In the lead-up to Thursday night’s debate, the conventional wisdom was that Biden had to convince everyone – party bosses and influential pundits especially – that he wasn’t too old and addled to be the Democrat nominee again.
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Biden more than bombed, and there are essentially unanimous calls among Democrats for the party to replace him as the nominee. The undeniable star of the CNN spin room has been California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s in Atlanta as a Biden surrogate and who’s now looking mighty attractive to Democrats as a replacement. He’s young (ish), handsome (ish), has better poll numbers than Kamala Harris, and has national name recognition because of his constant trolling of Republican officeholders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. He also has a superhuman ability to gaslight and completely misstate the truth.
Speaking of Kamala, any time I have predicted that Gavin Newsom will be the Democrats’ 2024 nominee, I’ve been told that won’t happen for a few reasons, one of them being that there’s no way Democrats can just shove a black woman aside for a cis, rich* white man. However, where was Kamala on Thursday night? She wasn’t even in Atlanta. She was at home in Los Angeles when she appeared on post-debate coverage with Anderson Cooper. But when Joe Biden was in Los Angeles, Kamala’s new hometown, a few weeks ago for the largest fundraiser in Democrat party history, where was Kamala? She wasn’t at the fundraiser and wasn’t in Los Angeles.
Do you see a pattern?
And judging by an opinion piece posted by the Sacramento Bee in the hour after the debate ended, at least some Democrats are not bothered by Newsom’s identity as a cisgender white man. In the column, headlined “It’s time: The Democrats must replace Joe Biden with California Gov. Gavin Newsom,” the author argues (emphasis mine):
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It could be a Hail Mary play for the ages, bringing Newsom in to save the day like a handsome Hollywood leading man in a Sorkinesque script. He could rally delegates and fill them with enthusiasm. It would harken to a sense of normalcy in our country — even if it’s a rich, white, cis sense of normalcy.
It’s clear the Republican Party is determined to ride its orange horse all the way to The White House, but he remains a threat to democracy today just the same as he was eight years ago. But for the Democrats, only a fresh injection of visible vitality and something more than a minimally-acceptable level of intelligence will save Americans from a second Trump administration, and prominent Democrats and donors must now loudly begin the calls.
But how does that happen, logistically? Can it? I researched the DNC’s bylaws for the 2024 convention back in November and found that yes, it can, but it would most easily happen after the convention ends. I explained in this appearance on Dana Loesch’s radio show:
Under the DNC’s Call for Convention, it’s essentially impossible for Biden to be replaced at the convention against his will because of the rules related to pledged delegates. He’d have to drop out. However, there’s a provision allowing the DNC to replace the nominee for President or Vice President after the convention occurs in the event of “death, resignation, or disability of a nominee.” From Article IX, Section G of the Call:
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Filling a Vacancy on the National Ticket: In the event of death, resignation or disability of a nominee of the Party for President or Vice President after the adjournment of the National Convention, the National Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee shall confer with the Democratic leadership of the United States Congress and the Democratic Governors Association and shall report to the Democratic National Committee, which is authorized to fill the vacancy or vacancies.
The document doesn’t specify how that disability needs to be certified or who makes the determination of disability, but after Biden’s abysmal performance and the panic setting in among the Democrat ruling class, it stands to reason that DNC leadership will construe that section in the manner that allows them to replace Biden. There’s no way donors will continue to pump big money into the party coffers unless there’s a different person at the top of the ticket.
In that vein, last week Daily Mail reported on a secret plot to replace Biden – with someone other than Kamala Harris – and how that would have to play out emotionally for Democrats and for Harris:
Strategists theorize that Democrats would have to hold a public event to symbolically transfer power to the new candidate. Biden, Obama, Clinton, Schumer, and Pelosi would publicly introduce and endorse the anointed nominee.
They would also have to convince Harris to throw her support behind the substitute, which would be a painful experience for someone so fiercely protective of their political future.
And the Biden Replacement would also be a risk for the replacement nominee. If he or she took up the party banner and then lost to Trump in November, their political careers may never recover.
All Democrats may have some painful decisions ahead.
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How would Democrats convince Harris? It’s my opinion that Rep. Nancy Pelosi will tap into her mob boss roots and have a little “Nice life you got there, it’d be a shame if something happened to it” type of discussion. Pelosi knows where all of the figurative bodies are buried related to Kamala since she’s the queen of the San Francisco power structure that developed Kamala, and she won’t hesitate to use that information if needed to help her nephew-by-marriage, Gavin Newsom, capture the White House.