Trump “is somebody who is trying to destroy our country”
Democrats need to look themselves in the mirror when former Republicans from the Lincoln Project are standing behind Joe Biden more steadfastly than they are. We need to look beyond the players to the broader stakes in this election and make clear to voters what they are.
“I will take an old man with a cold over a narcissitic sociopath with a dictator kink any day,” said Ryan Wiggins, the group’s chief of staff. “We have got the Democratic nominee’s back because Trump cannot be president of this country ever again.”
“Our answer is to go out and find the bad guys and punch them in the face,” insists Rick Wilson. “You can never take your foot off the gas in attacking Donald Trump.”
When you’ve cut your opponent over the eye, work the eye!
“Only one of the two main presidential candidates poses an existential threat to democracy,” said MSNBC’s Ali Velshi Saturday. So take a deep breath and hold that thought.
Reports of Joe Biden’s political death may be greatly exaggerated (The Hill):
President Biden, in the wake of a poor debate performance and growing calls for him to step aside, has narrowed Trump’s lead in the key swing states, according to a new survey.
The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll, published Saturday, showed Biden leading Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. In Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, the incumbent is now within the margin of error, per the survey.
Overall, the poll found that Trump is leading Biden by only 2 percentage points across the seven states — 47 percent to 45 percent. This is the closest Biden has been to overtaking Trump since Bloomberg started tracking the seven states last October.
The poll also showed Biden narrowed the gap with independent voters, with Trump and Biden being tied at 40 percent. In a previous poll, the former president led the incumbent 44 percent to 36 percent.
The widest gap between the presumptive party nominees came from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Biden’s home turf. The survey shows Trump received 51 percent of support from Keystone State voters, compared to Biden’s 44 percent.
The poll was of registered voters. Now give me likely voters, please.
Morning Consult reports that a majority of swing state voters believe Biden should end his campaign, yet hold on:
While the first 2024 presidential debate appeared to alarm some Democratic leaders and created an opening for the press to ditch its politeness about discussing Biden’s cognitive abilities, our surveys of swing-state surveys for Bloomberg News — and our national-level data — show the matter has done little to change the underlying dynamics of the contest.
While Biden is still underperforming Trump, the newfound vocal alarm from those in his party has been met by a more modest growth in concern among the electorate, suggesting the age matter was already baked into many voters’ calculus; the main difference now is voters’ renewed emphasis on each candidate’s vice presidential selections as the race moves forward.
All the “he’s too old” surveys cloud what may be a more important factor in this campaign. Biden’s ability to serve in the presidency for another four years is not what’s at stake. Worrying about that is, as Stuart Stevens told MSNBC, like worrying about your cholesterol in the middle of a knife fight.
The only thing that matters going forward to November is Democrats winning and keeping the country and the world out of the hands of Donald Trump and people like those below, whether they march in fascist garb or wear MAGA hats or tailored suits.
Heather Cox Richardson reminds Christiane Amanpour what happened the last time a Democratic president bowed out in the middle of a race. It was 1968. Democrats lost.
Richardson believes as I do that the focus on Biden is misguided. “I don’t care if we elect Biden or Harris, or anybody else. I care that we recognize running currently against that ticket is somebody who is trying to destroy our country.”
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