Are Republicans prepping for the wrong opponent?
With the fourth “official” Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary calendar set to take place tomorrow night, much of the talk involving the GOP race thus far has dealt with which of the not-Trump candidates could potentially put him or herself into position to challenge undisputed frontrunner Donald J. Trump. Of course, Trump will not be in Alabama along with the others, having chosen to opt out of the event, again, because he considers it beneath him and a waste of time to allow his competition free (and cheap) shots at him when he’s so far in front.
Trump will be a topic for sure, but there will certainly also be talk about president senile Joe Biden, though one would guess the four surviving candidates, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and thirty-something businessman Vivek Ramaswamy would reserve most of their speaking opportunities for digging at Trump – and probably at each other.
Ramaswamy will only lightly swipe at Trump if the past few months are a guide.
Most of the discussions among the Republican field have revolved around Trump’s legal issues, the state of the American economy today, the crises overseas (Ukraine, China and Israel/Hamas, primarily) and what the GOP can do to improve federal governance once Biden is replaced by one of them. What has been somewhat lacking was a serious back-and-forth over who the Democrats will actually nominate, Biden being all-but assumed to be the opponent next November.
It makes sense. The 81-year-old president has offered no hints that he’ll step down, but polls have increasingly revealed that Biden is vulnerable in next year’s election. Americans home-in on senile Joe’s age as the primary reason why he needs to be cast out, but there hasn’t been much official banter about who would replace him if a vacancy does arise.
Putting it lightly, the Democrats are a mess. Poll after recent poll suggests how unpopular Biden is, to the point where even the controversial and legally burdened Trump has opened up a noticeable lead on the incumbent Democrat. Panicked liberals are having difficulty dealing with the possibility that Biden could lose, something none of them would ever admit to just a few months ago.
Is a Democrat mercy “White Knight” stand-in in the works? In an opinion piece titled “For 2024, GOP Should Fear Michelle Obama, Not Joe Biden”, the always insightful Roger L. Simon wrote at The Epoch Times recently:
“[A]ccording to a Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, President Joe Biden easily laps every single potential Democrat competitor, announced or unannounced—from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, even to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his own Vice President Kamala Harris—by numbers approaching or exceeding two to one.
Except ... Michelle Obama to whom President Biden is losing by 45 percent to 43 percent.
“This is, of course, before the former first lady has announced her candidacy. One can only speculate what the numbers would be if she did, but it's highly likely the gap would widen considerably… “But more importantly, is the Republican Party prepared for such an eventuality? Not if we're to believe Vivek Ramaswamy who, at the third GOP presidential primary debate, called for the resignation of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and, by implication, excoriated the RNC for choosing the almost absurdly biased against Republicans NBC to host the event.”
Ramaswamy’s pointed comment about Democrat-plant moderators and McDaniel’s and the Republican hierarchy’s inability and unwillingness to prepare for the 2024 race was, in this observer’s estimation, the most salient moment of the last debate. And it came just a few minutes into the program, so very few spinners made note of it or discussed it afterwards.
But Vivek’s further observation about Biden not being the Democrat nominee was passed over completely as ridiculous speculation rather than serving as a warning to the conservative Republican troops and their captains that something might be in the pipeline that merits attention.
There isn’t a whole lot of recent precedent for replacing a party presidential nominee after the primary season had run its course, but these are extraordinary times and, well, senile Joe is an extraordinarily bad Democrat figurehead. There’s a good argument for asserting that nearly all Democrats are liars who wouldn’t admit the truth if it smacked them in the behind, but Biden is a special case even in that regard.
Democrats pull the ol’ switcheroo? Is that even allowed? In professional sports, there are established rules against making last minute changes in playing personnel. If you’re a head football coach and your quarterback (or anyone else) is injured and possibly unable to play in the next game, you must inform the league/other team. That way, the opponent doesn’t devote most or all of its practice time preparing to face one guy only to have a different number show up. Or in baseball, your team could anticipate one starting pitcher – and then be surprised when the appointed hurler doesn’t take the mound after the umpire shouts “Play Ball!”.
But there are no such similar rules protecting political parties from being hoodwinked. Republicans are working earnestly to prepare to face senile Joe Biden – again – in the 2024 race. But this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t presume that someone else might run for the Democrats in his stead – and they should therefore devote staff time to doing the necessary research to be ready if the eventuality comes to fruition.
Of course, a possible plot to ultimately swap out senile Joe for a younger, more electable Democrat personality – be it Michelle Obama or anyone else -- has been kept under tight wraps. Democrats maintain the ruse that Biden is just fine, is doing a tremendous job in the Oval Office, and his reelection prospects haven’t been touched at all by the rotten economy or senile Joe’s frequent personal stumbles and bumbles.
And that Hunter Biden thing being investigated by the House? Well, that’s just a partisan witch hunt that won’t lead to anything because senile Joe is squeaky clean and has never done a crooked deed in his entire life! “Joe being Joe” is the typical excuse refrain for Biden’s “creepy” episodes, and that he didn’t know a darn thing about anything his son was up to despite interconnected emails, lots of witnesses and evidence that keeps popping up in documents and bank records from Biden’s vice presidency and post-Obama administration period.
Such obfuscation is standard practice in Democrat circles – deny, muddy and lie. And why not? The establishment media has never been interested or concerned with sniffing out the truth where a Democrat is involved – and the talkers would willfully agree among themselves to stay out of this one, too. The Fourth Estate would much rather team with the Biden Justice Department to find, persecute and prosecute January 6 participants – and Trump himself.
So, at first glance, it seems plausible that Democrats could or would substitute Michelle Obama for senile Joe sometime around (or at) the Democrat convention next summer. Or one of them could start a rumor that senile Joe has some sort of age related “ailment” that would inhibit his ability to not only run a campaign, but serve the next four years should Democrats invent a way to steal the necessary Electoral College votes.
Plausible, yes, but I think it’s unlikely. As I’ve argued in the past, Democrats would need complete buy-in from the Bidens themselves, which most definitely includes the family “boss” – Dr. Jill Biden. The quack education doc keeps a pretty close watch on her hubby’s political competition and the perks of being first lady – and having the United States Justice Department on their side in deflecting questions regarding her family’s business dealings – would be too comforting to just give up willfully. As Simon pointed out in his piece, there appears to be bitter blood between the Obamas and Bidens, which makes it all the more improbable that the latter group would just give in. No, they’d fight like dogs, or snakes, or skunks, or roaches or whatever member of the animal/insect kingdom which most closely matches the First Family.
And here’s thinking they’ll toss Hunter Biden to the prison authorities before they’d give up everything else.
Yet another factor leading away from the Michelle Obama for senile Joe substitution notion is Kamala Harris. Most Democrats love Michelle Obama – but they also love Kamala Harris. The dimwitted Californian may be a total failure in the easy-to-succeed-and-lay-low vice president’s office, but she’s got the two qualifications that identity politics mavens love most: she’s a “she”, and Kamala’s a minority.
So is Michelle Obama, right?
But no one views Michelle as next-in-line like they do Harris. And Harris would be the Bidens’ favorite to succeed him, in any situation (if it ever came to pass). Michelle has mostly avoided politics – and responsibility. Kamala has a constitutional office. Matter is closed. It would be fun to witness open warfare between the rival Democrat family factions, but there’s little chance that the Obama promoters will get their wish.
Regardless of whether senile Joe Biden or Michelle Obama or Pete Buttigieg or Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom is the 2024 Democrat nominee, Republicans should be prepared for an all-out war against Donald Trump (or the GOP nominee). The name on the ballot won’t make a difference in one sense – Democrats will do everything humanly possible to keep the White House.
Conservatives, heed the warnings.
Joe Biden economy
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Biden cognitive decline
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Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
January 6 Committee
Liz Cheney
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Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
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