US Politics, July 2024 - "Will you just drop out, man?"

also, I gotta bring this up - Kamala Harris looks good. she's attractive and presentable whereas both current Presidential candidates look like shit. obviously this shouldn't matter but I can't help but think it does. good looking candidates tend to win. JFK, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, they all looked like actors and did very well vs. candidates who were just old white guys. just from a monkeybrain perspective the visual of Trump vs. Biden is a different thing than Trump vs. Harris.

― frogbs,

https://i.imgur.com/V1qvFZL.jpg

And even though there's no guarantee she'd win, if she did, Trump losing to a Black woman would just be the greatest send-off imaginable.

otm

also you know a lot of rightwing voices (though maybe not Trump himself) would go all in on this "DEI President" idea which you know would play extremely poorly

Idle speculation, but if Harris were the candidate I wonder if Trump would consent to another debate or if his people would think the contrast wouldn't favor him. They could always refuse on the grounds that she's not a legitimate candidate or something.

She looks like a president from central casting, as trump would say, unlike trump.

She'd make the entire party go nuts. I was just going to post that the downside, maybe, is that I don't think they'd ever let him get on a debate stage with her.

Please give me DEI president
I’m dying for Kamala to be front and center — she’s not perfect but goddamn looking at/thinking about her doesn’t make me grimace in disgust bc she’s an appropriately aged and skilled/qualified candidate.

Also she is a woman!!! Please lord bring it on

“Anyone who hates Trump probably assumes at this point that Trump couldn't do or say anything that would make you think less of him; Harris might be able to pull that off.”

This!

Trump doesn’t have much of a mask left, this would explode it, and the world could see him fully for who he is - in terms of what he’d say.

LL otm, Raymond otm

Alright, you’ve talked me into it.

Trump would so call her a N-Word at a debate or a rally in like Oklahoma or Nebraska.

It is time for us to do what we have been doing and that time is every day NOW!.

Just your dauly reminder that Kamala is Asian-American too,

I think every Asian-American immigrant parent is going to do a fist bump if she gets the nomination.

C., doesn't he already do the thing where he pretends to have trouble pronouncing her first name? Hyuk hyuk, o my sides, weird name = ethnic other, dogwhistle dogwhistle, guffaw guffaw.

Barak HUSSEIN Obama, etc.

I can already imagine a Trump rally line about how he’s now up against Obama for the White House

All this shit is what could energize lethargic voters to be like hell no fuck this guy I’m voting for her and poof she wins and we have a woman president!!!!!! Felicity otm as well.

Obviously it's all murky right now, I'm afraid that the signals we're getting so far sound kind of like "Let's see how things go but also let's bump up Harris a little bit just in case she needs to step in," which feels like ... the closest thing to denialism they can muster. The bad thing about that approach is it becomes kinda, what signal are you waiting for?

I don't know, I don't think this has to happen TODAY — although I wouldn't be opposed to it if it did — but I think the damage is done. This is going be a dominant part of the conversation from now until November if he's in the race, people will be scrutinizing every single little thing and debating it and comparing it to older clips of him and on and on, I just don't see a good way for him to stay in at this point.

I’m taking a moment to dream, please excuse me.

Personally, I'm ready for what can be, unburdened by what has been.

I like your dream LL and I think it's more realistic than any scenario involving a Biden November triumph. (A low bar perhaps, but it seems possible to me.)

yeah biden leaving would totally be a relief.

that WH press release later today saying the entire democratic establishment backs biden to the hilt is gonna hit different. a sizzling anvil of dread slamming down like mountain

if she wins trump can spend the rest of his life ranting about the fake deep state president who was illegally installed by george soros at the last minute.

Hallmark Channel proudly presents...
"The Samoa Loophole" https://t.co/RmpRePlk0i

— David Dayen (@ddayen) July 3, 2024

if she wins trump can spend the rest of his life ranting about the fake deep state president who was illegally installed by george soros at the last minute.

in prison

I really think the Harris-For-Biden switch is a done deal, it's just a matter now of the team figuring how to frame it in such a way that saves face for Biden/the party and gives Kamala a hero's sheen. Never waste a good crisis, etc.

subtly underscoring the optics of convicted felon vs. former prosecutor

She steps up and tells people to bring it home/finish the job for Joe, the lifelong public servant who only stepped up as a candidate in 2020 to thwart Il Douché.

Gamblers think they know something

It's absolutely Joever, Kamala reigns supreme: pic.twitter.com/1nIXjQAIR5

— Quantіan (@quantian1) July 3, 2024

lol @ "Joever"

Joe-ver (otherwise it looks like Joe Forever).

even if kamala is awkward it doesn't matter. she can talk! and walk! she's not trump! its like she's an angel sent from above.

I keep reading "Joever" as "Joe-ever" rather than "Joe over."

xp!

You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table

One way we can help manifest this is call your congressman and senators, call the White House.

Call Maya Rudolph. She will be booked and busy.

Her phone must be constantly exploding this summer

I called the White House but they said Joe was busy

#naptime

She steps up and tells people to bring it home/finish the job for Joe, the lifelong public servant who only stepped up as a candidate in 2020 to thwart Il Douché.

I was thinking this too, that it would be a lot easier for Dems to feel affectionate toward Biden if he wasn't on the ticket. He doesn't have to disappear, he could be a lovable win-it-for-the-gipper figure for those so inclined.

At a minimum, all of this would scramble the GOP's narrative and attack lines. Not that they don't have plenty they will deploy against Harris, obviously, but if it's a huge adjustment for the Democrats it's also a major one for the Republicans (who are yes stuck with their own deeply unpopular candidate).

Yeah tipsy, apparently Trump wants Biden to stay in.

https://wapo.st/3XUOzhT giftie

Which might plausibly be another reason to do the opposite.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/03/kamala-harris-joe-biden-election-2024-democrats
Mehdi's on board

re: framing/face-saving --- Biden could probably pull off a speech that starts really personal and relateable, about the experience of aging and realizing he can't do the things he could do only a short time ago, "I still think of myself as that young guy," and then broadens out to proud statements about his lifetime in public service, the urgency of beating Trump, and how Harris is the person to do it.

not saying he WOULD make that speech. but i think he could deliver it well and that it might actually work on a lot of folks.

Oh yeah, that would be ideal.

There's definitely a well of sympathy he can draw on if he's no longer trying to make the case that he's the guy for the job.

News: Jeff Zients begins all-staff call.
"July 4th is one of my favorite holidays"
says it's a key milestone in an election year.
"He didn't have a great night but that was one night and what we all know is he is a great president."

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 3, 2024

Heads up and heads down