Time to go Joe: Democrats show their ruthless side

Kamala Harris shows off her campaigning skills in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Thursday. Picture: AFP

One thing we’ve learned over the years is that Washington Democrats are ruthless when threatened by a loss of power. You almost have to admire their cold-blooded calculation.

Joe Biden is now learning this harsh lesson as the Democratic Party-media complex organises to, er, persuade him to withdraw from the presidential race.

That effort, which began after Biden’s failed debate on June 27, is now in full orchestrated gale. The President hasn’t taken the hint to drop out from the withdrawal calls by the media and congress’s backbenchers, so now the big names are letting it be known they too want Joe to go.

The calls for Biden to step aside halted for a few days after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. But they’re picking up as the GOP puts on a show of unity at its Milwaukee convention this week. The polls are also turning against Biden, with some swing state surveys moving toward Trump outside the margin of error.

So the backstage coup accelerates. First the press learns, somehow, that Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democrat leader, and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer have visited Biden to deliver the news that he could cost Democrats control of Congress. Neither man denies it when asked.

The press also learns that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a master of political martial arts, delivered the same message to . Biden. On Thursday came word, again leaked to the press, that Barack Obama is likewise concerned about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump. Et tu, Barack?

Biden may continue to hold out, and he still commands the delegates to win the nomination at the August convention or before that in a mooted virtual vote. But the party message to the President is: You’re on a path to lose; you’ll take down the House and Senate too; your legacy will be ruined and, by the way, we’ll never forgive you.

Biden is justified in resenting this brutal turn, since these same Democrats were complicit in his decision to run for a second term. They thought he was a useful figurehead as long as they thought he could win again. Only Dean Phillips, the Minnesota Congressman, was brave enough to tell the truth about Biden’s infirmity and run against him. The rest all covered for Biden’s cognitive decline until the debate made that impossible.

Axios now reports that Biden could make the decision to withdraw as early as this weekend. Mark that story down as another form of pressure on Biden to stop being so stubborn. If this keeps up, the furniture moving vans might show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the Bidens still living there.

Our view has long been that Biden shouldn’t run again because he is no longer up to the rigours of the job. There’s little chance he would make it through another four years in office. In that sense, withdrawing now and letting Vice-President Kamala Harris compete for the job is truth in advertising. It’s more honest for Harris to run for president now in her own right rather than inherit the job in a year or two when Biden resigns.

So much the better if Harris must compete with one or more others for the job at an open convention or some mini-primary. She’ll have to show if she’s better than she was as a candidate in 2019. That could be too much uncertainty for Democrats to tolerate, and they may hesitate to jump over a black woman. But even Harris does better than Biden in the polls against Trump.

As for the Republicans, a Biden withdrawal will mean a harder race. Democrats will rally around Harris or some other nominee, and so will the press. Trump won’t be able to win almost by default. Democrats will get a better standard bearer for their record in office, and if they still lose they won’t have Biden’s infirmity as an excuse.