Yves here. Tom Neuburger’s latest on “What to do about Biden” raises a lot of interesting points for discussion, even if yours truly does not necessarily agree with them. The one that bothers me the most is the premise that voters should have a say. Operationally, with the primaries past, there is no mechanism by which this can happen. On top of that, it has long been evident that the Democrats regard regular voters as mere chumps, to be used and then tossed aside. The party does not support policies that the majority of Americans, and not just self-identified Dems, want, starting with higher minimum wages, strengthening Medicare and Social Security, taxing the rich, and cutting military spending. The party cheated like crazy to beat Sanders and then did not even deign to toss any policy bones to his backers. They also employed incredibly aggressive methods to bar primary competitors to Biden, most of all RFK, Jr. and even frontally declared that Biden was the candidate, no opposition allowed.
And as for legitimate-looking, feel-good conventions, come on. Trump had an absolutely awful convention in 2016, where his team had difficulty getting anyone other than members of his family to appear on the stage with him. And recall the horrible and protracted fight he had with the father of the deceased Gold Star soldier? Didn’t keep him from winning.
And as to the deal Biden might take, I’d hazard to the reverse of what Tom suggests. The Bidens appear to spend at the limit of their means and then some. A contact who has a very fine eye (as in points out the Bidens own expensive-to-maintain house, among other lifestyle indicators) estimates it would take $200 million to get Biden to go away, as in that is what it would cost to keep him and his extended family at the standard to which they have become accustomed, as well as pay for legal bills, particularly Hunter’s.
By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at God’s Spies
The Donor Convention is happening as we speak — the behind-the-scenes (sort of) discussion being had by big money Party donors and grandees to (a) force Biden to either resign or withdraw, and (b) figure out who should replace him.
The takeaway: None of this includes voters, except indirectly. (Questions like “Can Harris beat Trump?” include voters indirectly, by guessing their choices.)
The problem: Even though everyone in the Party seems to want to beat Trump, including most Party-adjacent voters, some may feel miffed at the obvious undemocratic nature of the process and thus stay away. At this point the Party needs all the votes it can get. That’s a hard circle to square.
Candidate Requirements
What are the requirements for the candidate in this process? I think there are four:
- Donors must approve of that person and give freely to her or his race.
- Party office-holders — House members and senators, especially those up for re-election — must fully support the choice.
- The press must also fully support the choice. No more talk about “uncertain futures.” No more “Dems in disarray.”
- Voters, both Democrat-adjacent and true independents, must think either
• The donors chose well, or
• Voters had a real say in the process.
All these seem required, but especially 1 and 4. When the donors decide to whom to open their wallets — and do so together — the Party and press will follow. Nervous Democrats needn’t worry about them.
But to voters, the process can’t look too undemocratic. As Ryan Grim wrote, “The key for an open convention to be legitimate in the eyes of the public is that it has to feel open.”
Grim is exactly right. A product can’t just be good for you; it has to feel good for you too. That’s why they put fizz in some toothpaste brands: It fizzes; that means it’s working. Of course, the fizz is often hydrogen peroxide, which does provide benefit. But it also feels beneficial, and that’s what moves product.
If the various candidates and their allies are on TV regularly and giving speeches on their behalf, with regular breaking-news around endorsements from big-wigs, unions, environmental groups, etc., it will feel like what we understand today as authentically real and democratic: reality TV.
Reality TV. Why would that work?
The spectacle will captivate global attention and create a bond between the viewer and the stars of the spectacle – especially if it seems like social media sentiment is playing a real role in how things are unfolding. If that sentiment is seen as helping choose the next nominee, Trump is toast. If Democratic bosses anoint somebody, that person is toast.
Not sure I’m as confident in the outcome as Grim is, but I agree the process has to feel right to voters, or few will buy into it.
Intelligence Community Speaks
I would be remiss in not saying that the “vote” of the intelligence community matters as well. They’ve already weighed in at least twice, and they don’t want Biden.
The first time was September of last year. David Ignatius is as spook-adjacent as a reporter can get. In 2023 he wrote in the Washington Post, “President Biden should not run again in 2024”. His reason, Biden’s two “liabilities”: his age and Kamala Harris.
After all, if every donor knew early that Biden was frail (as Krystal Ball said on her show), did the spook state not also know? Ignatius and his whisperers may have changed their mind about Harris, but not about Joe.
The second time came just this week. Matt Taibbi wrote this about Senator Mark Warner (subscriber post; emphasis added): “The [Washington] Post report said the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, was planning to gather prominent Democrats to ask Biden to consider stepping down. The optics of the elected official with perhaps the closest ties to the intelligence community dropping that news so shortly before Biden’s biggest televised interview since the debate were not hard to decipher.”
Court-watchers and King Lear’s “God’s spies,” please take note. Do you think they want Trump? The IC gets a vote too.
How Donors Could End Biden’s Reign
Before I say this, remember, I don’t have a horse in the Democratic Party race. There’s no real progressive option. I do want the strongest candidate though, and I’d like it soon. To that end, I offer this.
If every donor agreed that Ms. Somebody Else is their choice, the way to remove Biden and the people who’ve stiffened his spine is simple and clear: Refuse to finance his and his family’s retirement.
You know what I mean. No library money, fewer speeches, a total cold shoulder from all the big money types. It’s not even a bribe; it’s a post facto carrot that’s also a perfect stick. Even the Court says post facto tipping’s all right.
And it would work. Every modern ex-president would take that deal. The Bidens and their closest friends, if they choose right, would sail to the islands of sun on boats made of gold, surrounded by flowers and praise.
And we, the public, would know who our choices are … finally.
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So we need to bribe a corrupt, senile president so our democracy can be saved?
I wish I didnt have family I cared about in America, otherwise I’d be gone.
Yep. Bribe the Family… or maybe a severed horse’s head in Dr. Jill’s bed.
*Cut to the Don, shrugging*
Our democracy, that example for the whole world to emulate, must be awfully fragile if we’re having to save it one election after another.
Lol, If the US is a “democratic republic” we don’t need no stinkin plutocratic oligarchies.
Maybe increase “The Big Guy’s” cut to 15% or 16%?
Americans still get to vote on if Biden serves another term. Republic democracy preserved.
Wait, so if I gave/give a few dollars to Biden’s reelection campaign, will I get an invite to who we pick next?? Oh boy.
Or, is there a minimum?
Sarc off now…
Dollars are better sent to NC and Water Cooler. At least here you are not being treated like a mushroom.
Not sure how much of a threat refusing to fund his retirement amounts to when he might not even make it to election day.
You have to treat “Biden” as a complex Crime Family. “Creepy” Joe is just the ‘front man’ for the extended cabal of corrupt family members.
Romney, Pelosi and Kerry kiddie corps in on Burisma, too. SBF/FTX dropped off the radar screen.
Hunter’s the front man. Joe Biden TM is the product.
This Bok cartoon is funny in a schadenfreude way.
https://www.gocomics.com/chipbok/2024/07/05
He might not make it but his family will.
Here’s my tinfoil hat idea:
Biden gets the now-legal bribe to step down now, Harris gets to be an empty suit President with the condition that she stays out of the race, Dem donors pick a new ticket.
I’ve been wondering for a while now if Kamala would trade becoming the First Woman President for a proscribed lame duck 6-month term.
She doesn’t stand for anything, so my guess is that she’d jump at the chance.
I’d urge her to take the deal just to piss off Hillary.
Claiming Kamala does not stand for anything is unfair to Kamala.
It appears she stands for protection of the wealthy-well-connected
See https://theintercept.com/2017/01/05/kamala-harris-fails-to-explain-why-she-didnt-prosecute-steven-mnuchins-bank/
See the leaked memo at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3250383-OneWest-Package-Memo.html
The memo’s cover has “case not filed despite strong recommendations.”
The memo has “We therefore recommend that the Attorney General authorize the filing of a civil enforcement action against OneWest”
The Attorney General in question was Kamala Harris.
Ha, the visuals of Amerikan ‘free speech” in action:
Joe, here’s $200M of free speech to STFU and go away!
Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly what SCOTUS meant!
Between Trum and Biden, I feel like it’s watching a tag-team against Ladies Liberty and Justice.
Confidence is at an all- time low, cynicism an all-time high. End of Empire – and it ain’t pretty.
Better fire up the MIC for its last hurrah!
Biden should push for Nobel peace prize along with the money to complete this farce
To replace Biden would be taking a genuine risk and a demonstration of convictions – something that is lacking in political arenas these days. Watching the very wishy washy calls for Biden stepping down its apparent no one with substantial standing in the party is going to cross the line and put their political future at risk. Biden’s crew has told everyone to not trust their lying eyes and the reponse has amounted to little more than navel gazing.
I categorically dismiss the idea that the donors have any weight here as well – they are just as trapped as Democratic base. They have nowhere to go either.
Besides, even if they do pull their dollars its not like they’ll be materially affected by a Trump presidency.
Besides, even if they do pull their dollars its not like they’ll be materially affected by a Trump presidency.
Remember how much Hillary collected in donations when it seemed like there would be a coronation? Pay for Play was on. Trump will be president after the same donors basically demanded he be prosecuted. Pay for Play is going to make the most dire tax hike seem like a child’s game.
O got a peace price for war; why not GJ?
There was an article I think Connor linked to last week, it was an interview in which the idea of “accountability sinks” was proposed.
As with “It Is Now Labour’s turn to Expand the Piecemeal Privatisation of the UK’s National Health Service”, Yves comment on Neuberger’s positioning of “voters” in his frame highlights his failure to recognize what voting is for in “Our Democracy”.
Voting is an accountability sink, it serves no other purpose in “The West”.
Here’s the article: https://archive.ph/KsX9x, it was linked on July 4th
If only there was a democratic process to choose between the candidates offered up to us by the donors. Because if there was, then … yay democracy! LoL.
Makes me now think that when we hear appeals to “our democracy” that what they’re really talking about is the mediation between the empire and the people separate and apart from voting. The machinery of manufacturing consent in particular.
We hear that the opposite to “our democracy” would be a dictator – which is presumably one who doesn’t need to manufacture consent. But I think at the end of the day, even dictators manufacture consent – it’s just through the blunt instrument of authority. And if there’s anything you learn after being on the wrong side of authority, it’s that “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”. Just look at life working for somebody else – it’s run as a dictatorship and it’s effectively manufactured consent. They buy our vote through wages.
And even democracies need to resort to authority; where consent isn’t manufacured, authority fills the gaps, telling the malcontents what is what. I think the difference is that manufacturing consent in a democracy has a more deft touch, using authority that people do subscribe to as surrogates on behalf of the authority that needs it. In particular, by using the authority of media. But it starts by getting people to vote, which gets them subscribed to recognizing the primary authority to begin with.
Getting back to accountability, maybe dictatorships are less accountable? But how accountable is “our democracy”, really?
Anyways, the Biden replacement will be another exercise in manufacturing consent. And if they go on to win, they won’t be accountable.
Question: Other than ‘defeating Trump,’ what do the Democrats have to offer? The point: defeating Trump is a campaign strategy, not a plan for governing.
In other words, without Donald Trump, what is the Democrat’s raison d’etre (reason for existing)?
This makes Mr. Trump 1) the best thing that ever happened to the Democrat’s and / or 2) a bete noir (dark beast) used by cynical manipulators to frighten voters into doing the Democrat’s bidding.
Joe Biden’s central accomplishment has been bringing the world closer to nuclear annihilation than at any other point in human history. His second was getting 600,000 (Colonel Douglas MacGregor’s most recent number) Ukrainians slaughtered in a bid to destroy Russia. His third was co-launching a WWII style genocide in Gaza.
So sure, another round of Donald Trump is going to be not-constructive. But that he is running again is completely and utterly a result of the Democrat’s 1) failure to govern effectively and 2) their launch of multiple military misadventures for the benefit of the MIC that, with some likelihood, could turn the US into a burning ember.
The entirety of the Democrats on the short list to replace Biden couldn’t, working together, make accurate change for a dollar. And they will be handed the most dangerous circumstances (Thanks Joe!) in modern history. God help us all.
Given JB’s diminished cognitive abilities, it’s safe to say that he’s something of a puppet emperor with no…
Remember the DT almost started WWIII as well and ramped up sanctions on his purported friend in Russia. And as we know, the Genocide will continue no matter.
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”
The corruption is open for all to see, we might as well sell political offices to the highest bidder – it would be much more transparent that way.
No matter what the outcome of Elections Inc., the BiPartisan Consensus/Washington Consensus will prevail, of course. It appears that the stage-managed media spectacle and hysteria is all to perpetuate the illusion of choice. The Ds need the Rs and vice-versa to keep the plebs tilting at windmills, while the bribe-masters call the shots behind the curtain.
And Elections Inc. generates 100s of millions for MassMedia, advertising firms, consultancies, PR and marketing firms etc. The best money can buy!
Yes. Trump is only ‘better’ than Biden in that he ‘may’ if he can over come various obstacles set in his way, stop the war in the Ukraine. He will not stop the genocide in Gaza, or the aggression in Lebanon, and he will not stop the ‘pivot to the east’, or the slow grind of job losses in the US, or the ‘migrant problem’, (or indeed the de-industrialisation of Europe even if he wanted to, which he won’t).
The fact that the best the ‘indispensable nation (???!!!) can do for leadership is these two pathetic old clowns really says all that needs to be said about the state of the US empire. The only parallel is the useless, servile neo-liberal scum who, in the recent past and currently, control the UK, Germany, France and other assorted satrapies in Europe.
The ‘west’ is now a putrefying mess of greed, mediocrity, incompetent managerialism and hopeless ambition. It urgently needs Russia and China to end this miserable farce.
JB or the neocon ‘Bush Democrats’ who pull his strings probably also deserves credit for undoing generations of US policy aimed at dividing Russian and China, AND aimed at dividing Iran and Saudi Arabia. He is a uniter!
I’m not sure I buy the premise that to “Refuse to finance his and his family’s retirement” could ever happen. If that’s the case, we can’t get rid of him because all it takes is a _very small_ contingent of Democrat donors to bankroll (or at least promise to bankroll) that retirement.
Sadly, Biden could have gone out with a ton of respect in, say, March he had just said he was not opting for re-election. People would have loved him and respected him. Now, the power-hungry hoards in the White House, clinging to their man and the power surge of being in the White House, are riding this old, broke down horse as far as he’ll go–which ain’t far.
People who love and respect lying, corrupt, psychopathic war criminals are a big reason why the US is declining.
I don’t know if Baden could ever have exited with a “ton of respect”. He may not even care about his legacy which is littered with harmful choices. See Clarence Thomas, support for multiple wars, no medicare for all, student loan not dischargeable in bankruptcy, crime bill.
I suspect biden and family are angling for a sufficiently large Golden parachute with “respect/legacy” an insignificant factor.
Everyone was and is saying they don’t want these two old guys for President, but the parties forced them on to us. The elections are rigged. In favor of the two party system.
The election is rigged in favor of the oligarchs who run the country in conjunction with their princely minions who run the blob or deep state. A very well oiled machine that excludes the proles. Sorry, Ben Franklin. We screwed it up.
Nobody is forcing people to vote and thereby lend legitimacy to the current system.
But not only do people vote, they vote for terrible people.
And no surprise, here we are.
Following your “don’t lend legitimacy by voting” would work if elections were re-done iff not enough people voted. But that is not the case. If every voter but one did not vote, that one voter would determine the result. Voters are given toxic choices that non voting is unlikely to change. Non voting will not change the shamocracy the USA has.
Yves’s comments about voters are well-observed. Days of coverage about Biden’s inadequacies and it’s all for donors, insiders, and the media—no voters have a say. Most of them probably haven’t changed their minds. If all you have is a vote and you want Trump out, you really will vote blue no matter who. But if you are a Biden top donor and no longer trust your investment, you need to whip up a consensus to get your money’s worth.
To your point, currently on the reddit frontpage, a post about how NPR is almost exclusively focusing on Biden’s travails.
https://old.reddit.com/r/NPR/comments/1dymduw/npr_i_love_you_but_youre_killing_me/
Sadly, people (ie highly educated NPR listeners) don’t understand that the many of major donors to NPR are the same or connected to DNC donors.
The really sad thing is that people refuse to see how powerless they really are in this situation, and the power they want to exercise is to force NPR to conform to their vision of reality, the same vision that said donors have been funding up until Dorothy pulled back the curtain on the Wizard.
I don’t trust polls that show Biden still only a few points behind. And even a few points are still enough to lose. His only argument was that he can beat Trump and that now seems extremely unlikely.
So of course the donors and the mainstream Dems like Rob Reiner are against him. And perhaps they too were deceived about his condition and feel betrayed.
There’s no shame in the Dems dumping Biden. They handed him the nomination on a silver platter and can just as well take it away. If he doesn’t want to cooperate there are doubtless plenty of skeletons in the closet waiting to tumble out.
Last projection I heard had Biden winning the Electoral College by 2
points. Well, a win is a win! Or would be…. except remembering
the 2000 election with the Supreme Court weighing in while
votes were still being counted in Florida. And that was BEFORE
the 3 Stooges got put in by Moscow Mitch. Corruption worthy
of the Renaissance Popes. The Court used to hear 150 cases a year,
Now, with all the jetting about and lavish donor-paid vacations,
they *barely* have time for a hundred. And those cases are decided
verrry slowly. Lotsa naptime after all the champagne and caviar.
I guess the champagne constitutes the only ‘cases’ they really
care about!
Just remember the CEO of NPR is a staunch Republican. CNN, too.
So then one of the two war parties owned by the rich and staffed by thumbsuckles? Your point.
The crux of this biscuit is the apostrophe. Eisenhower warned of
the military-industrial complex long ago. Or, as one German chancellor
put it, “What good is an army if you can’t use it.” Trump would agree
completely, although is his thumb is firmly stuck in an orifice
much lower than his mouth.
so the dem elite/npr/cnn are staunch republicans?
Seems about right to me
I do not think it is possible to create a reality-TV convention that will make the nominee look legitimate, especially not with the on-screen and off-screen talent available to the Democrats.
The only thing that could restore legitimacy at this point is for the vice president to do what is constitutionally required and remove Biden from office. If this is done decisively and successfully, Harris will gain stature because she will be the only person in Washington DC who has done anything legitimate and decisive in decades. If Harris fails to do this, nothing can make the resulting mess look legitimate.
I am not inclined to bet on this outcome given the people involved – they will either refuse to do it or botch it. But I think this course of action pretty clearly has the highest probability of success out of any available choices.
albrt: I agree. I don’t see how the “intelligence community” and the big donors can wipe out the whole ticket and then claim that the Democratic Party has retained any legitimacy whatsoever.
After rubbing the populace’s collective face in the fact that the Party is a private club?
I have plenty of doubts about Harris, but the Constitution does indicate what has to happen here.
As Bill Clinton reportedly chuckled after he “alienated his base” by signing the Crime Bill, NAFTA, CFMA, FSMA, Telecommunications Act etc. If they don’t like it, whadda they gonna do? Vote republican?
The cruel joke is on us.
FPTP voting is a major contributor to the permanence of the duopoly. Yet how many USians understand that? They believe their system is the best in the world.
If they go the reality TV approach, they are going to lose. Bigly. The orange guy is way better at it than they are.
I thought it too the entire Cabinet to vote to oust him, not just Kamala,
It takes a majority of the cabinet. That’s one of the reasons it would be impressive if she pulled it off. The members of Joe Biden’s cabinet are super weak and have no core principles, so I think it would be fairly easy for anybody with leadership skills. Whether Harris has any leadership skills is the point in question.
The prophesy of Power is ENTHUSIASM. Kamala, whatever her
many gifts, is, as the Brits say, ‘a bit of a wet blanket’.
This situation has occurred several times in our history, first with Woodrow
Wilson (his wife “consulting” him from his sickbed, then coming out to
announce ‘his’ decisions, second Ronnie Reagan’s dementia, when Nancy
ran the show.
.
The only Biden whose opinion matters is Dr Jill, because she controls Joe’s Meds.
And I think that $200,000,000 figure is about right and it might be slightly low.
There’s also the fact that a fall guy will be needed and Hunter fits the bill a lot better than Brother Jim who is only facing perjury charges at the moment…
if Hunter is tossed under the bus the amount needed to support the Family would be a little less, perhaps only $150,000,000.
What I read somewhere is hunter is now attending all of Biden’s meetings and calls, irritating the staff. Roles might have reversed.
Hmmm, curioser and curioser.
If I read the main article correctly, the “intelligence community” (double oxymoron) is signaling via Ignatius, and maybe Warner, that Kamala Harris isn’t working out. Oh? Admittedly, she may not be the Boudicca from the Bay, but I have some serious doubts about the many melanin-limited boys over at the CIA and FBI deciding.
Sure, it’s one thing to decide that Joe’s senility is no longer useful to the pretorians, but it is another thing to wipe out a presidential ticket and start over.
So: Bridge too far?
Or: Crossing the Rubicon? For those of you who favor Roman Empire motifs, wiping out the whole ticket does smack of the Rubicon.
Meanwhile, what will happen at the Chicago convention? Will the delegates be allowed to debate such weighty topics as whether or not ketchup can go on a “Chicago hotdog”?
How does one suppress possible dissent among delegates? (Oh, by telling them that Chicago hotdogs “never” have ketchup, as if it mattered.)
And how do the Democrats even get past exposing themselves to the public, in graphic terms, leaving not doubt that the money boys and money girls control the party? Doesn’t look so win-win to me.
I will propose:
Susan Sarandon for President
Ryan Grim for Vice President (the name alone makes him sound serious)
Medea Benjamin for Secretary of State
Captain Peter Peachfuzz for Secretary of “Defense”
The so-called intelligence agencies should be dissolved. The idea that they have any influence in this decision is an indication that they are well beyond their usefulness. They can be reconstituted in a three-room office in Anacostia, D.C. as
The Department of Disconnected Facts & Boring Briefings.
Pass the vitello tonnato.
Ok I’m totally requesting Vitello Tonnato from my wonderful chef of a mother!
I wonder where the IC is these days re ukr or poking the bear. More of the same? And do they fear trump because he might stop poking, or something else?
If my vote counted I’d be tempted to vote trump as least likely to start ww3… ordinarily that would seem to be a low bar, but I’m not at all sure about whichever dem the donors might pick, it’s a party of warmongers after all. And I’ve got grandkids.
Vote Blue! No matter who.
LOL
This is the VBNMW zealots’ moment of truth, and their cognitive dissonance is delicious to watch. [Chef’s kiss]
PINTADA: “Vote Blue! No matter who”.
LOL is right. “Better Dead than Red” used to be another slogan from way back when.
But I thought Mike had the better point. The Billionaire donors want their tax breaks. And then there are those who only want Trump gone. We could call them “conflicted”.
Mike
” If all you have is a vote and you want Trump out, you really will vote blue no matter who. But if you are a Biden top donor and no longer trust your investment, you need to whip up a consensus to get your money’s worth.”
Speaking for all the non-Billionaires I know, none of them are changing their votes because of the one debate.
It sucks to live in such interesting times…….
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Obama stood him up so Joe could fight the good fight and beat Medicare 4 all. Can Obama pull the plug? A lot of dems and some indies would feel comfortable if he made the pick. Press/dems would happily fall in.
Pritzker can afford the 200 for good ole joe and then fund his own campaign. Plus he’s mid-west and popular…
While there’s a degenerate symmetry to Obama, product of a Priztker lab Petri dish/finishing school, smoothing the way for Pritzker to get the nomination, but why would Pritzker seek it? Why would he or any of the younger potential candidates taint himself by association with this dark festival of incompetence (in multiple domains) we’re seeing.
No, I think it’s Uncle Joe or Kamala. It’s gonna be wild, in any case; to paraphrase Lambert, go long Volatility… and Entropy.
Here’s a column in the LATimes (use text reader on your browser to access): https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-09/column-heres-why-biden-should-be-tested-and-the-results-should-be-made-public
It includes the opinions of doctors who think Biden has an untreatable form of Parkinson’s. That, and cognitive decline, is what you’re seeing play out with the “ruler of the world”.
I am stashing up beer and popcorn to watch the circus that is the US “elections”.
The pretorian guard spun out of the interests of Wall Street, is really dangerous, but right now, watching the situation in the US is like watching Ramsey Bolton being eaten by his dogs. Very, very satisfying…
I just happened to borrow the first season of the HBO drama “Succession” this weekend. Old CEO of family business has a stroke and mentally deteriorate. The siblings and hangers on all start vying for the power seat but, the cranky old guy still functions enough to keep the wolves at bay. Entertaining but not Game of Thrones level.
1) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/12/opinion/biden-trump-america.html
February 12, 2024
Why I Am Now Deeply Worried for America
By Paul Krugman
Until a few days ago, I was feeling fairly sanguine about America’s prospects….
But watching the frenzy over President Biden’s age, I am, for the first time, profoundly concerned about the nation’s future. It now seems entirely possible that within the next year, American democracy could be irretrievably altered….
It’s also true that many voters think the president’s age is an issue. But there’s perception and there’s reality: As anyone who has recently spent time with Biden (and I have) can tell you, he is in full possession of his faculties — completely lucid and with excellent grasp of detail….
2) https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/25/opinion/thepoint/krugman-biden-must-withdraw
June 25, 2024
The Best President of My Adult Life Needs to Withdraw
By Paul Krugman
Joe Biden has done an excellent job as president. In fact, I consider him the best president of my adult life. Based on his policy record, he should be an overwhelming favorite for re-election.
But he isn’t, and on Thursday night he failed to rise to the occasion when it really mattered….
Given where we are, I must very reluctantly join the chorus asking Biden to voluntarily step aside, with emphasis on the “voluntary” aspect. Maybe some Biden loyalists will consider this a betrayal, given how much I have supported his policies, but I fear that we need to recognize reality….
3) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/opinion/biden-trump.html
July 8, 2024
Please, Mr. President, Do the Right Thing
By Paul Krugman
Here are three true things about President Biden: He has done an excellent job as president. He has been ludicrously mistreated — his every verbal or physical stumble dissected and analyzed to a degree far beyond any scrutiny applied to the incoherent torrent of lies and vileness routinely issuing from Donald Trump. And he should step aside as his party’s nominee for president, probably in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris….
Krugman has spoken, and so it shall be. Joe will have an ‘event’; Kamala will rise to the occasion and pardon him, the whole Biden family, and the DNC. Trump will win ‘because of the racists and the misogynists’, giving the Dems a reason to ‘fight on’.
And thanks, Yves, for the $200 million estimate. I was ridiculed for likening the Biden Family to the Clinton Foundation, but I am in earnest and I will not equivocate. Having a personal mail server in her basement?? Was it a State Department server?? or a Clinton Foundation server?? Was there even the pretense of a difference?? That was a farce.
This time it’s a Greek tragedy.
Not tragedy, at least not as understood by Aristotle. Still farce, and getting more farcical.
No possibility of anagnorisis. Not a tragedy. Even Lear, mad on the moors, comes out of it at the end. Biden? Never, never, never, never, never.
The door-slamming part of the farce just happened. Sudden offers to serve the country, Gavvy stuck out his neck and it got caught when the door slammed, climaxing with all doors opening at once and the Dem critters Rockette-stepping together as they sing “We’re With Joe” to the tune of “Fanfare for the First Lady.”
I find it amazing this cretin still has a job. That should tell us all we need to know.
I think the uneasy alliance of the ruling-class is dissolving and not able to endure the dangers looming on the horizon. The class has lost some key parts and is spinning erratically. It needs repairs the center is shifting somehow. This a very good thing, btw.
I think Peter Turchin’s Ages of Discord, which applies structural demographic theory to US history, provides a pretty compelling narrative of what’s happening:
A majority of the incumbent elites (industry, finance, health, tech, real estate), I’d argue, have settled in the more conservative than ever democratic party, while the up and coming elites (tech libertarians, pillow entrepreneurs, HF titans) have congealed into the modern republican party. There is genuine fighting among these elite factions as there’s not enough room at the top for all of them. Thus the increasingly existential framing of whatever their pet causes in order to get the plebs on board with their team (blue maga or red maga). But either way the masses are perpetually screwed as nothing they are actually in favor of could possibly come to pass. So this elite power struggle is presented by the corporate media as a grassroots divide, whereas it’s been imposed from above with each team manufacturing the consent it thinks will allow its global elites to prevail.
So now the blue maga elites are having a mini crisis over their incumbency, which has of late gotten the masses on board by presenting its MO as stop trump. The only other thing they stand for is the exact same as the red maga elites: endless war, asset stripping the remaining dregs of the productive economy, and numbing an overly anxious populace.
If the donors, the donor class, … have we sunk so low as to have a donor class? … want to select/appoint/buy the candidate of their choice, let them do so in the open where all can see and know who to cheer or who to blame when the election is over. Maybe they expect to buy the election as well? Just a thought.
I recall a populist Senator raising hundreds of millions via small donations. It can be done. Scares the S**t out the power donor/brokers. Just needed a populist willing to tell the DNC they were going 3rd party if they didn’t win.
The Donor class is not spending political money out of the kindness of their hearts.
Philosophically, they want a good return on their investment. This is known as
“Capitalism”. Mind you, this group of people are not always the brightest. That’s
what accountants and advisors are for.
We have sunk so low, yes.
When the reigning ideology is that everything should be a market, it’s even logical, too.
LOL. Put in the wayback machine. The current situation started in the early
seventies with the Powell memo, and received delicious confirmation with Roberts
Money is Free Speech. Well, ‘delicious’ to Our Very Own Plutocracy.
Remember when same tried to sell us on the joys of Austerity?
Confused European here. I live in France where we have just seen the latest election circus. And yes, whatever your gripes about the French or their election might be, at least the word “voters” figures prominently in every news item you see. There is no visible or obvious manifestation of big capital trying to exert influence. The powers that (want to) be do their utmost to woo the people and get their vote. So score one for democracy.
Now, as I follow the news surrounding the Biden saga in the US, the difference with France really slaps me in the face. Nobody seems to give a hoot about the voters, it’s all about the “donors” and how to avoid alienating them and convince them to keep the money spigots open. It is no longer a secret that the political system in the US is bought and paid for by the donor class, it is now so obvious and out in the open that people no longer think of it and just consider this normal.
This whole charade makes the lamenting over “saving our democracy” sound pretty hollow if you ask me. I don’t see any democracy worth saving, only a well-developed oligarchy that is getting more and more out of control.
Yep, it’s now only “show democracy” in the US — spectacle in French terms — , a kind of side-show, while only the donor-oligarchs and spooks are in the big tent to bid their quatloos.
If the IC wants Biden out, why don’t they threaten Hunter? Something that can be drawn out past the lame duck period. If you lose the election Joe, we’re taking him out. If you step aside, we’ll let the indiscretions slide… Family first and all that
It would almost be comforting to consider that Biden’s brain dead policies were his own : a) Ukraine mess (500k caualties and counting), b) Gaza genocide tragedy (250K and counting), c) a fiasco at the southern border, d) inflation and debt control, e) the acceleration of the creation of a more than peer opposition group (Russia, China, North Korea, Iran & Brics), and f) the complete destruction of US prestige worldwide (a brain dead POTUS leads a braindead country with braindead policies). On the other hand, what is totally banana republic like is that Biden’s handlers are anonymous individuals who actually represent the core of the Democratic elite.
Does Biden have Long COVID? That is the question that ought to be investigated, because it is a serious possibility considering what we know about COVID. And, since Long COVID can seriously affect the thinking functions of the brain, it is a far more dangerous condition for a President than the Parkinson’s possibility that has been bandied about. If Biden does not see his own brain fog, there is the 25th Amendment, letting others make the decision for him. So the argument that it is too late to change is false. Meanwhile, the bad choices and bizarre comments continue by Biden.
A more appropriate title for this shitshow might turn out to be “Dumb and Dumber To”
with Trump vs. Clinton.
So far the best option for the DNC
See here Taibbi/Kirn
“lla in Manila: Will History Demand Trump-Hillary II?”
https://www.racket.news/p/illa-in-manila-will-history-demand