Did Joe Biden voluntarily abandon his re-election campaign or was he forced to do so? For weeks, most Democrats insisted the whole situation was rosy. As the story goes, Biden, the consummate statesman who loves his country more than his ambition, was content to step aside to ensure the evil orange man did not return to power.
Anyone who was paying attention always knew that this was nonsense, and a up-to-date report from Politico confirms the coup. Moreover, Biden still feels betrayed in retrospect.
President Joe Biden is frustrated that Barack Obama didn’t tell him to his face to drop out of the race. He’s enraged at Nancy Pelosi, calling her ruthless for pushing him out the door. And he’s still upset about the role Chuck Schumer played.
Biden has told his closest aides and confidants that he is coming to terms with his decision last month to drop out of the presidential race, but he still harbors some frustration with members of his own party who he believes pushed him out of the race, according to three people familiar with Biden’s thinking who were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
There was nothing natural about the incumbent president suddenly ending his campaign. A well-connected elite group led by Nancy Pelosi decided to push him out of the race. It didn’t matter that they had to throw out all the votes from the primaries. All that mattered was keeping power at all costs. Pelosi stabbed Biden in the back and made it impossible for him to remain the nominee, as the donor class also joined in her efforts and made sure that the money supply dried up.
On the one hand, what happened is a slap in the face of the democratic process. On the other hand, you have to respect the ruthlessness with which Pelosi and her party are proceeding. They do not care about anything but they win elections, and there are no lines they won’t cross to get the result they want. It used to be unthinkable to knock an incumbent president off the ballot in July. But they did it, and instead of backfiring, it’s currently paying off in the form of a much more winnable election for them.
“She did what she had to do” to give Democrats the best chance of winning in November, Biden told one of the people, adding that Pelosi was “about the party,” not feelings.
I have stern doubts that Biden was so cordial, given how publicly upset he has been about the situation, even attacking Pelosi in a recent interview. Pelosi, for her part, went so far as to suggest that Biden wasn’t even the one who wrote the letter announcing his stay in the race in early July.
SEE: Pelosi puts on tinfoil hat and suggests Biden did not write June letter claiming he was staying in the race
But Biden’s inner circle is convinced that Pelosi was the deciding vote in rejecting his resignation.
His allies thought his candidacy was still salvageable on the morning of July 10, after nearly two weeks of trying to placate her fellow Democrats. Yet that was precisely when Pelosi made a now-infamous appearance on “Morning Joe” in which she repeatedly made clear that she did not support Biden continuing his candidacy. The president’s advisers believe that opened the door for a number of other Democrats and donors to follow her lead.
The coup happened. To deny it at this point is to deny Biden’s account of the situation. Yes, he ultimately made the decision to resign, but he did so with a political gun to his head. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 25th Amendment was under threat as well. The moment Pelosi went public and donors said they were done, Biden knew he had been overthrown and did what he could to save what little legacy he had left.
Again, this is incredibly undemocratic, but it worked, right? So far, at least. This is certainly a sore spot for Republicans (myself included) right now. Trump was on his way to victory, and now it’s all a bitter fight again, with the assist of a subservient press playing propaganda minister for Kamala Harris. That’s why it’s more crucial than ever that the former president wins. Imagine if what the Democrats did here was justified. Then why are there even primaries anymore? This needs to be disproven.
