Now that it no longer makes any difference, leading Democrats have finally come clean about the ousting of Joe Biden from the 2024 White House race. The backstory has it all: anguish, delusion, behind-the-scenes plotting, suspicion, and recriminations. It’s all very much like one of those unbearable reality TV shows with the motley collection of insecure, talentless narcissists vying for the grand prize. Only, in this real-life Washington, DC, version, the cast is old and ugly rather than young and beautiful. On Jan. 17, The New York Times recounted the story of a modern American palace coup, putting to rest, once and for all, the Democrats’ pre-election narrative that Biden’s retirement from the campaign was some bold and selfless gesture that took the party by surprise.
Even before the June 27 presidential debate – an unmitigated disaster for the incumbent – more than a few Democrats were concerned about Biden’s ability to win re-election. Republicans and conservative commentators were already bludgeoning the Biden campaign over the president’s very obviously deteriorating cognitive and physical state. Democrats and their media stenographers were insisting that Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack” – a phrase used so frequently, at one point, that it became obvious this was a coordinated circling of the wagons.
Biden’s political allies, as well as a host of supportive pundits and journalists, scoffed at conservatives who relentlessly ridiculed the chief executive’s rambling tales, incoherent or nonsensical statements, forgetfulness, and disorientation. But several Democrats were aware of his condition, and they were concerned – if only, perhaps, for their dwindling chances of retaining their own seats with a flaky and confused Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.
Post-Debate Panic
Right after the debate between Donald Trump and Biden – that very night – panic set in. Among the most prominent Democrats agitating for Biden to abandon his re-election campaign were Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, then-House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of Rhode Island. At a July 11 meeting, according to The Times report, Reed even demanded public statements from two neurologists, asserting that Joe Biden was fit to serve a second term.
Former President Barack Obama was also on board with jettisoning the frail, fumbling, and now historically unpopular commander-in-chief. But Obama knew he was not the man to get Joe to drop out. The two men had a “fragile relationship,” as The Times piece put it. After irking Joe Biden by endorsing Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, Obama almost certainly couldn’t imagine a scenario in which he advised Biden to abandon a second term bid and that advice being well-received.
For his part, Jeffries was already pushing for Vice President Kamala Harris to pick up the torch. In hindsight, that choice showed the House Democratic leader to be a man of dreadfully flawed political judgment.
Schumer the Reluctant Henchman
But the man who found himself the somewhat reluctant tip of the spear, so to speak, was then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Not that Schumer wanted Biden to continue running. Quite the contrary. The top Democrat in the upper chamber was terrified Joe Biden could not beat Trump and that he would also lose control of Congress to the Republicans if he stayed in the race. But Schumer seemed genuinely unaware of Biden’s cognitive deterioration.
The top senator spoke with Biden on July 3, desperate to get the president on the counteroffensive in the face of growing doubts about his mental state. “Mr. President,” Schumer said, “the only way you’re going to save this is to show up day in and day out, with unscripted town halls. And people will be able to smell if it’s spontaneous, and it will show that [the debate] was a one-off.”
Of course, Joe Biden was in no way capable of facing either the public or the press in any but the most carefully scripted and stage-managed events. For at least several months prior – and many would argue the problems were apparent much earlier – Biden had said or done something embarrassing during the course of every public appearance. Schumer couldn’t have given Biden a worse suggestion, in fact – unless he secretly knew that Biden would have gone down in flames if he had run with it.
Joe Biden Tilts at Windmills
The whole time, Joe Biden was digging in, determined to stay the course and not at all happy that some people within his own party wanted him gone. The then-president seemed entirely ignorant of his unpopularity among the voting public and of the strength and breadth of opposition to his re-election bid within his party ranks.
Eventually, Schumer made the lonely trek to the Bidens’ Rehoboth Beach house in Delaware to practically give the incumbent an ultimatum. Senate Democrats were on the verge of going public and demanding, in writing, that Joe Biden step aside for someone else. That someone else – Harris – had already been chosen. Biden knew it. Schumer told him he probably couldn’t find more than five Democrat senators who would support him continuing his campaign. The senator also pointed out that Biden’s own pollsters were giving him a 5% chance of beating Trump in the election – something those pollsters were obviously keeping from their boss.
“If I were you,” Schumer told him, “I wouldn’t run, and I’m urging you not to run.” Biden said he needed a week – and the rest is now history.
Curiously, The Times article makes no mention of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, even though she was one of the key players in the ousting of Joe Biden. At least, that’s what the Biden family believes – and they would surely know. The animosity toward Pelosi is now on full display. Joe Biden rebuffed Pelosi’s multiple attempts to have a conversation with him, Politico reported. The former House Speaker met with Biden’s aides after the latter withdrew from the 2024 race. According to someone who spoke with Pelosi after that meeting, “She’s been told they’re not over it, don’t make more overtures because [Biden’s] blaming her.”
One thing remains a mystery. According to the official 2020 vote count, Joe Biden won more votes than any other presidential candidate in American history – by a considerable margin. The closest was Trump himself in 2024, still some 4 million votes shy of Biden’s reported 2020 tally. In addition – so the Biden White House, Democrats, and the establishment media have claimed – Biden created the strongest economy ever experienced, presided over record job creation, and is greatly admired by just about every world leader. So, how is it even remotely possible that he would have lost to Trump, the worst person who ever lived, according to these same people?
Could it be because everything we were told about Joe Biden and his time in the White House was, from the very beginning, a manufactured illusion – and, after four years of it, most Americans had figured that out?
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