It was just a bad night. You can’t judge a presidency by 90 minutes. It’s the inner circle’s fault for screwing up the debate prep. 

It’s the media’s fault for obsessing on the age issue. It’s the CNN moderators who failed to push back on Donald Trump’s falsehoods. It’s the Democratic Party’s fault for being a bunch of bed-wetters.

The blame-shifting has kicked into high gear as President Biden and his campaign try to minimize the damage from his disastrous debate performance and silence criticism that he is destined to lose the election.

The problem with all the finger-pointing is that 50 million people watched the president struggle to deliver any kind of coherent message or to challenge Trump’s attacks, at times completely losing his train of thought.

JUSTICE THOMAS BRINGS HAMMER DOWN ON TRUMP SPECIAL COUNSEL IN SHARP OPINION: ‘SERIOUS QUESTIONS’

No one needed a bunch of pundits to analyze what they could see with their own eyes – a White House incumbent with a vacant stare and his mouth agape.

Now it’s true that the liberal media establishment has proclaimed that Biden should step aside in favor of a younger nominee. That includes the editorial boards of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as prominent names like Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, David Ignatius, Nick Kristof and David Remnick.

As for the impact, a post-debate CBS poll found that those who don’t believe Biden has the mental fitness to serve another term jumped from 65% to 72%. 

But Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon put out a memo saying: “If we do see changes in polling in the coming weeks, it will not be the first time that overblown media narratives have driven temporary dips in the polls.”

BIDEN’S LONGTIME DEMOCRAT COLLEAGUE IN SENATE SENDS PARTY DIRE MESSAGE AFTER DEBATE

Excuse me, this was the debate that Biden wanted, and it was carried out under the no-interruption rules that he demanded. With the Democratic Party in a state of panic and talk of the convention picking someone else, of course it’s going to be covered as a huge story.

Trump also got an assist yesterday from the Supreme Court, which ruled that he has absolute immunity for official acts – such as dealing with the Justice Department – while sending parts of the Jan. 6 indictment back to the trial court, which means more litigation. Trump called it “a big win for our Constitution.”

The “one bad night” defense doesn’t hold water. While Barack Obama said he too had a bad night (against Mitt Romney in 2012), he was 51 years old. Nobody was questioning his stamina or mental acuity. It’s very different with a faltering 81-year-old asking for another term.

At a Biden family gathering on Sunday at Camp David, the discussion centered not on whether the president would step aside but how to move past this crisis, the Times reports. And Jill Biden, who in my view is drawing plenty of unfair attacks, is supporting her husband. The couple has always backed each other’s decisions, it’s not realistic to expect her to tell the president to abdicate.

The media are taking plenty of heat for supposedly covering up Biden’s growing infirmities, but they have collectively been making an issue of the president’s age for a long time. With a handful of exceptions, most journalists don’t have access to Biden. They have seen what everyone else has seen on the air, the president increasingly mumbling and stumbling, and now it’s clear why his top advisers have been so determined to shield him from the press – even a softball Super Bowl interview.

Even more stunning is an Axios report saying that most White House officials and even the residence staff, including butlers, were barred from Biden’s presence, so they wouldn’t see his true condition. Think about that. They, led by Jill Biden’s top aide, kept the president bubble-wrapped and isolated from most of those working for him on the taxpayer’s dime. They were therefore shocked at his debate performance.

THE VEEPSTAKES GOES ‘APPRENTICE’: WILL TRUMP REALLY PICK RUBIO, VANCE OR BURGUM?

Now the reason the Democrats are in such freakout mode is their absolute conviction that if Trump wins he will end democracy as we know it and govern as an authoritarian. To this day, liberals fail to understand Trump’s appeal and why, even as a convicted felon, he is leading this race.

But if their fears are well-founded, how can they risk putting Trump back in the Oval Office against an octogenarian who suffered such a humiliating meltdown on debate night? The Democrats regularly accuse Trump of caring only about himself, but aren’t they being selfish as well?

It’s probably too late now, but those who suggested that perhaps Joe shouldn’t run – former Obama-Biden official David Axelrod said last November he should consider dropping out – suffered huge blowback. The White House leaked word that Biden had called Axelrod a “prick.”

I have covered Joe Biden since the 1980s, when he enjoyed talking to journalists at length, and profiled him when he launched his first White House campaign in 1987, which ended in a plagiarism scandal. He also flamed out in 2008, only to be named Obama’s running mate, and the press declared him toast in 2020 when he finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire – before a huge win in South Carolina sent him hurtling toward the nomination.

Biden has spent his adult life trying to become president. Flying around on Air Force One is addictive. He still thinks he’s the only Democrat who can beat Trump. 

He is not going to walk away from the White House, even though much of his party thinks he should.

Ralph Nader, the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2000, urged Judge Juan Merchan to sentence former President Trump to prison, calling the judge the “last best hope” to preserve the republic.

On Monday, Nader shared a link to the letter on X, which is his plea to the judge on why a prison sentence is imperative.

“In light of the Supreme Court blocking all avenues of accountability for Trump with its decision in Trump v. United States, Judge Merchan is the last best hope to preserve the Republic from its overthrow by Donald Trump,” Nader posted.

The letter, dated June 28, 2024, was signed by both Nader and attorney Bruce Fein. It starts out by pointing to July 11, 2024, and stressing its importance in terms of the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE MERCHAN PARTIALLY LIFTS GAG ORDER ON FORMER PRESIDENT

“The future of the United States will be materially influenced by your sentencing Donald J. Trump,” the two attorneys wrote. “He was found guilty of 34 felonies under New York law and twice found guilty of violating your constitutionally irreproachable ‘gag order’ to protect trial participants from death threats, harassment, defamation, and stalking.”

Nader and Fein remind Merchan the law gives him the discretion to sentence Trump to up to four years in prison, based on the circumstances of the felonies, among other things, adding that the case for prison time is “open and shut based on the character of the offender alone.”

“Mr. Trump threatens a counter-revolution against the American Revolution and the United States Constitution in favor of executive absolutism indistinguishable from French King Louis XIV,” Nader and Fein wrote. “On July 23, 2019, Mr. Trump proclaimed, ‘Then I have Article 2, where I have the right to do anything I want as president.’ On December 4, 2022, Mr. Trump bugled that whenever he decrees that an election has been fraudulent, ‘termination of…the Constitution’ is justified.”

NEW YORK APPEALS COURT REJECTS TRUMP’S BID TO LIFT GAG ORDER

The two continued to plead their case to sentence Trump to prison, proclaiming to Merchan that Trump had not disowned threats of a civil war on social media by “MAGA ruffians” after he was convicted of 34 felonies.

“As to a hammer everything looks like a nail, to Mr. Trump every legal or political adversity is a corrupt witch hunt aiming at the destruction of America,” Nader and Fein wrote.

They then turned their attention to Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming Trump “covets dictatorial powers” like the Russian leader.

TRUMP ATTORNEYS REQUEST MERCHAN LIFT GAG ORDER AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, FOLLOWING END OF TRIAL

“Your task is to ensure that the sentence matches the character of the offender, including his clear and present danger to the peaceful transfer of presidential power,” Nader and Fein wrote. “Set a standard to which the wise and honest judge may repair with a jail term — at least a serious fraction of the 4-year statutory maximum.”

Nader and the Trump campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee was found guilty on all 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records in May. The six-week trial stemmed from charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

Trump on Monday moved to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed while in office.

Trump’s sentencing date is set for July 11 – just four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, said he was “horrified” and remains concerned about President Biden‘s performance during last week’s presidential debate, which has put Democrats on the defensive about their presumptive nominee’s health and mental capacity. 

Whitehouse was interviewed by 12 News about his reaction to the Thursday debate, which pitted Biden against former President Donald Trump in Atlanta. 

“I think like a lot of people I was pretty horrified by the debate,” Whitehouse told the news outlet. “The blips of President Biden and the barrage of lying from President Trump were not what one would hope for in a presidential debate.”

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SHOWS DEMOCRATS ‘LIED’ ABOUT BIDEN: ‘I BLAME BARACK OBAMA’

He said Democrats remain united in the need to defeat Trump. Following the debate, reports began surfacing almost immediately that Democrats were in a state of “panic” over Biden’s performance. 

“People want to make sure that…the president and his team are being candid about his condition that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days,” said Whitehouse. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the senator’s office. 

AFTER BIDEN’S DISASTROUS DEBATE, CAMPAIGN EMAILS SUPPORTERS ON HOW TO DEFEND HIM: ‘BEDWETTING BRIGADE’

The optics prompted journalists at various outlets to report on dozens of Democratic Party officials who said the 81-year-old Biden should consider refusing his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

“I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he told a crowd at a North Carolina rally on Friday. “I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.”

Other Democrats have raised issues following the subpar debate performance. 

“I’ve been very clear that it was an underwhelming performance on Thursday during the debate, as President Biden and his campaign have acknowledged,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told MSNBC on Sunday. 

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told CNN he “thought it was a tough night” for the president. 

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report. 

Former President Trump on Monday moved to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed while in office.

In a 6-3 decision, the court narrowed the case against him and returned it to the trial court to determine what is left of special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president in May with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts in the Manhattan case.  

Lawyers for Trump had filed a motion to dismiss the verdict just hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling. 

JUSTICES CLAIM IMMUNITY RULING ALLOWS PRESIDENTS TO POISON STAFF, HAVE NAVY SEALS KILL POLITICAL RIVALS

The motion came on the same day that the district attorney’s office sent sentencing recommendations to Judge Juan M. Merchan – who presided over the Manhattan trial – though it remains unclear whether that will be seen by the public, per reporting from The New York Times.  
Judge Merchan has received a letter from Trump’s lawyers, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

The letter asks for permission to file a motion to vacate the jury’s Manhattan verdict, asks for a delay of the July 11 sentencing, and cites the high court’s decision in arguing that evidence was included at trial that should not have been admitted. 

To file a motion in New York, defendants must first request permission from the judge in the case. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the DA’s office for further comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

A recent poll has found that President Biden’s core supporters are now doubting whether he should stay in the 2024 presidential race.

The poll was conducted by USA TODAY/Suffolk University between Friday and Monday. Pollsters utilizing a probability-proportionate-to-size method telephoned 1,000 respondents living in all U.S. states.

The survey found that more four in ten Democrats said that the Democratic Party should intervene and replace Biden as the nominee. Overall, 54% of the voters polled were in favor of Biden dropping out.

The poll also noted that Trump’s base “appeared more solid immediately after the debate,” according to a press release published by Suffolk University. Only 14% of Republicans said that the Republican Party should replace Trump as nominee, even after his recent conviction.

MAJORITY OF VOTERS THINKS BIDEN IS COGNITIVELY UNFIT TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT: POLL

Pollsters also noted that Trump won the debate, by a margin of nearly five to one, or 50% to 11%. Among Biden supporters, only 28% said that the sitting president won.

“Most voters cited mental sharpness as a factor in their opinion on the debate performance of both candidates,” the release noted. “Those criticizing the 81-year-old Biden’s performance used words like ‘confused’ and ‘incoherent.'” 

“Supporters of Trump, who is 78, praised their candidate with words like ‘coherent/articulate’ and ‘cognizant/present.”

Biden’s weak debate performance continues to rattle the Democratic Party. On Monday, one of Biden’s longtime Senate colleagues called for a new nominee.

JILL BIDEN’S EX-HUSBAND CALLS HER OUT FOR DEFENDING ‘STRUGGLING’ JOE BIDEN, ‘KEEPING HIM IN THE RACE’

Speaking to Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin called Thursday’s debate “a disaster from which Biden cannot recover.”

“Of course, Trump’s answers were meandering, gobbledygook, and full of lies, BUT they were said with force and directness,” he said. “I also think all incumbent Democratic Senators should write to Biden asking him to release his delegates and step aside so the convention can choose a new candidate.”

“A couple of governors may need to do the same.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden and Trump campaigns, but did not immediately hear back.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

(The Center Square) – Dr. Debra Bogen has officially become Pennsylvania’s secretary of the state Health Department after final Senate confirmation on Monday.

Gov. Josh Shapiro first tapped Bogen in January 2023, but withdrew her nomination six months later amid lacking support in the upper chamber. At the time, Senate Republicans expressed concern about decisions while leading the Allegheny County Health Department during COVID-19.

On Monday, the opposition shrunk to just eight out of 50 senators, clearing the necessary two-thirds majority to confirm Bogen’s appointment.

During a Senate Health and Human Services Committee meeting on Thursday, Democratic lawmakers stood firm in their support, lauding Bogen’s 18-month tenure as “acting” secretary.

“Dr. Bogen is a tremendous individual, wonderful person, tremendous professional, an exceptional physician whom I know will represent our commonwealth with great integrity,” said Sen. Jay Costa, D-Pittsburgh. “I don’t think we could find someone who is better qualified, who has committed the past 18 months to improving the Department of Health.”

The acting secretary said her biggest accomplishments so far have been improving the “frayed relationships” with the state’s Emergency Medical Services agencies (who have complained of an “adversarial” state bureau). She also pointed to the department’s work on rural health to “collaborate across agencies” and implement regulations on the state’s long-term care facilities.

“I think you’ve certainly proved your mettle in terms of how you’ve run the Department of Health,” said Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Reading.

(The Center Square) – The Moses Lake School District plans to sell two surplus properties as it scraps together all the money it can amid a financial crisis that has put more than 200 people out of work.

The district’s board of directors announced its intent to sell during Thursday’s meeting, issuing a press release afterward stating it’s intended to “safeguard taxpayer money and interests.”

Earlier this year, MLSD repeatedly failed to garner enough votes to pass its Maintenance and Operations Levy, leading to the loss of other funding and a deeper dive into the district’s spending, which noted a myriad of issues amounting to a $20 million budget reduction.

The situation became so dire that district officials had to approve an inter-fund loan to make its May payroll. The day before voting to approve the loan, the district announced it would reduce 85 more positions, taking the total up to 215 personnel for the month. 

While MLSD made its June payroll thanks to $9 million in grants, a representative with the North Central Educational Services District told the board that there was only so much left in available grants and other funding, meaning it couldn’t repeat the strategy to the same degree again.

“We’ve taken a look at the surrounding property values within a half-mile radius of here,” said Project Manager Brian Sewell, “and there’s quite a market out there for property along Yonezawa.”

Sewell said MLSD hopes to sell its 89,000-square-foot lot off Yonezawa Way and a half-acre parcel at 2nd St. NE and Wheeler Road. The sales could provide a slight revenue boost and save the district from paying taxes on a property only good for growing noxious weeds.

Earlier in the meeting, Thomas Gaines, the central services director for Grant County, spoke up about two verbal offers he exchanged with Jeremy O’Neil, MLSD’s chief operations officer. However, the district official failed to go through the proper channels. 

Gaines said he went through multiple negotiations, believing that O’Neil was engaging with the board or other officials before the county paid for an appraisal in January of this year. While MLSD received the property values back in March, the conversation soon dried up. 

“Since then, it has been like pulling teeth to get communication from the school district,” Gaines said. “Time is of the essence. We need to get our coroner’s office built, and we have other options, but this is the perfect option.”

The 89,000-square-foot lot off Yonezawa Way is located just around the corner from several healthcare facilities, making it the perfect spot for the county; however, since O’Neil failed to follow proper procedure, the county ultimately wasted its time and money entertaining the idea.

Instead, the board voted on Thursday to surplus the two properties and acquire new appraisals. While MLSD intends to sell the properties, it’s required to host a public hearing before then. 

Gaines said the county’s first offer was $360,000, but after O’Neil renegotiated the size of the lot, it decreased that offer to $114,000. Regardless, it’s money in MLSD’s pockets but will require more oversight than initially led on. 

MLSD will host a public hearing on July 25 to allow for comments on the potential sales. Following that, the district will have 45-days to award the sales after advertising the properties in the local newspaper.

“We’re sorry that the gentlemen had been told certain things,” Interim Superintendent Carole Lewis said, “but we’re in a place where we need to go through the correct processes, and this is the first step.”

Gas prices increased on Tuesday ahead of the July 4th holiday. The average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $3.501, according to AAA.

It was the first increase in two days. On Monday, regular gas was $3.491 per gallon, and on Sunday, it was $3.492.

A week ago, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.469. A month ago, it was $3.536 per gallon. A year ago, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was about the same, coming in at $3.535.

California had the country’s most expensive gas on Tuesday, with a gallon of regular gas costing $4.79. Conversely, Mississippi had the cheapest gas prices, with a gallon of regular gas costing $2.957 on Tuesday.

Gas prices continue to vary significantly in each state. To see how expensive gas is in each state, click here.

Here are the gas prices for a gallon of regular-grade gas in and around Washington, D.C., heading into the holiday.

Washington, D.C.

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in the nation’s capital was $3.671 on Tuesday, a slight increase from yesterday’s price of $3.665. A week ago, gas was $3.661 per gallon. A month ago, a gallon of regular gas was slightly more expensive than it cost on Tuesday, coming in at $3.707 per gallon.

Virginia

The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gas in Virginia on Tuesday was $3.356. This was an increase from yesterday’s average price of $3.328 per gallon. A week ago regular-grade gas was $3.319 per gallon in Virginia. A month ago, it was $3.428.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Maryland

On Tuesday, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Maryland was $3.570. This slightly increased from yesterday, when gas was $3.563 per gallon. A week ago, the price was $3.513 per gallon. Gas prices are cheaper now than they were a month ago, when it cost $3.615 per gallon.

Delaware

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Delaware on Tuesday was $3.474. This was a decrease from yesterday’s price of $3.502 per gallon. A week ago, the price was $3.446 per gallon. A month ago, it was $3.482.

Special counsel Jack Smith accused former President Donald Trump of pressuring his vice president to derail the election certification in January 2021.

Trump’s interactions with Mike Pence were among several key acts Smith used to bring his election interference indictment against Trump, but the special counsel may now have to scrap these acts because of the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday.

The high court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that certain official acts by presidents are not prosecutable at all, while other official acts require the government to meet a high criteria before it can criminally charge a president for them.

The ruling was a massive blow to Smith’s case, which could look like a shell of its former self once the lower courts have sifted through it to align it with the Supreme Court’s guidance.

The decision came after Trump argued all four of his charges should be dropped because he had absolute immunity as president, which, he said, protected him from prosecution. The district court and appellate court in Washington, D.C., rejected Trump’s claims, but the Supreme Court partly agreed with Trump.

The high court’s majority divided presidential acts into three categories: official acts that are absolutely immune from prosecution, official acts that are presumptively immune from prosecution until the government can prove the prosecution would not threaten the authority of the executive branch, and unofficial acts, which can always be prosecuted.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s case at the lower court level, must now hear arguments from parties about which specific acts are which and make excisions in Trump’s indictment where appropriate.

Chief Justice John Roberts offered a roadmap for Chutkan, saying Trump’s communication with his Department of Justice officials when he was in office were core functions of Trump’s job, for which he can absolutely not be prosecuted. Trump’s communication with his vice president or state officials was less clear cut, Roberts wrote, noting the lower courts would have to sort that out.

Complicating matters, Roberts wrote that prosecutors are not to raise questions about the motives behind a president’s actions or use immunized official acts as evidence. These activities would serve to “distort Presidential decisionmaking,” Roberts said.

The question of how the Supreme Court’s decision will look in practice is not fully clear at this stage, but below are examples of alleged acts in Smith’s indictment that are now in jeopardy.

Trump’s exchanges with Department of Justice officials

Smith repeatedly cited conversations Trump had with acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and other DOJ officials in his indictment. To support the allegation that Trump knowingly defrauded the United States and deceived voters, Smith alleged the DOJ officials told Trump his claims about widespread voter fraud were unfounded.

“On December 31 and January 3, the Defendant repeatedly raised with the Acting Attorney General and Acting Deputy Attorney General the allegation that in Pennsylvania, there had been 205,000 more votes than voters,” Smith wrote. “Each time, the Justice Department officials informed the Defendant that his claim was false.”

Because the Supreme Court said DOJ communication is off limits from prosecution, Smith will likely no longer be able to rely on these details to support his charges.

Trump’s exchanges with Jeffrey Clark

Clark appears as an unnamed co-conspirator in Trump’s indictment. He served as acting head of the DOJ’s Civil Division in 2020, and Smith alleged that Trump conspired with Clark on phone calls to circumvent his superiors at the DOJ in an effort to help Trump pressure state officials to overturn the election.

As a DOJ official, Clark’s communication with Trump may now be stripped from the case.

Moreover, Clark has reason to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision for his own purposes.

Clark was indicted along with Trump and others in a separate election interference case in Georgia, and the judge there may need to take his cues from the high court and reevaluate some of the charges. Clark was also at risk of losing his bar license because of the election cases, but he may avoid disbarment now.

Trump’s alleged pressure on Pence

While the Supreme Court did not delve into Trump’s indictment to separate all acts into the three categories it laid out, it did explicitly highlight Trump’s interactions with his vice president as an example of what will become a “difficult question” for Chutkan.

“The indictment’s allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the Vice President to take particular acts in connection with his role at the certification proceeding thus involve official conduct, and Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution for such conduct,” Roberts wrote. “The question then becomes whether that presumption of immunity is rebutted under the circumstances. It is the Government’s burden to rebut the presumption of immunity.”

Smith alleged Trump conspired with others to attempt to “enlist the Vice President to use his ceremonial role at the January 6 certification proceeding to fraudulently alter the election results.”

According to the Supreme Court, Smith will have to prove to Chutkan in the coming months that accusing Trump of such a pressure campaign does not threaten the authority of the executive branch.

Trump’s comments to the public

The Supreme Court said that like communication with Pence, Trump’s “comments to the general public” could also be stripped from Smith’s prosecution now.

Trump was a frequent social media user in 2020 and 2021, and Smith seized on some of these posts to support his charges that Trump conspired to violate the rights of voters.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER 

“On December 3, the Defendant issued a Tweet amplifying the knowingly false claims made in Co Conspirator 1’s [Rudy Giuliani’s] presentation in Georgia,” Smith wrote, adding that Trump posted that Democrats were “ballot stuffing” and that Rudy Giuliani’s presentation meant an “easy win” for Trump in the battleground state.

Smith will now have to justify to Chutkan that these posts were unofficial acts or official acts that are not immune from prosecution if he would like to use them against Trump.

President Joe Biden’s feeble debate performance has Democrats worrying about his reelection prospects to the point where some in the party are for the first time seriously entertaining scenarios for replacing him as the nominee. 

Notwithstanding the Democrats’ intense fear of another election loss to former President Donald Trump, Biden’s party faces immense and possibly insurmountable hurdles when it comes to dislodging the incumbent from the ticket.

It’s (mostly) up to Biden

Biden is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee. He won all the primaries, even if he faced only token opposition in most of them, and more than 90% of the pledged delegates. Under the rules, the simplest and arguably only feasible path to removing Biden is for him to withdraw voluntarily.

Over the weekend, Biden met with his family to discuss the future of his campaign. It is not clear whether he ever seriously considered dropping out. Either way, the Biden family by all accounts came away from their meeting more committed to continuing his reelection bid.

DEMOCRATS CALLING FOR BIDEN REPLACEMENT FACE OBSTACLES

Leading Democrats could go to the Oval Office or Camp David and try to convince Biden to end his campaign, arguing that a loss in November is inevitable and would tarnish his legacy as the man who got Trump out of the White House. This would be similar to how Republicans persuaded Richard Nixon to resign as president in 1974.

But Nixon was facing impeachment, and Republicans could tell him they didn’t think they had the Senate votes for his acquittal. Democrats have no comparable leverage over Biden should he reject their political counsel, aside from big donors withholding campaign contributions — which could increase the risk of Trump winning if Biden were to call their bluff.

There are some longer-shot options to force Biden out, which we will explore later, but the most realistic scenarios require his cooperation.

The Kamala Harris problem

As vice president, Kamala Harris would be the most logical Biden replacement. Most campaign finance experts also believe she could keep the Biden-Harris campaign war chest, which could be transferred to other Democratic entities but not a new campaign.

The problem is that Harris doesn’t poll better than Biden, or at least she didn’t before last week’s debate, and most Democrats who want to replace Biden want to get rid of her too.

Ousting both the sitting president and vice president while also needing them to remain in office would be a tall order. 

One suggestion on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, was that Justice Sonia Sotomayor could be persuaded to retire and that Biden could appoint Harris to replace her. But Harris would have to be confirmed by the Senate and her replacement as vice president would need to be approved by both chambers, including the Republican-controlled House. If the vice presidency was left vacant, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would be next in the line of presidential succession. 

Passing over Harris for president or replacing her as vice president would also create political headaches for a party that is already trying to shore up its black support ahead of November.

Not clear other Democrats would do better

A post-debate poll by Data for Progress found the Biden-Trump race was still competitive and none of the other major Democrats tested — Harris, Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — run convincingly better than the president against his Republican predecessor.

The counterargument to this is that none of them run meaningfully worse than Biden either despite not having done any campaigning for themselves. Presumably, Whitmer, Shapiro, or Klobuchar could help narrow the gap against Trump in their now-competitive home states, though there is no guarantee.

It’s also true that all the candidates except for Harris would have to raise their own money and stand up their own campaign organization, though some of the former could be transferred from Biden to the Democratic National Committee or super PACs. Even Harris would presumably need to make some changes to the campaign’s top brass.

There’s also a risk that a candidate who runs to the left of Biden might also be vulnerable to Trump, as most Democratic campaign professionals believed about Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016 and 2020. This is why Biden won the nomination over Sanders and a slew of younger liberals, including Harris, who dropped out before the first primary. Biden so far remains the only politician who has beaten Trump.

Conventional wisdom?

A massive mutiny at the Democratic convention could in theory displace Biden. But there would be huge practical problems.

While nearly all the pledged delegates are committed to Biden, there is some question as to how fully bound they are, with DNC rules allowing them to “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.” But it would require a huge slice of Biden’s nearly 3,900 delegates to defect to deprive him of the nomination and the failure of anyone to clinch a majority on the first ballot for the 700 uncommitted Democratic superdelegates to get to weigh in on the nominee. The superdelegates are party elected officials and leaders whose participation could help Biden, though it would probably require his near-total collapse to even get to that point.

There are provisions to remove an incapacitated nominee. Donna Brazile claimed in her memoirs that she floated this idea for the 2016 Democratic convention, as much as to improve the party’s chances of beating Trump as because of any health problems Hillary Clinton might have had.

“Perhaps changing the candidate was a chance to win this thing, to change the playing field in a way that would send Donald Trump scrambling and unable to catch up,” Brazile wrote. The idea went nowhere. Clinton was still under 70 at the time and generally polled better against Trump than Biden has this cycle.

But Clinton was also the former secretary of state at the time, not the current president. The Democrats would have to hold that Biden lacked the capacity to be the nominee while also needing him to serve out the remainder of his term.

The same calculus that led Democrats to forgo a meaningful primary challenge to Biden could doom any DNC coup attempt: These gambits would be more likely to weaken Biden further than to succeed in removing him.

Democrats and democracy

Democrats have made the preservation of democracy a centerpiece of their argument for 2024. While that can be used to justify any legal means necessary to stop Trump, whom they argue is a unique threat to democracy, it would be poor optics to replace the nominee with someone who didn’t participate in the primary process.

Every president up to Dwight Eisenhower was nominated before anything much resembling the modern primary process, which arguably wasn’t fully in place until Jimmy Carter. But modern Democrats are arguing that features of the constitutional republic like the Electoral College, the filibuster, and the Senate itself are undemocratic. 

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In this context, Democrats are going to remove the winner of every single presidential primary this year and replace him with a noncandidate who received zero votes or only a smattering of write-ins throughout the country? For no reason other than he is not guaranteed to win a democratic election?

Nevertheless, many Democrats are saying Trump’s threat to democracy has been worsened by the Supreme Court. This could make them willing to contemplate drastic measures if Biden slips further behind in the polls.