Not surprisingly, President Joe Biden’s Friday night interview with George Stephanopoulos did anything but quiet the drumbeat for his withdrawal from the 2024 election.
Somewhat more coherent than during his disastrous debate, but still clearly frail, the president insisted he was up to the rigors of a campaign and serving another four years. A seminal moment occurred when he steadfastly declined to quiet concerns by taking a neurological evaluation: “I have a cognitive test every single day.”
To some observers, this seemed to be Biden’s “I’m not a crook” moment — recalling President Richard Nixon’s infamous denial of involvement in the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Indeed, we are now beginning to see comparisons between Biden’s travails and the political turmoil leading to Nixon’s resignation.
Both “Watergate” (as that scandal was called) and Biden’s “Senility-gate” capped troubled presidential terms marked by searing inflation, global conflict and social unrest.
And both involved a cover-up. But in Biden’s case, the cover-up was not on the part of a few political operatives — but an Orwellian “conspiracy of silence” encompassing the White House, Democrats and an all-too-willing liberal media. One eye-popping count listed at least 50 noted politicians and operatives who baldly lied about Biden’s decline.
And the list does not even include preening pundits like MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, who ridiculously declared the faltering president the “best Biden ever.”
This shocking betrayal of public trust was exposed by Biden’s debate debacle, which, according to The Daily Mail, was the result of a “soft coup” intended to set him up to fail and bring about his ouster. Such a mutiny would explain why the White House uncharacteristically subjected their fragile candidate to a 90-minute unscripted face-off with former President Donald Trump.
There had to be a “big reveal” of his weakness that was undeniable — with images powerful enough to produce a non-partisan consensus that he should withdraw for the good of the country.
Daily Mail sources attributed the coup to alarm over Biden’s worsening condition. But the more probable trigger was the president’s miserable polls. They showed an ever-widening Trump lead — despite Democrat lawfare and Trump’s New York convictions.
After all, Biden’s mental frailty, while less pronounced, was no problem for Democrats during the 2020 presidential campaign. The real issue in 2024 was not Biden’s impairment — but his weakness with voters.
Which is why the present uprising is only expected to intensify. Democrats understand the potential of “Senility-gate” and its cover-up to damage the party much as Watergate did to Republicans in the 1970s. In the words of one Democratic strategist, “The dam is about to break.”
With the ranks of those publicly calling for Biden’s withdrawal growing daily, there is a sense of falling dominoes. Some have begun to question the president’s ability to remain in office. In the words of one USA Today columnist: “If Democrats think Biden is unfit to be the nominee, how can he … function as the nation’s chief executive for another six months?”
If the president continues to dig in, don’t be surprised if the liberal media turn their attention from “Senility-gate” to serious reporting on “10 percent for the Big Guy.” We may finally find out where the money trail actually leads, possibly forcing a Biden resignation before the election.
This scenario was once dismissed on account of “the Kamala factor” — the vice president’s unpopularity and perceived un-suitedness for the Oval Office. That appears to be quickly changing. White House Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre last week pronounced Harris “the future of the party.”
A Harris presidency would initially come as a shock. But it would allow the Bidenites to remain in place and use the next several months to sell her to the voters.
Despite Harris’ often cringeworthy performance as vice president, Republicans would be wrong to underestimate her. The 2020 election showed her to be an agile debater and demagogue.
A woman of color, she “checks off the boxes” for the identity-obsessed Democratic base. There is no way the upcoming Democratic convention would reject her for another candidate.
A recent poll actually shows her coming in second to Michelle Obama as the Democrat with the best chance of beating Trump. Like the somewhat-less-impaired Joe Biden of 2020, she may be far more electable than widely believed. And for Democrats, that’s all that matters.
Elizabeth Ames is co-author of INFLATION: What It Is, Why It’s Bad and How To Fix It (Encounter) and writer/co-producer of the public television documentary In Money We Trust?
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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