Joe Biden Isn’t Going Anywhere

By Dominic Pino

Friday, June 28, 2024

 

The idea of replacing Joe Biden now as the Democratic nominee is a fantasy. As Phil said, he already has 99 percent of the pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention required to vote for him on the first ballot. There is no mechanism by which to remove him as nominee. There is no plausible way to sidestep Kamala Harris, who would be the obvious choice to replace Biden if such a mechanism existed.

 

The only way he won’t be the nominee is if he voluntarily withdraws. He will not do that. Joe Biden loves being president.

 

Joe Biden is arrogant. He thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room in every room he has ever been in. And he thinks the smartest guy in the room ought to be president.

 

He also believes he deserves to be president. He thinks he should have been president in 1988. He probably thinks, deep down, that he should have run in 2016 and would have defeated Donald Trump if he was the nominee instead of Hillary Clinton (and he’s probably right about that). He views the presidency as the capstone on his decades-long career in public service.

 

He loves going in front of crowds and telling the same old stories about how his grandfather told him to “keep the faith” and his grandmother said “no, spread it.” He loves talking about “the soul of America.” He loves doling out taxpayer money to Democratic interest groups and being warmly received at their conventions and conferences to talk about how awesome he is.

 

He loves the power and attention that he is finally receiving after being looked down upon by leading Democrats for decades. Joe Biden was never the “lion of the Senate” — that was Ted Kennedy. He was never Democratic Senate leader, like Harry Reid or Tom Daschle or George Mitchell or Robert Byrd. He doesn’t have any famous laws with his name in the title, like Chris Dodd. But none of those guys was ever president. Joe Biden finally proved himself superior to all of them, and he isn’t going to give that up.

 

He won the Democratic nomination in 2020, again overcoming doubters after he lost Iowa and New Hampshire. He won the presidency, and he believes he’s transforming America. He won the Democratic nomination again in 2024, according to the rules the Democratic Party set. Why should he give that up?

 

He is surrounded by loyal advisers. All but two of his original cabinet appointees are still serving, and neither of the ones who left departed over policy disagreements. He has a functioning administration that is executing vast policy changes nearly every day. And he has raised tons of money and will raise a ton more before the election comes.

 

He very sincerely believes that he is putting the country first by running again because what is good for the country is for Joe Biden to be president. That’s what he thinks. He isn’t going anywhere.