Goodbye, Joe, And Thank You

A selfless act from the President has paved the way for new energy in the fight to beat Trump.

NOTE: Given the extraordinary events over the weekend, there’s no ‘F**king Monday’ column from me today. We’ll be back to normal next week!

by Ben Cohen

Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race became inevitable in the hours before Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania. Biden had held a Zoom call with moderate House Democrats about his plummeting poll numbers that was, according to some of the participants “worse than the debate”. Here’s how ABC News reported on a particularly upsetting exchange with Biden and Colorado Democrat Rep. Jason Crow:

The conversation became personal when Biden mentioned Crow's Bronze Star and attempted to bring up his son Beau, the member said. Two sources described Biden's exchange with the former Army Ranger as "incoherent" and "unintelligible."

One member suggested to ABC News that members on the call were left "aghast" after this particular exchange -- with members shaking their heads, some with their hands on their faces in apparent shock.

Had the shooting not happened, most of the participants on the call were apparently ready to publicly call for Biden to step aside.

In the hours and days after the attempted assassination of his rival, Biden handled the crisis exceptionally well. He gave several statesmanlike speeches and interviews that helped calm a highly agitated nation. Having watched the Democratic party tear itself apart over whether to force Biden off the ticket, a part of me believed he could stay on. In a time of crisis, experience is an immeasurable benefit and Biden could use this to assuage fears over his candidacy. Perhaps the old gunslinger still had another comeback in him.

Unfortunately for Biden, Democrats terrified about the sinking poll numbers and the prospect of losing their own races in November began to pile on the pressure. Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer all spoke to Biden and urged him to drop out. President Obama leaked statements to the press expressing extreme doubt over whether Biden could continue. Holed up with Covid in Rehoboth, Delaware, Biden spent the weekend grappling with the inevitable. He had lost the confidence of his party, and there was no way back. According to The New York Times, Biden made the decision on Saturday, then finalized his public statement on Sunday. At 1.46pm ET, Biden released a public statement stating his intention to drop out.

The fallout

Some Democrats were angry about Biden’s departure, arguing he had been forced out by the press and spineless bullies in the Democratic party. There are some obvious truths to this. The press has behaved abominably towards Biden, and they played a huge role in hyping Biden’s age and frailty — probably to the point of no return. It is hard to assess the motivation of all of the Democrats who argued Biden should leave, but it is easy to see why Biden felt betrayed. He won in 2020, prevented a red wave in 2022, and has delivered more progressive legislation than any president in modern history. As Biden argued, he had a bad night during the debate, but was more than adequately fulfilling his duties as president.

However, I believe many in the press and the Democratic party did not have any ill will towards Biden and were genuinely concerned about his well being. They could not unsee the debate, and did not believe Biden was capable of running a campaign vigorous enough to beat Trump. On balance I think Biden made the right decision, but the point of my article isn’t to rehash any of these arguments. Biden has stepped down paving the way for Kamala Harris to take over, and it has already injected an enormous amount of energy into the Democratic party.

Democrats needed certainty about the next three and a half months, and now they have it. Harris raised a record breaking $49.6 million in the hours after Biden dropped out, destroying any doubt she can be a unifying force for the party going forward.

It is highly unlikely any credible Democrat will challenge Harris at the convention next month, so regarding her as the Democratic nominee for president is a pretty safe bet. Can she beat Donald Trump? Absolutely, and here’s why.

Get ready for hell

Running against Donald Trump aside, the extreme ends of the political spectrum are going to make this a very unpleasant race. On the far right, Kamala Harris will be referred to as the “first DEI candidate in history”. On the Bernie Sanders left we’ll be told Kamala Harris is a “cop” due to her history as a criminal prosecutor. Alt contrarians will tell us she is a Deep State tool directed by Nancy Pelosi etc, etc. Donald Trump will of course attempt to leverage all of these narratives during the contest, desperately hoping something sticks.

All of this obscures the actual person running for office, and that is what Kamala Harris will have to communicate if she wants to win. Thankfully, Harris has a lot to run on. She is a highly successful prosecutor who served as the California attorney general, and then became Vice President of the United States. Harris isn’t the most talented politician in the world, but she is extremely smart and will have learnt a huge amount over the past four years. She has also learned from one of the most successful deal brokers in history, and played a pivotal role in Biden’s foreign policy negotiations. Harris is a good public speaker, a solid debater, and her skills as a prosecutor will be very useful when laying out a case against Donald Trump.

Harris’s VP pick will almost certainly be a man from a swing state (probably Gov. Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania or Sen. Mark Kelly from Arizona), and she will have to announce it fairly quickly. Once the team is assembled, Harris will have an enormous war chest to draw on from the campaign she has already been a part of, so she has every chance in the world to defeat Trump and Vance in November. Harris can motivate black voters and women, and a solid VP who can reach white independent voters in crucial swing states should be more than enough to beat one of the weakest national candidates the Republican Party has ever run.

The house that Biden built

Joe Biden will be remembered not only for rescuing America from the grips of fascist disaster in 2020, but for putting his country and party above himself in 2024.

In leaving the race, Biden has preserved his astonishing legacy and paved the way for another candidate to continue building on his considerable accomplishments. Biden proved that Democrats can champion progressive policy, and then enact it. He proved that Republican extremism can be beaten, and that Democrats can unify when they need to. More than that, Biden showed the world that America is still a decent country, that it still stands up to brutal dictators, defends allies, protects the environment, and engages with the outside world in positive and constructive ways.

It took an enormous amount of character for Biden to step down yesterday, but unlike Donald Trump, he did what he felt was best for the country and not his ego. Democrats must now repay Biden for his sacrifice by rallying around the new nominee and working night and day to beat Trump. And thanks to Joe Biden we already know it can be done.

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