Bye Bye, Biden

I had such high hopes that we’d make it through all four days of the Republican Convention without some kind of Joe Biden-related drama popping up.

Silly me. I should have known better.

Had you asked me a week ago, I would’ve bet good money that sometime during the Republican convention Biden would have stepped down, cackling Kamala would’ve been sworn in as the new Resident of the Oval Office and the fight to be Kamala’s Veep would be on like Donkey Kong.

Indeed, that’s how things stood as of last Friday, 7/12, when it was widely reported that multiple donors to pro-Biden PAC Future Forward had threatened to freeze some $90 million in funds unless Joe withdrew from the race within 48 hours. Team Biden had been frantically working all week to shore up his support among Congressional Democrats, with some apparent success. Having donors yank the money choke chain on Friday while giving Joe a 48 hour deadline squirted lighter fluid on the “Joe’s Gotta Go” fire.

Lots of us in the Conservaverse began speculating about just when the deal would be cut (me: over the weekend), finalized (Monday or Tuesday) and then announced (Wednesday or Thursday). That would have completely discombobulated the Republican’s tightly-scripted convention plans. Just rewriting the speeches to pivot from Biden to Harris—or some other Democrat To Be Determined—would have caused a panic.

Not me, of course. I’d have taken a few minutes to vent about the nigh-impossibility of such a monumental rewrite, cursed all and sundry to the lowest depths of Baptist hell—right down there with the people who bring a sack of Krystals to a covered dish supper—and had the rewrite done in 20 minutes. 30 minutes, tops; ‘cause that’s just how I roll.

Then on Saturday, 7/13, President Trump dodged a bullet.

The Democrats suddenly announced they were “pulling together” to support their President, who was now condemning political violence without reservation. His own statement just five days earlier that they needed to “put Trump in a bullseye” and all those soundbites of Democrats inciting violence flooding social media might have had something to do with that. Words like “eliminated,” “taken out” and “stopped” that the Dems and their Never Trumper friends spoke with such glee in the past suddenly turned to ashes in their mouths.

It looked like the movement to replace Joe on the ticket had stalled, as the Democrat’s incendiary rhetoric came back to haunt them. For a while, it appeared that Joe was going to be able to hold onto the nomination despite the Future Forward donors threatening to withhold that $90 million. But, appearances were deceiving.

Weeks ago, the DNC scheduled a “nominating Zoom” call on July 21st, well in advance of their convention, to make sure that Joe Biden was officially their nominee before Ohio’s ballot deadline. On Wednesday, 7/17, the DNC agreed to delay the nomination until at least August 1st. This delay apparently came in response to a letter circulated among House Democrats that said “It could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats” to rush to nominate Joe Biden. The letter has now been withdrawn, but there are other reports that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer both supported the delay.

Translation: they wanted time to find a way to oust Biden before their convention.

It was also reported on Wednesday that last week, Mr. Jeffries visited the White House to urge Biden to resign, and that Mr. Schumer visited Biden in Delaware on Saturday to do the same. Naturally, spokespersons for both refused to confirm these discussions. Later that day, several sources including The Young Turks and Megyn Kelly reported that Saturday, shortly before President Trump was shot, Biden “went off” on a group of moderate congressional Democrats during a Zoom call. One person on the call said “It was even worse than the debate. He would start an answer, then lose his train of thought, then (he) would just say “whatever”…I’ve lost a ton of respect for him.” Another said “had the (assassination) attempt not occurred an hour later, I think 50 people on that Zoom were ready to come out publicly against him.”

On Tuesday, Politico reported that Nancy Pelosi has been quietly working the phones since June 27th to find “a way to ease him off the ticket,” and that Rep. Adam Schiff—currently locked in a heated Senate race in California—has been addressing his colleagues who are reluctant to join his call for Biden to resign. Schiff’s call on Biden to remove himself from the ticket was repeated in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, quoting Schiff’s statement that “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November…While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch, and in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.”

Then Wednesday, Joe Biden tested positive for COVID, canceled a fundraiser in Las Vegas, staggered up the short steps on Air Force One and flew to Delaware.

The White House was quick to note that Mr. Biden “is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms. He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.”

The obvious snide remarks about his jabs and boosters being “safe and effective, my adipose hirsute gluteals” aside, only day before, Biden told BET that he’d drop out if he was diagnosed with a “medical condition?”

Now he’s got that “medical condition,” and at his age, his immune system ravaged by the jabs (if he indeed got real jabs and not saline), that’s no joke.

Come on, man! If he gets short of breath, will he be put on “the protocol?” Will he get intubated and pumped full of RunDeathIsNear…I mean remdesivir? Will all of his family, including Dr. Jill, be barred from his room? Because I have to tell you, as much as I despise the man, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Okay, that’s a lie. I’m egosyntonically Evil enough that I'd snicker if he got poetic justice like that, but we all know that won’t happen. Probably.

Is Biden’s COVID a blessing in disguise for the Dems? Certainly the hypocrisy of Joe’s “minor symptoms” versus the “OMG COVID COVID COVID” hysteria and fear porn they’ve shoveled these past years won’t bother them. Hypocrisy, even of this magnitude, never bothers Democrats. It certainly won’t slow down Team Biden’s efforts to keep their sock puppet propped up and on the ticket through November, and maybe even January.

As for the rest of the Democrats, many of whom are looking at the polls and seeing the disaster up and down the ballot? Or those who are finally realizing that the same guy who mumbled “I don’t know what I’m signing” in 2021 has only gotten worse since then, all the lies to the contrary notwithstanding? Or those who have finally realized that their party is about to completely abandon any pretense of democracy by ignoring the results of their (rigged, essentially closed to any other candidate) primaries and nominate a candidate hand-selected by their party elites and donors? What about them?

The Democrats have truly screwed themselves, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of scum. No matter what they do at this point, they’ll look bad, and the consequences will be worse.

That raises one more question, which has to be asked: is Biden’s COVID diagnosis real, or is it yet another lie put forth by this Regime to give Biden a viable, face-saving excuse to step down? Is this part of a coordinated strategy to give the donors and Democrat elites what they want? Is this their Hail Mary to try to salvage something in November? Will “long COVID” be the “reason” Biden reluctantly withdraws from the race “for the good of the nation?” And, does it really matter to Schumer, Pelosi, the donors et al, so long as he’s gone? I doubt it.

Strong-arming Biden to resign because of “COVID,” even if they have to give Dr. Jill her asking price ($2 billion Presidential Library fund, pardons/immunity from prosecution for everyone in the family, $100 million book deal for her) may be the best option the Democrats have at this point.

Just, please…is it too much to hope that they wait until next week to swear Kamala in?

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/ publishers.