October 14, 2024

"The relationship between Kamala Harris' team and Joe Biden's White House has been increasingly fraught in the final weeks before Election Day..."

"... 10 people familiar with the situation tell Axios," Axios reports.
[M]any senior Biden aides remain wounded by the president being pushed out of his re-election bid and are still adjusting to being in a supporting role on the campaign trail.

"They're too much in their feelings," one close Harris ally said of the president's team — a sentiment shared even by some White House aides....
Go to the link for a list a specific clashes.

Do you think the Democrats would have been better off sticking with Biden? They knew Harris's weaknesses, and they knew the switcheroo would be difficult to pull off and to sell to the people, and they knew Biden was still alive, still in power, and would be powerfully emotional. When I see Biden on camera, speaking, these days, I think he comes across better than Harris... and I feel his pain:


"She's my boss here," he says, gripping Jennifer Granholm's arm. How tightly?

ADDED: Think they could pull off a reverse switcheroo in the last 3 weeks?

92 comments:

Dixcus said...

"pushed out of his re-election bid "

He wasn't PUSHED. He was THREATENED.

The coup plotters threatened to remove Joe Biden using the 25th Amendment if he did not give up the nomination of the party that he had won by winning elections that the people of the various states PAID tax dollars to conduct.

The people chose Joe Biden to represent the Democrat Party.

Joe Biden wasn't "pushed" anywhere. It's an OUT-AND-OUT COUP. An illegal coup against the sitting President of the United States who was elected by the people and by his political party in favor of a woman who hasn't ever won an election in her lifetime.

It is a CRIME. And Joe Biden is correct to undermine this usurping bitch.

Temujin said...

Of course Biden comes off better than Kamala. I have a stale box of cereal in my pantry that comes off better than Kamala. And everyone knew it going into this thing. They spent the last 3.5 years whispering, then begging Joe Biden to cut her loose and find someone competent. Prior to her appointment as VP based on her vagina of color, no Democratic voters wanted anything to do with her. She couldn't even make it to the Iowa caucus in 2020, drawing an almost invisible amount of Democratic voters before pulling out.

And so now, after a showtime convention in which everybody played like they were 'joyous', the ether has worn off, Kamala is still Kamala, and by any reasonable standards, even the catatonic Joe Biden presents better in public than the wannabe President, Kamala.

The entire thing perpetrated on the American people- by our media, our entertainers, our academic class, and the Democratic politicians- first with Joe Biden, then with Kamala Harris stinks to high heaven. They placed Party over Country.

They should not be rewarded for this. They should, in fact, be punished. Long and hard, for years to come.

n.n said...

Demos-cracy... Democracy dies with Democratics. That said, all's fair in lust and abortion.

Space City Girl said...

As Trump said at the debate “Biden hates her.” And now Joe and Jill are tearing Kamala down with machinations subtle enough that they can’t be called out. I love it.

tim in vermont said...

He's only working part time now, and has had several weeks of vacation. If a part-time POTUS was all we needed, and if you want a guy who thinks that the United States manifest destiny is world conquest, then he would be your guy. He is too good at sparking up conflicts around the world, though, to work part time.

AMDG said...

The Democrats are better off with Harris, however, they would be in a better position if they could have gotten somebody other than Harris.

The reason that. Biden removed is that it was clearly evident that he was not going to win. As bad as she is, the race is now a 50-50 proposition.

What I find amusing is that Biden (and/or whoever is acting in his place) has worked hard at sabotaging Democrat prospects. First, by endorsing Harris making it difficult to put in place the selection methodology that Obama and Pelosi had envisioned. Second, by stepping on Harris’s toes when she awkwardly tried to insert herself in Hurricane relief efforts.

AMDG said...

What was the crime?

narciso said...

Only in the dr evil sense of outsized ambitions

n.n said...

Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class bigotry) breeds dysfunction. Not viable. Abort.

planetgeo said...

To answer your question directly, no, I don't think Joe would be doing better than Kamala, even though he is much more likeable. The debate confirmed to everyone that Joe had to go. As bad as she is, Kamala's their best shot and at least has the AWFL demographic singing joyfully and fervently. There just won't be enough of them to make up for all the other groups they're losing.

Breezy said...

The whole Democratic primary was in a coup loop. No opponents to Biden were allowed, so of course he won the primary. Lawfare, Colorado and Maine were tasked to remove Trump as an opponent. Those trials all failed. Sure, feel bad for Biden, but he’s as sinister, cold-blooded, and reptilian as the rest of them. It’s just just that we get to witness the implosion because their actions have come back to bite them so deliciously.

Big Mike said...

Do you think the Democrats would have been better off sticking with Biden?

No. There was no way to recover from his debate with Trump

They knew Harris's weaknesses, and they knew the switcheroo would be difficult to pull of and to sell to the people?/i> …

IMHO “they” gambled that Harris would be a better candidate than she has been., that with top of the line staff she’d be able to rise to the occasion. They lost.

When I see Biden on camera, speaking, these days, I think he comes across better than Harris...

I think partly it’s because Harris is so bad, and — my opinion — it’s much less stress on an octogenarian to be President than to be President and candidate simultaneously

Christopher B said...

Like 2016, the Democrats thought they were sure to win by maneuvering the Republicans into nominating Trump.

narciso said...

She was a turrble candidate this was known in 2019 when gabbard disenboweled her

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Biden looks awful, of course. He's still one of the most despicable, corrupt and criminal politicians in American history, an absolute traitor. But Althouse still likes the piece-of-shit in comparison to Harris. so there's that.

Dave Begley said...

They should be punished by the electorate, but won't. The intra-party finger pointing has already begun as Ann noted in her first post of the day. Expect Josh Shapiro to be the most effective one at calling out those responsible. But he'll do that secretly; the old anonymous sources trick.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Granholm: another Canadian

Rocco said...

Temujin said...
Of course Biden comes off better than Kamala. I have a stale box of cereal in my pantry that comes off better than Kamala.

Joe Biden has stale Corn Pops better than Kamala.

Another old lawyer said...

Are we to believe that Biden can be this coherent now, and yet look so infirm and frail on the night of the debate? I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, the drug cocktail administered on the night of the debate was somewhat different than he's getting now, and maybe what be had been getting in the run-up to that night.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe Biden had the remaining mental capacity to be president when he was running in 2020, assuming he ever had the capability. Certainly, could have and should have been removed months and months ago.

Charlie said...

If you want any of these people running things, then you need your head examined.

Christopher B said...

italico

narciso said...

https://x.com/mirandadevine/status/1845495049955553523

Aggie said...

"Think they could pull off a reverse switcheroo in the last 3 weeks?..."

Three weeks is just enough time for a voter to decide they don't like either one of them. I hope Joe and Jill keep it up, and I don't blame Joe for being sore. And look at Jennifer Granholm trying to shut Joe up. What a 'find' she turned out to be, Miss 'Keep It In The Ground' and 'Anything But Oil, except Nukes'.

Sydney said...

From the list at Axios it seems Kamala expects Biden to run her campaign.

narciso said...

https://www.frontpagemag.com/obamas-communist-nepo-baby-judge-who-loves-evil/

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Are you telling me that brat girl summer is over?

Saint Croix said...

I think Harris is a bad candidate, running a bad campaign.

But Biden's candidacy was absurd. He shouldn't be president now, let alone four years from now.

The presidency has to be one of the most stressful jobs on the world. Unless you just don't give a shit. In which case, you can apparently float on auto-pilot for months and months.

Let's go to the beach again!

wild chicken said...

If Biden had stayed in, the usual suspects would still be whining, hair on fire, all hands on deck, and RFK would be even a bigger threat. Or some other third party.

Dixcus said...

Threatening a sitting President to coerce him into withdrawing. That's a FELONY. That was the crime.

Mr Wibble said...

I stick with my crazy conspiracy theory: Biden was never meant to win in 2020. He was a sacrificial candidate who wouldn't harm Dem candidates down-ballot. Losing wouldn't harm his political career, because it was over. Ditto Harris, who wasn't qualified for anything above CA senator. If she lost it would mean she simply went back to the Senate.

Trump was running with a booming economy, low unemployment, and foreign policy successes. Then COVID happened, and the left suddenly had a weapon to attack him and scare off normies. Ditto the George Floyd riots. This made the election close. The steal occurred because on election night it looked like the GOP might narrowly take the House, giving Trump a GOP Congress.

Mr Wibble said...

It's too late for the reverse-switcharoo: ballots have already been mailed out and early voting in ongoing. Any switch in candidates would create a legal shitstorm-dumpster-fire-clown-orgy (I believe that is the term of art, although it may be in lawyer latin) that would have SCOTUS reaching for the eyeball heroin.

Dixcus said...

The Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton. Let's just say they're not the best at picking winning candidates. And no, Joe Biden didn't win. Someone with 81 million voters behind him doesn't erect razor wire around Washington DC in order to be installed.

Sebastian said...

"How tightly?" Tightly enough to report to HR. Among normal people in normal workplaces. But then, it's regular MO for Joe (D). Will he be Cosbied/Weinsteined after leaving office?

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

All this "tension" between the two staffs sounds pretty trivial. Huge numbers of people are involved. Of course some of those people are going to have negative feelings. And the incidents cited are trivial.

I think they are just trying to generate some drama. In fact, the takeaway here is the opposite: why is there so little drama and energy this late in the campaign?

Gusty Winds said...

You're not supposed to stab the guy in the back who stabbed the country in the back.

Gingrich has a good point Biden and his crazy wife want to go down in history as the only one's who "beat" Trump, even if it was via voter fraud.

Dixcus said...

Who would have standing? I predict that nobody would be granted standing.

Original Mike said...

"Think they could pull off a reverse switcheroo in the last 3 weeks?"

Anyone who asks this question (and I mean the political types, not Althouse) doesn't give a damn about the country. Say he won. He is not fit.

As to the voters; no, I don't think they would tolerate it.

Lazarus said...

Kamala didn't have to exert herself to get the job. Nobody else wanted it, certainly not on such short notice.

Joe Scarborough is wrong. This is not the best Joe Biden there's ever been. Some earlier Biden might have been a better candidate than Harris. This one isn't.

Iman said...

Gushin’ Collusion.

Iman said...

In a telling development, Canadian realtors have staffed up bigly.

Lazarus said...

The "steal," to the extent that it happened, wouldn't have affected down-ballot House races in the places where it mattered. It was directed at the crucial swing states to give Biden a victory. It was also planned well in advance of election night.

I'd go with a bigger conspiracy theory that something like COVID was going to happen all along and was going to be used to get Trump out of the White House. Joe Biden wasn't a sacrificial candidate. The Democrats were fully convinced that they could win in 2020. It's different now. Harris may yet win, but this year Democrats are more concerned about the down-ballot races

Christopher B said...

@Mr Wibble. If true, the plan failed spectacularly since 2020 was only the fourth election where the party winning the White House actually lost seats in the House. The Democrats lost 13 House seats, second only to their loss of 22 House seats and two Senate seats in 1960 (interesting coincidence that). Everybody seems to overlook this because of the Georgia Senate drama in 2020 but even then the Republicans held the majority of their seats in a year where they had twice as many incumbents running as the Democrats did

Christopher B said...

... majority of their Senate seats, to be clear.

Dixcus said...

The voters stood there in silence watching Democrats board up the counting room windows so that the voters couldn't see how they were rigging the election.

The voters didn't shoot a single person doing that.

The voters are chickenshit people.

Harun said...

They removed him from RUNNING for president, but were fine with him remaining president. Weird.

Wilbur said...

You still haven't named or even described a criminal offense. Try again.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

Yes, I think the dems would have been better off sticking with Biden. My reasons:
1. I think the switch to KH is going to cost them dearly with traditional middle-class and union households. She doesn't have the blue-collar vibe that Biden had (or could plausibly fake). And while Biden has "governed" as the most left-wing president we've ever had, Kamala's support for policies like giving prisoners free sex-change operations is off the charts for a lot of people.
2. Switching to KH both entailed and revealed a lot of fraudulent conduct that makes the dem party establishment look like the mafia. First, it showed that the party and media lied to the American people about Joe's mental state. Second, Pelosi et al reportedly threatened to invoke the 25th Amendment if Biden didn't drop out; that was either a false threat they had no intention of carrying out or, if they believed he was truly incapable of performing the responsibilities of being POTUS, it shows that they have abdicated their constitutional duty by permitting Biden to remain president despite his perceived incompetency. Third, they rallied support for the switch based on the idea there would be an open primary/convention to select a replacement candidate, then immediately reneged on those plans upon Biden's withdrawal announcement. Here's my point: Sure, Biden probably would have lost. But Kamala's probably also going to lose. The difference is that, with the switch, the dems have further eroded the trust they once enjoyed as an institution. There is no dem party now: There's just a junta (comprised of Pelosi, Obama, and perhaps a dozen other people) that calls itself the dem party but in fact decides everything behind the scenes. This will have long-term effects that a simple loss by Biden would have avoided.

mikee said...

The Dems know they have the better organized mail in vote harvesting operation, and therefore will win this election. Their dumping of Joe Biden was necessary only because having him, a clear dementia sufferer, on public display even rarely during a "campaign" would lead to real doubt and protests about the ballot harvesting when he squeaked out wins in PA, WI, GA, AZ, MI, etc. because nobody in their own right mind would vote for such a sorry dementia patient.

On the other hand, Kamala Harris' baggage can be ignored. She has the background, the certifications, the status to become the puppet president for the Dems, even though it is clear she is no leader and could not win on her own. So Harris it is. Thanks, Obama, I guess.

FullMoon said...

Another old lawyer
Are we to believe that Biden can be this coherent now, and yet look so infirm and frail on the night of the debate? I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, the drug cocktail administered on the night of the debate was somewhat different than he's getting now, and maybe what be had been getting in the run-up to that night.


Yep, he was stupefied during debate, simply stupid after. Sabotaged by his crew and didn't have the courage or toughness to fight back.
For all his lifetime of bad-ass bravado, he wimped out in the end. And, he knows it.
With the exception of a couple of dollar store autobiographies and and softball interviews, he will drop out of sight in a hurry. His "friends" are laughing at him and his family.

Leland said...

I think your question Althouse misses an aspect that I believe was a big deal at the time. Nancy Pelosi was worried about losing more seats in the House and Democrats still considered it in play to win. Biden dropping in the polls the way he was would have depressed turn out for down ballot runs. Whether Kamala will win is irrelevant to that she may have shored up interest enough to keep the House in play. For that reason, I don’t think the switch was a mistake for Democrats.

Whether Kamala was the right choice is another question. I think her selection and how it went down destroyed the Democrat narrative that Trump was the “threat to Democracy”. Add in the efforts to change ballots regarding RFK jr and the Green Party, and it is clear who is messing with Democracy. However, as Althouse noted at the time, previous donations were to Biden/Harris, and a different candidate might be prevented from using those funds. An alternative to Harris would have needed to be spectacular to make up the ground so fast. Governor Newsom would be a lead balloon outside deep blue states. Gov. Whitmer might have been interesting, but I doubt she’d be any better than Harris. Gov. Shapiro might have done well with the Rust Belt and keeping PA, but he had the same affect on the antisemitic wing of the Democrat voting block that made her a bad choice for VP. Sen. Mark Kelly?

Leland said...

Early voting prevents another switcheroo at this time. The ballots have to be printed to be mailed out. They are already being delivered.

Aggie said...

From Nancy's perspective, Joe has proved that the Team can function 'just fine' without a real President.

Mr Wibble said...

"The "steal," to the extent that it happened, wouldn't have affected down-ballot House races in the places where it mattered."

That's the point: When they realized that they wouldn't take the Senate, and might lose the House, they panicked and pushed Biden through, rather than end up with a GOP-controlled Congress and WH.

Remember, the expectation going in was that the Dems would gain seats in the House. In that scenario, Trump in the WH is fine, because he's neutralized, while Dems can spend four years harassing him with investigations and fundraising off their efforts.

Mr Wibble said...

Trump would have standing. It would basically be Bush v Gore on steroids.

loudogblog said...

"They're too much in their feelings,"

The same thing could be said of the Harris campaign. They're all about feelings instead of substance.

n.n said...

Puta (or puto?) and vice-puta. h/t JLo.

Saint Croix said...

Newsweek is now worried about a Trump landslide.

Narayanan said...

how is it 'coup' if Biden still POTUS in White House

Former Illinois resident said...

I recall a fair number of internet sleuths' comments on "dark bruises" on Biden's face shortly after he resurfaced after declining to pursue 2nd term nomination. Biden's belated Sunday afternoon announcement certainly was irregular, perhaps not conforming to legal-notice requirements. Suspect Biden was offered a "deal that can't be refused", a combo of criminal-convection immunity for Hunter and Biden Family, plus sizable cash gift from Big-Dem political contributors to soften the ego-blow.

Former Illinois resident said...

Kamala was the poison pill, chosen to protect BIden term(s).

There were more qualified Black women suitable for Biden's VP spot, more presentable Black women, vetted, experienced on campaign trails, capable of public speaking. Worth listening to Tucker Carlson's podcast interview w/Harmeet Dhillon, who effectively demolishes Kamala's entire resume narrative as "tough litigator" and "experienced politician".

Former Illinois resident said...

Harris/Walz ticket is no deemed to be detrimental to Democratic candidates on down-ticket election ballot spots.

Megaera3 said...

Yes. Remember, Althouse's reaction to Biden's debate performance was that she didn't think it was great, but it was good enough, For government work, presumably. But it tells you something about compromised judgment.

Narayanan said...

if D are playing 4dchess what are R upto then?

Former Illinois resident said...

Democratic Machine overplayed the election night ballot fraud, after hours, after the Republican election-ballot overseers were sent home. Demographically impossible that 81 million people voted for Biden, not legally, not without fraudulent ballot creativity.

Readering said...

Biden was not going to beat Trump. Period

Saint Croix said...

I was surprised that Trump declined a debate with Kamala hosted by Fox News. What that suggests is that he feels that he's already winning, and a debate has no upside for him, only a potential downside.

Trump actually had a lot of success in skipping debates in the Republican primaries. He made the rest of the Republican field look small by comparison. He's repeating that move with Harris now.

Harris is now abandoning her tactic of only speaking with super-friendly media. After the fake media embarrassment of 60 Minutes and Univision, she's agreed to an interview with Fox News.

(I guess she sees it as a Fox news debate, except without Trump).

Steve said...

No way they could do a reverse switcheroo. People have already started voting, ballots have been printed, etc. They would have to ask everyone to write in Biden at this point.

traditionalguy said...

Your question only arises for the same reason the first switcheroo happened. The Dem Crime Family knows how many fake votes they plan to add in on the next day.

Of course simply slaughtering of Trump by a sniper has been plan A all along. Soros don’t accept failure.

Leland said...

Agree with you Aggie. The current situation gives more power to a Democrat Speaker to use their position to get the bureaucracy to act to their wishes without legislation or an Executive getting in the way.

I’m not sure the 4D chess. If that is what the Democrats were doing, then they waited until the bishops, knights and rooks were taken before trying a different tactic of sacrificing the Queen to save the King. As for Republicans, a few of them have shown a preference to just sacrifice the King as the opening move.

Original Mike said...

"I was surprised that Trump declined a debate with Kamala hosted by Fox News."

Huh? Can you provide a link? My understanding was Trump said yes to a debate only if it was on Fox and Harris wouldn't do it.

Yancey Ward said...

"What was the crime?"

It is the straight up definition of extortion. The threat used to obtain the desired object or action doesn't have to be the doing of something illegal like physical assault- that is where you are confused. You can threaten someone with actions that are completely legal in other instances.

If Biden were threatened with removal from office with the 25th amendment unless he resigned the Presidency, then that would be a properly due use of power by Harris/Pelosi/etal. However, if he was threatened with removal via the 25th just to get him to drop out of the race, that is an undue use of power by those same people.

Original Mike said...

Oh, I see. Harris changed her mind just recently. Kinda late, at this point.

Original Mike said...

Kinda tells you where both sides see the race right now.

Yancey Ward said...

Reinstalling Biden as the candidate in the last three weeks isn't impossible but is highly implausible. His name doesn't have to be on the ballot- every single state Presidential ballot is the choosing of the electors who can vote for whomever they want in December. The more realistic and practical problem is getting voters to understand the switch and pull the lever/mark the Harris line on the ballot for Biden.

Yancey Ward said...

We will get a believable answer to the question- who would have done better in the election- Harris or Biden- by late in the evening on Election Day.

If Harris loses the popular vote, then it was a mistake to replace Biden with Harris. If Harris wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College vote, then it was a wash. If Harris wins both, then was a good move by the Democrats.

The Democrats big mistake was in allowing Harris to get the nomination without a fight- there were better candidates than Harris and one or more of them should have come forward as soon as Biden was on the ropes after his debate with Trump.

Narayanan said...

how does voting machine deal with write in ballots? handcount only?

Rabel said...

"... I think he comes across better than Harris ..."

Another contrary indicator to the Althouseian concept of high standards.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

@Dave, let's see how the Senate races go
Mens are losing WVa and MT, which flips the Senate to GOP.
Then there's OH, PA, WI, MI, NV, AZ, MD, VA and NM
Which is my ordering of likelihood of flipping to the GOP

Flip all of those and you have 60 GOP Senate seats

If we're at 55+, then the voters will definitely have chosen to punish the Dems

Readering said...

There were better candidates than Trump. If he loses will people analyze ways he could have been replaced after Harris debate?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Biden is bitter that he was pushed. That why he endorsed Harris,a nd that's why he's sabotaging her, now.

And I expect that she will end up being a down ballot drag. If for no other reason that she's so bad she will essentially "help" Trump get out his low propensity voters, and once they get out and vote, most of there are going to vote straight ticket GOP

Yancey Ward said...

There are always better candidates no matter who gets the nomination. What makes the selection of Harris worthy of analysis is the unique way it came about- without the input of a single Democrat primary voter. But I don't expect you will understand this distinction.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"They're too much in their feelings," one close Harris ally said of the president's team

Say the people running the "vibes" campaign.
IOW: "hey, stop whining about the way we stabbed you in the back and get on board!" To which the answer is something along the lines of "GFY" or "FOAD"

Do you think the Democrats would have been better off sticking with Biden?
Donors were refusing to pony up cash with Biden on the ticket. They turned on the spigots (including the illegal ones) once he got the boot.

How much that's helping down ticket, we'll mostly know late election night, as Yancy pointed out.

"Think they could pull off a reverse switcheroo in the last 3 weeks?"
No. They've already admitted he's a dementia patient. They can't go back

Greg The Class Traitor said...

So here's a funny thought, once Harris loses.

1: Does she try to Amendment 25 Joe once the election is over? So she can be the first female and first Indian, President?
2: If she does, does the Cabinet go along?
3: Does Dr Jill fight it?
4: Do the Republicans in Congress go along?
5: Does the GOP Congress only go along after Trump's victory has been ratified by Congress & Harris?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Or heck, does Harris pull an "October Surprise" and 25th Joe before the election?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

https://www.realclearpolling.com/maps/house/2024/toss-up
Right now there's two GOP House seats that are Likely Dem
Other than that there are 19 D held seats that are "Toss ups", and 13 R

They have Alaska At Large seats as "leans Dem", and I don't believe that.
But even with that, RCP has it 207 GOP to 196 Dem, with 32 toss ups.

Don't get the rent that the Dems will take the House

Quaestor said...

Reverse switcheroo? Nah. Biden will be happier to see a humiliated Kamala than risk humiliation himself. As it is, future capsule biographies will read "...chose not to seek a second term", and that looks much better than "...defeated in his bid for a second term".

Breezy said...

I think that would be quite brazen. You’ve just been told by the electorate that they don’t want you in that role, then you grab-steal it anyway? I suppose she did the same wrt the Biden coup though…. Jill would definitely fight it, as would Joe. They have lots of skeletons to back up their fight, too.

Rabel said...

It would help Trump if she did.

Her likelihood of winning is falling in part because people are beginning to face up to the frightening reality of this idiot as President and Commander-in-Chief.

Seeing her sitting at the Resolute desk would just drive that home.

But, the Cabinet won't support it unless there is a severe and obvious slippage in Biden's already senile mind. They're his people, not hers.

Prof. M. Drout said...

Back before Biden stepped down, I thought that the plan would be to have Harris assassinated by a "MAGA extremist," to have broken-hearted Joe say that he just could not bring himself to run for another term in these circumstances, and for the Democrats to parachute in Govs. Hair-gel or Hiel-Whitmer as the nominee. I'm glad that didn't happen.
That something like this didn't happen--even a fake attempt on Harris--leads me to think that the "let's allow Trump to be assassinated" plan was not implemented from the highest levels but was cooked up by the Secret Service equivalents of Sztrok and Rat-face, with the Pepsi lady as the "DEI incompetence" fall-guy.
Here in darkest Massachusetts there are not many of either Trump or Harris yard-signs. Last week I counted 2 Trump 4 Harris signs on my commute; in 2020 there were maybe 4 Trump and a dozen Biden. We do still have to endure the television commercials aimed at New Hampshire, and the ones against Kelly Ayotte are all-abortion, all the time.
But also here in darkest Massachusetts, it seems as if a lot of Democrats are resigning themselves to a Trump win. There is none of the urgency of 2020, when people I work with were spending all their free time doing phone bank work in New Hampshire. There also haven't been the constant exhortations for students to vote absentee or to give students the day off so they can drive to NH to vote.
I am taking this all as a good sign that at least some people are over the crazy and that maybe we get through the election and the inauguration without turning the U.S. into Yugoslavia. Hopefully having seen us come within a centimeter or two of that happening in July clarified things for some of the people who only drank a little bit of the Kool-aid of "Trump = Hitler!!!!!" craziness.
Also, maybe now there's less motivation to let Trump get assassinated, because Vance would be elected in a landslide and would, I assume, go full jihad on the Deep State (the way Chester Arthur suddenly turned fanatically anti-corruption after Garfield was assassinated).
Hopefully cooler heads prevail and it is decided that the risks of getting caught in massive cheating are too high, as are the risks of killing Trump, and the best strategy for the Deep State people is to repeat the burrowing in, undermining, and resisting strategy of 2017-2020. After all, Trump was President for 4 full years and very few people were actually forced to be Handmaids for elderly republicans in that time frame.

Michael K said...

Typically, you miss the preference cascade going on. Nobody could keep that electorate together except Trump. It may not be enough but he is unique.

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Quaestor said...

Besides, in most states the ballots are already set in stone. The only possible reverse switcheroo would be a write-in campaign, which would call for an advertising blitz the likes of which God himself has not seen. (Forgive the "Dune" reference) Just imagine FJB conducting a live YouTube appeal...

Remember folks, on Wednesday...(What? Huh?)... uh, Thurber's day, no! Tuesday! ...On Tuesday be sure not to vote... (Huh? Shut the fuck up. Come on, man...) I mean, be sure to vote for nobody, and, and... uh... Do the thing! You know... uh... Jill... uh... No! Joe. Joe Biden. Thank you. (Who's next? What?)