Most Americans didn’t expect Joe Biden to seek a second term. Frankly, most didn’t want him to. Naturally, mere months into his presidency, the media was already speculating about who would top the Democratic ticket in 2024 if Biden didn’t run.
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When Biden finally announced his candidacy last year, all talk about who might replace him on the ballot should have ceased. But it didn’t. When Biden won enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, it really should have come to an end.
The problem is that Biden keeps getting older, not younger, and continues to show signs of cognitive decline. Months after Democrats were saying, “Just look at his State of the Union address,” we’re still constantly reporting on his gaffes, mental blocks, and other highly concerning behaviors, and wondering why this man isn’t in an assisted living facility instead of the Oval Office.
That said, the Democrats are basically stuck with Biden. He’s their guy. Biden isn’t about to drop out. Yet, the media can’t stop talking about replacing him with another Democrat.
This week, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens became the latest to suggest that Joe Biden should step aside to let some rising star in the Democratic Party take over.
Related: WATCH: A Dazed and Confused Biden Lands in Italy, and It’s Scary
The reason comes down to the fact that Stephens doesn’t think Biden can win. He used the phrase “sleepwalking to defeat,” and that sounds quite accurate to me.
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But his concerns aren’t merely about Biden’s cognitive decline. Stephens essentially concedes that Biden has been an ineffectual president—both on the world stage and at home. Between his handling of Iran, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the war in Israel, Biden doesn’t exactly have any foreign policy wins in his column. Stephens admits that Biden’s domestic failures are also impossible for him to overcome before the election. His executive order on immigration only confirms his role in the border crisis. Stephens also admits that “No magic wand will erase 2022’s inflation or today’s high interest rates.” Meanwhile, if Democrats thought that their lawfare strategy would make Trump unelectable, they grossly miscalculated.
As for getting rid of Kamala Harris, that won’t happen either. Stephens argued that Biden has only one option to help the Democrats win in November: drop out.
It all leaves the president with one option that can be a win for America and, ultimately, his place in history. He can still choose not to run, to cede the field to a Democrat who can win — paging Josh Shapiro or Gretchen Whitmer — and do the hard and brave things it will take to secure security and peace for the free world.
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When you’re suggesting that an incumbent with universal name recognition drop out less than five months before the election so that someone the country doesn’t know can attempt to introduce themselves to the voters and run a successful campaign, you’ve got a problem.
“There’s still time, if only just,” Stephens insists. “It would be a courageous, honorable and transformative legacy.”
No, there isn’t. Biden’s handlers know that Biden’s brain is mush, and they don’t care. Biden likely knows it, too, but he doesn’t care. The liberal media should have figured this out already.