78 Comments

To me, this was Biden dipping his toe into stepping down. He still set an impossible standard (there will be no poll to show he has a 0.00000000% chance of winning), but this is one step away from demanding the God Almighty to come down and humbly ask him to consider stepping down.

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Mark - I thought the same. First inkling that there might be something to get him to think in that direction.

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There’s clearly nothing wrong with Biden. Other than the predominantly white politicians in the Democratic party don’t think he can beat Trump. For which they have zero data to support. Yes. There is a racial component to this. Which makes their dislike of Harris too very problematic. The idea that less than a month before their national convention they want to ditch their leaders is insane. That’s the story. Meanwhile Trump is a national security threat. The states themselves will be forced to neutralize him if the United States own executive branch begins to risk the lives of citizens under his leadership. A Republic. Which we don’t seem to be keeping.

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It's over 70% of the general public who think Biden is unfit, not just white pols. Ds will show up for any D against Trump, but Ds make up only about 30% of the population. For Ds to win, they need to win a hefty majority of the independent vote, and the % of independent voters who think Biden is unfit is closing in on 80. You can't win with those numbers. As far as Harris, most of the people I know who want to replace Biden are more than happy to have Harris lead the ticket. At this point, she would be the most likely choice. I think women would rally to support her in a year where women's issues are at the forefront.

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There’s clearly something wrong with the polling if Biden is also running 2 points ahead of Trump in swing states. The Congressional Black Caucus support Biden, likely reflecting the views of their constituents. Ask yourself why are they different? Trump is hated. Congressional Democrats and the media are behaving poorly. Biden should continue to defy them.

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Not sure what polls you're seeing. Biden has been ahead at times in MI and WI, but he has been consistently behind in NC, GA, PA, AZ, and NV. As you know , there is always a margin of error, and a given poll can be misleading b/c it has a flawed model. But there is no model at issue in the straight "is he fit for office question" for which well over 70% are answering in the negative. You can't win with those numbers. Also, we need the campaign to be laser focused on all the problems with Trump. But it's now mired down in the issues about Joe. I don't see that changing. I haven't seen polling of POC in particular. Yes, the Cong Black Caucus is quite loyal to Biden. Do you think they wouldn't support VP Harris? Once again, I and most people I know would be very happy with her leading the ticket. I just don't think Biden has it in him to carry the fight to Trump. Even if I did, it is impossible for me to state sincerely that he is up to 4+ more years. He said he'd be and transitional POTUS. He was right when he said that. He's unrealistic now. Thanks for the exchange

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Chris, I absolutely have to agree with you. I think it's completely selfish of him to have said that. I don't think that that is the best idea, especially given the fact that Trump is also on the ticket. It seems like Biden is taking more and more pages from Trumps "playbook" (I use quotations bc I don't actually think he has one) and it makes me more and more nervous for November :/

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• Trump can't tell the difference between Sioux City and Sioux Falls.

• Trump believes Türkiyes President Erdogan is Hungary's President.

• Trump thinks his physician Ronny Jackson's surname is Johnson.

Dear fellow followers, please help me figure this out:

what would it take for cultmasters of GOP/MAGA/FOX"news" ecochamber to mind their own business and start looking for an averagely functioning (cognitively) Presidential candidate of their own -- and calm down re/ Dems'/Biden's struggles?

Have a great weekend!

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Was the President's Presser "ugly" and combative? Absolutely NOT. So how qaa it? It was a MASTERPIECE especially on NATO and foreign affairs.

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MASTERPIECE != Introducing Putin as the President of Ukraine

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Just as Trump confused Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley

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Straw man fallacy is the distortion of someone else’s argument to make it easier to attack or refute. Instead of addressing the actual argument of the opponent, one may present a somewhat similar but not equal argument.

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Still voting Biden.

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Pride cometh before the Fall.

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I will vote for whomever the democratic nominee is. I wish Biden would not have run and followed through with being a one term president. However, he is running and here we are. What concerns me is that people are saying, he did well at the presser so see, it was one bad night. Nothing to see here, if in fact it was one bad night. However, people are reporting that what is going on behind the scenes is that he is having many bad days. Is this true? That’s what I want to know. I would hope that if it was indeed one bad night, people in the know would be shouting it from the rooftops. They are not. There needs to be more transparency, IMO. We, the voting public, need to know the truth to make an informed decision. If it was one bad night but looking for a “better candidate”, shame on them for asking Biden to step down.

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It was mentioned on Chris' Zoom call with Steve Schmidt last night that if Biden stays in the race, the election will be about him and whether or not he is too old to do the job. The polls show it will not turn out well for him. I would vote for Biden's corpse over Trump, but this election is too important to nominate a flawed candidate who will take the focus away from Trump's immoral and criminal behavior.

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Dan Holm, that's just the opinion of two people. It does not necessarily mean that is how it's going to be

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I agree with your assessment and wouldn’t a little further: I think hubris and stubbornness are getting in the way of rationality. The difference between 2024 and 2020 is that in 2020, Biden convinced just enough people in six states that he could beat Trump. (He barely did it despite never trailing in the polls.) Now, the polls show that those ages are slipping away. He says that people aren’t paying attention yet. I think the problem is that people are paying attention and don’t like what they see.

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I thought he did well, but not the greatest when a routine press conference turns into Def Con 1.

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We’re grading on such a curve. The guy didn’t just openly collapse on stage and so we’re all supposed to go “oh yeah that was good, or at least ok”. All this because of his debate and the raging lunatic that came before him.

I mean, seriously. Even the stronger parts on FP; you could tell he knew the material, but still he was completely unable to explain it clearly. It was hard to follow, rambling, unstructured. I feel like it felt strong because it was the first time in a while we went like “oh yes finally a bunch of sentences that are vaguely understandable and make a remote amount of sense together, we can even pick up the very beginning of an overarching structure”. But even then, it was pretty damn bad. And that’s the _good_ parts; don’t even get me started on the bad ones.

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:D

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Biden also answered that the delegates to the convention could vote for whoever they want because it is a democracy. He doesn't expect them to but is this also leaving the door open a crack?

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I think so too.

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My take on that last comment was that there is an opening Biden would accept to be replaced on the ticket. Maybe it’s just cause no one asked but that feels vastly different from the I am not quitting line he’s had for the last two weeks

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Yes.

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I understand that it’s a bit of a move off the normal talking point but I can’t help but think that President Biden simply isn’t choosing his words that carefully or thinking about an answer like that with the same magnifying glass we / the media is. That is to say I don’t think it should be taken as the first step in a new direction. Especially given that he wasn’t the best public speaker when he was younger and at 100%.

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That’s exactly what I thought as well Kevin.

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Good? Introducing Putin as the President of Ukraine does not, "demonstrate both his deep knowledge of the subject and his ability to command facts in a live setting." Incredible!

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Do you honestly think Biden doesn't know who Putin is? Or Trump? I can't imagine the pressure that he is under not to make any speech mistakes right now. Is he making any bad judgements or the buck stops here decisions in policy, running the economy? All seems to running fine in our government. I worry more that someone has made a list of 350+ people to arrest if Trump is elected. Right now, journos are focusing on Biden for news and click bait. Let's see how much "insightful" coverage is done for GOP convention. It's a gaslighting platform.

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Putin annexed parts of the Ukraine under Obama and Biden...introducing Putin as the President of the Ukraine at a NATO conference is a blunder. You can dance around it, but it is not "good."

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You seem to have other reasons not to like Biden.

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Biden letting Putin re-attack Ukraine is another reason for sure

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Are you wanting for USA and NATO military in Ukraine then? Delivery of weaponry not good enough?

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Well since Biden lost the ability to "deter" Putin, delivery of weapons does not equate to winning does it? What is Biden's definition of winning beyond giving more weapons? Return to pre-2022 border? Return to pre-2014 border?

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Jul 12
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If Ukrainians are not staying to fight, why do they deserve aid? We are backing Ukrainian pensions to stem the flow. Currently, as many as 8 million Ukrainians are registered as refugees in Europe alone (UNHCR, 2023).

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Jul 13
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Millions of Ukrainians have left…this is a fact. It is why we are having to pay for Ukrainian pensions to prevent others from fleeing. It is intellectually dishonest to say Americans cannot consider facts in providing billions of dollars in aid and possibly fighting in Europe.

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Jul 13
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Stating the fact that nearly 8 million Ukrainians have left the Ukraine is not “parroting” Putin. It is a huge red flag on our continued support for the war

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