Americans over sending weapons to Israel. His support slipped from 59% to 18%. That’s was a huge part of his declining numbers – especially in the swing states. I don’t believe this was a hostile move to have Biden step down. He is also, honestly deeply declining and it pains me to see that he was exposed to showing that in public.

  38. Natalie_K says:

    We cannot watch Republicans advance their agenda, ask, “How do they do it so well,” determine that the answer is, “because they make the hard calls and prioritize the agenda over the personnel every time,” and then, when the stakes have never been higher than they are in this election, sacrifice the agenda for a person.

    I like Joe Biden. I do. He’s given so much of himself to America and he’s lost so much along the way. But his feelings are not a higher priority than this election. They just can’t be.

    If there’s blame to be laid, it’s at the feet of the DNC who needed to be pushing younger politicians into higher profiles years ago. They should have started developing a contingency ’24 election plan that did not involve Biden at the top of the ticket in February of 2021 and then pushing the key players out into the national/international stage.

    Let’s let the Republicans have a turn at putting a person above their agenda this time and let’s win this thing. Let’s fucking go. There is work to be done.

    • Big Kahuna says:

      I wholeheartedly agree. And thank goodness Biden stepped down. The notion that people should have to vote for a candidate they don’t feel good about, as opposed to giving them a candidate they CAN feel good about, was bananas!
      And simply saying “well he’s not Trump.” isn’t enough!!! A candidate’s main quality cannot simply be NOT being the other candidate.

    • Jacques says:

      You are exactly right – we need to rally and do it NOW. People need to get involved. Go work at a polling location, go out and encourage people to vote. I have witnessed repeatedly conservative citizens boycotting companies with great success. I’m seeing a LOT of anger concerning democrats- focus that anger on the people/companies supporting Trump. I’m writing letters and doing research on starting a petition. There is excitement now, and we need to harness that energy to propel Kamala to victory.

      And Project 2025??? Clarence Thomas??? This is critical. We all need to get involved.

  39. Lisa says:

    Lost all respect for her and the party. Im switching to independent now. I’ll vote blue this time but this is and was so stupid.

  40. Diamond Rottweiler says:

    I’m thinking the last minute change may end up being a blessing the Dems didn’t predict or really earn—that is, Grampa Racist and the GOP machine have an exceedingly short runway now to do the kind of effective smear campaign they usually do, most especially on women. The misogynoir against Harris will no doubt be thick and relentless (and enraging and stomach churning). But they simply don’t have the time to burn it into the public consciousness as they did with Hillary and with Joe. So maybe we are accidentally lucky in this regard. But yeah, this was 💯 a ratfuck, though to my mind it was driven by the “liberal” mainstream media—who hated Biden and his team because they refused to play the access game. We watched journalists make the news they wanted to report around all this. If anyone is around to examine our history in future, the corporate media hunger for clicks is likely going to lead our “fall of Rome” chapter. Between “But her emails!,” all they’ve done to relentlessly normalize Grampa Racist’s fascist batshittery, and now this, I’ve lost all respect for 99% of the media.

  41. Meredith says:

    Per Heather Cox Richardson: Biden had a complete physical including neurological workup Feb. 2024 which is apparently accessible in full online. There was no evidence of Parkinson’s, dementia, or any other neurological/cognitive condition other than some minor neuropathy in his feet. The media, of course, never headlined this. You can say all you want about how politics is a dirty business (but, apparently one we can’t do without) and ‘thank you for your service’ while twisting the knife, and I’ll still say that this was something that Trump&Co would have been very comfortable orchestrating to get rid of one of their own that they wanted gone. I’ve lost a lot of respect for some Party ‘elites’, certainly the media, and even some formerly beloved Substack writers who really just wanted, like many people, a change. Too few clicks, not enough bounce … and we get the kind of civilization and culture that we create.

  42. Mina_Esq says:

    They should have trusted that he’d do what’s best for the country. They didn’t need to knife him in the back. Shame on all of them. Even in his departure, he still had the good sense to give them a plan when they didn’t have one. As an aside, I love that everyone is invoking and even comparing Biden to President Washington. That must be really painful to Trump. Washington is as OG as you get lol

  43. wolfmamma says:

    I totally agree with you Kaiser. I appreciate your points.
    I’ve been a Dem all of my life and I’ve never been as disgusted and ashamed of them as I am now, including Pelosi and Obama. ( The latter was a hard pill to swallow – Pelosi may be Brutus but Obama is Judas). Ugh
    The future if this country is at stake so I will
    Vote… blue .. but it’s not with any kind of pride at all.

    • kirk says:

      Early this morning I would say I also agree with Kaiser. But after seeing the way this all came together, I have a completely different take now. I don’t think Biden ever “made his withdrawal conditional on Democrats quickly getting behind VP Harris.” Honestly, I think Biden surprised everybody by coming out swinging for Kamala without any prior discussion of it whatsoever, while working with key people in the background to line up support. Why would he trust anyone who is stabbing him, publicly or privately? So when Pelosi finally figured out the momentum this morning, and that Politico had outed her as having her bloody fingerprints on the knife, she hustled her little kitten heels over to a megaphone to announce her Kamala support. The bros are slower.

  44. AC says:

    I didn’t watch the debate because no matter what they did , I was no way going to vote for a convicted felon/rapist/pedophile who plans for he and his family to be dictators for life. A variety of people I know would have no matter voted Biden. Trump hasn’t grown his base. The Dems were just too unnecessarily scared on 1 measly debate. Haven’t they learned all these years that the polls this early on mean absolutely nothing! They finally are advertising Biden’s amazing accomplishments to this country – when they should have done that a long time ago!

  45. bisynaptic says:

    #KamalaHarrisForPresident

  46. Newt says:

    When Biden announced he was dropping his bid, I cried. Sobbed. I felt wrecked for him. For his family. He’s a good, decent, kind man. Not a perfect man, but a humble man who cared about people and his country. Yes, he’s declining physically. Possibly mentally too. But he deserved better.

    I got in my car and went and got some ice cream and sat in my car had ice cream in his honor since he’s always eating ice cream and has said he eats it often. I actually do too. A carry over from my mom who I lost last year from Parkinson’s Disease. We would go and get ice cream and sit in the car and eat it together. We’d done this since I was a child.

    Thank you Mr. President. Go enjoy your retirement and eat ALL the ice cream, all the time. You certainly deserve it! ❤️

    PS
    The physical symptoms Biden presents remind me a lot of my mom pre-diagnosis. The kind of blank/flat face. The shuffled walk/movement. Once she had her meds on board, she was a different person. I’m sure they’ve tested for PD, but it’s really jarring seeing him and remembering my mom before she was diagnosed.

  47. Is that so? says:

    “ President Biden’s last act as a presidential candidate was to ensure that the party quickly coalesced behind Kamala Harris.”

    This I believe.

    We/I owe that man.

    He was wrong on Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill, but even then I thought his intentions was good (but wrong) but he did good work before and after.

  48. Karen says:

    Biden is firmly pro-worker, pro-taxing the wealthy and corporations and pro-regulatory control vs big business. Pelosi is pro-money and pro-power for herself, her campaign and her fellow democrat’s campaigns. She has wealthy people tell her that they didn’t like Biden’s policies that would cost them money and she expertly moved to knife him in the back. She only failed in getting Harris off of the ticket as well.