Can Biden be replaced as Democrat nominee? Who could replace him?

John Stewart.

The guy is an effective cheerleader for any cause he really believes in. I mean he almost singlehandedly extended benefits to 9/11 first responders on the strength of his eloquence.
Thing is he doesn't want to do it. Which makes me want him to do it even more. Something about great leaders not seeking power but having it thrust upon them in times of need like a George Washington
- I know he doesn't want to run which just like you only makes me want him to run even more. He's smart enough to know that he doesn't know everything and never will.So he will surround himself with people who know what they're talking about and listen to their advice.
Stewart (and Colbert) are literally a clown (TV Comedian) who is refusing to ever make a serious political moves. Neither of them have any legislative experience or executive experience either.
The fact that modern people always choose TV Personalities (like Trump, Stewart and Colbert) is part of the same problem of ignorance of our Political system and what this job even freaken entails.
- Stewart (and Colbert) are literally a clown
  what this job even freaken entails.
  You know Volodymyr Zelenskyy, current president of Ukraine?
  He's a comedian who did a political satire TV series about being president of Ukraine.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy
  Born to a Ukrainian Jewish family, Zelenskyy grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi Rih, a major city of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine. Before his acting career, he obtained a degree in law from the Kyiv National Economic University. He then pursued a comedy career and created the production company Kvartal 95, which produced films, cartoons, and TV shows including the TV series Servant of the People, in which Zelenskyy played a fictional Ukrainian president. The series aired from 2015 to 2019 and was immensely popular. A political party with the same name as the TV show was created in March 2018 by employees of Kvartal 95.
  EDIT: Darn, someone else apparently mentioned it as well, checking their link. I'm still gonna leave this text up, though.
- Ya, who would want a TV personality in charge of a country
- Modern? where do you think Reagan came from? At least Stewart and Colbert are versed in the political and policy stuff from having been immersed in it for decades.
- Didn't stop Al Franken...
- If wielding power in our “democracy” is so complicated that we must exclude non-experts isn’t that an indictment of our democracy? What is it about the legislative and executive process that people are ignorant of?
  While I am skeptical of the celebrity as politician trend which has been prominent over the last few decades; especially on the right. I don’t think lack of experience is the problem with the trend.
  Put aside what you think about Trump’s political project for a moment. He was effective at giving conservatives what they wanted. Tax cuts and Supreme Court seats. Despite having zero legislative and executive experience. You could say the same thing about Reagan and perhaps Schwarzenegger.
  I agree, expecting a strongman to come in and save us from all our political issues is problematic. We shouldn’t recreate feudalism. We need to learn to organize ourselves into a base of democratic power that we can wield towards our broad economic interests.
  But at the same time our media apparatus runs on spectacle, it takes someone with the charisma of John Stewart to be taken seriously by mainstream power brokers. Perhaps he could breakthrough the spectacle and kickstart a new progressive era that could enable those democratic ends.
  Because the alternative to charisma for gaining political legitimacy is going through the political system. And the longer you’re in that system the more time that system has to influence you towards ends that want to stop progress. Just look at Jamal Bowman and John Fetterman.
- Perhaps, but even with these alleged shortcomings, either would be so much better equipped for the job than the 2 senile geezers.
- Hey, it worked for Ukraine.
very much doubt Stewart would want to finish himself off doing a presidential term
- I know he doesn't want too which is another reason why I want him. He could announce himself right now and still pull tons of votes to be a threat to both parties.
If the Democrats could ever get to that choice it would be an autowin and an instant rejuvenation for the party.
I'm tempted to really believe in Biden taking the loss and just going absolutely balls to the walls with harsh ads aimed at the GOP and Trump, hitting dozens of speaker events at high levels of energy, and becoming what we wish the Democratic party would become to win this thing.
Realistically though, I'd prefer a sound, harder left leaning, less bipartisan nominee. It's a safer and surer bet, unfortunately.

Time to unleash Bernie, please

I voted for him last time. May be dumb, but I did believe in him more than Biden. I still don't know if he could carry the party, but I'd love to watch him try.
- If you don’t want someone who is too fucking old then don’t pick Bernie…

Any one 40-60 yrs old with moderate politics and an unobjectionable personality supported by a major party would really cause a splash.

with moderate politics
They'll do great for one campaign until they actually have to govern and then it's going to be 1996 and 2012 all over again and we'll barely scrape by (if we're lucky) against extremely beatable candidates. Moderates run good campaigns and terrible administrations because the average American voter has been propagandized into believing they want bipartisanship and small government when what they actually want is some affordable healthcare and housing which moderate politics are not going to deliver to them.
e; and actually the "do great for one campaign" thing might be optimistic or antiquated thinking based on how Biden barely won in 2020
- Oh they could win alright. Literally all they have to do is be leftist.
  “We’re gonna keep your kids healthy, in a good daycare while you work, educated and fed, and your fucking boss is gonna pay for it all” is a simple mantra well used by unions.
  Except they don’t do that. The purpose of a system is what it does, and liberals have done nothing but protect capital since FDR died.
- Of course we want affordable health care and housing, but I'd absolutely kill for a Bill Clinton or Bush Sr over a Trump any day.
It's weird that you specify 40 when the Constitution says they only need to be 35. Doesn't all of our recent political history show we need younger politicians?

You guys are getting Trump for a second term. Ouch.

ouch... for the entire planet
We seriously are. This is madness.
Okay, but if we do this, we're gonna need the whole rest of the world to stand against the US and decide to fight against our corrupt government. It'll suck for us, but let's be honest, we've had it coming. Some of us are willing to sacrifice to make the world a better place. Probably a good idea to all stand against Russia and China too... Everyone just stand together against the 3 big bullies... Deal?
- Let's do it. Can you send me a gun in the mail?! ;)

The Democrat plan is to replace him just like they did Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by waiting for him to die and then hoping for the best.

Out of respect for a great woman/man! Not being disrespectful to important people is much more important than human rights or democracy.
- I don't really follow. Didn't Obama ask RBG if she wanted to retire so he could put up a left leaning judge? That's not disrespectful nor respectful, it's just sensible.
  She refused, predictably precipitating the current shit show out of hubris.
  She may be a great woman deserving of respect but she fucked up, bringing harm to an entire generation of women.
Most idiotic plan, of course it’s hatched by the Dems.

Bernie.

Too many articles focusing on replacing Biden when they should be focusing on Trump being a federal convict walking around free.

Is it too much to ask for the most important office in the world not be held by an old demented man?
- No. Unfortunately there's two of them.
Not enough articles saying why Biden is so unappealing that quite a few people prefer the convict. Physician, heal thyself.
There will be more of that around July 11th when he has his sentencing hearing. Biden shit the bed Yesterday.

I'd go for Bernie myself.

I mean just imagine that! In a year of some of the worst and craziest 'first-time-evers' Sanders could be the DNC's candidate.

You'd go for someone older than Biden?
I like Bernie, but that's a ridiculous replacement.
- I think it’s Bernie’s competency that’s appealing. Sure he’s older, but he’s in touch with reality and has never stopped fighting for tangible as well as progressive ideals.
- I think at this point he has a lot going for him, ie: he's recognizable, he's popular with a large segment of Americans, he can play the game well (as seen when he graciously accepted the DNC's bs in 2015), he's kind, he's rarely (if ever) been known to publically lie, he's smarter than at least half of Congress and the House of Reps, etc etc.
- Bernie is sharper on his worst day than Biden or Trump are on their best day.
- Bernie is still mentally sound. He’d make for a far better candidate, and would easily mop the floor with Trump in a debate.
- Once again, we agree.
  Why always with the old white men, when we have prominent politicians like Yang, Buttigieg, Klobuchar? And as for Bernie, if you want a firebrand who's going to alienate moderates, why not AOC? Well, she's too young to run, but she's not the only truly liberal option. Warren is old enough, progressive enough, and a woman. But, no, Bernie Bros gotta Bro.
This is a fella with unquestionable principles. I love the guy.
But we really need someone like you know, younger or were gonna run into the same cryptkeeper problems very soon.
With the way the DNC is it would be Harris or, more likely, Hillary Clinton.
- And Hillary is the only candidate to ever lose against Trump lol
- Your comment makes me feel unwell
- Pls no.

There’s no time. Democrats, I swear, just can’t see past one election at a time. They’re literally not prepping someone else. What they think will happen is KH will be the next person and they’re flat wrong. She can’t win. But they’ll dig their heads in the sand and put her up anyway.

So, now, because they put an old guy up last time they’re stuck. They have zero choice but to run what the brung.

They do far too much of it's their turn in the big chair and not enough who is the best candidate. They cannot see past Trump as an absolutely terrible choice and think anyone else would be the automatic winner like 2016 didn't just happen because of that shit.
Macron is going through the same bullshit, thinking that the electorate would rather support him than literal racists. Guess what fuck nuts, the electorate is about to call you on that, as dumb a decision as it is.
- That's an astute observation. The Democrats are like the perpetual optimist from 90s cartoons that think the story always ends happy, the good guys win, and all you need is honor and trust and a good soundbite to pull through, instead of actually playing chess, or checkers, or perhaps politics with enough forward thinking to actually plan a few moves ahead for once. Perhaps they should hire an evil person to teach them how the R's think.

You maybe should have tried this before 2024. This is gonna go on to November now. Just go vote for him. Old as he is.

Yeah... We're all going to vote for him if he's the nominee... But he's still going to lose... That's the point, the point progressives have been making all along. BIDEN. WILL. LOSE. Like the sun will rise in the east, it's just a fact of nature. They need to nominate someone who will get Gen z excited to come out, so at least there's a chance of stopping Trump.
- We’re all going to vote for him if he’s the nominee… But he’s still going to lose…
  The state of the election is such that turnout is going to tank. Libs and Cons are both very worried who the indie voter aligns with, but I'm betting a bunch of people simply don't vote in November.

Is it really feasible to replace Biden at this point? I didn't watch the debate last night but from what I've heard it was not good for Biden. Nonetheless, I think Biden remains the Democrats' best option. They're just going to have to rely on the electorate recognizing that Biden is still the better of the two choices, as pathetic as that reality may be. However, even if that strategy is somehow successful, again, and Biden does manage to get reelected, the Democrats MUST nominate a better candidate in 2028. I don't think the Democrats can continue with their strategy of just being better than terrible, indefinitely.

"Not good" is an understatement. Potential career ender.
If Trump wins in November, this debate will be exhibit #1.
- At his age the cold he supposedly had is a potential career ender. "He just had a cold that made him feeble" isn't a great alternative explanation when you're talking about an 81 year old.
However, even if that strategy is somehow successful, again, and Biden does manage to get reelected, the Democrats MUST nominate a better candidate in 2028.
The Constitution mandates a maximum of two terms for a President. If he wins, he can't run again. He can technically additionally serve up to half of a term without "using up" one of his terms if he's vice-president and the serving President dies.
The two-term limit was originally purely a convention that had been set by George Washington, who was getting on in years, wasn't many years away from his death, really wanted to retire to his plantation (as in, he didn't even want to serve a second term, and was only convinced to do so by politicians arguing that without him, there might not be sufficient unity), and was also extremely popular and would have been re-elected again.
That convention held until FDR broke it and ran for four terms. In response to that, the Twenty-second Amendment was passed, prohibiting anyone from having more than two terms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
- The Constitution mandates a maximum of two terms for a President. If he wins, he can't run again.
  I know, I didn't mean to imply that the Democrats would try to run Biden again, only that they might try to run a similarly "weak" candidate in 2028, believing that the American people will vote for the candidate simply because they are Democrat and not Republican. I think that would be a mistake.
I don't really understand how it could be too late.
Float a candidate under 60 and they win riotous support from Democrats and undecideds.
Biden is the only Democrat that Trump has a chance of beating.
Perhaps there has never been changes this late in the cycle, but come on... we're breaking new ground in so many ways.
- Float a candidate under 60 and they win riotous support from Democrats and undecideds.
  But who would that be? Do you remember the 2020 primaries? They started out with 29 candidates, the most since the modern primaries began back in 1972, and several of them were under 60, including Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kamala Harris. Only Pete Buttigieg won any delegates (29 out of a possible 3,979). The Democrats have had many years to find a younger candidate who could unify the party. No such candidate has emerged, that I'm aware of, and so Biden, at 81 years old and showing signs of rapid cognitive decline, ran essentially unopposed in this year's primaries.
- Shillary Clinton will be the DNC nominee again if too many people complain about Joe.
Unlikely. People keep pointing to the two times it has happened in the past but they NEVER say anything about how THEY FAILED BOTH TIMES lmao
There are absolutely zero good options this late in the game, but I feel someone like Sherrod Brown has to be a million times better than Biden. Either way yeah, they need to start merchandising their wins and develop a real platform that is “proactive” for ‘28.
It's absolutly possible, here's my comment on it.
- I really don't think it would work at this point, but if I were to pick someone to replace Biden it wouldn't be Gavin Newsom, it would be Andy Beshear. But that's just it, this country is so divided we can't find a consensus candidate.
No party has ever tried changing a candidate at this point. It's not even clear how the Primary / Conventions should go legally speaking.
- ?? It's extremely clear. The Democratic nominations are not a legal matter. The Democratic party is not an arm of the government, they are a private entity. They are free to choose a nominee however they wish, like always.
- We didn't always have a primary system, that's relatively recent.
  In the past, the candidate would be picked at the convention after much wheeling dealing. "Smoke filled rooms" and all that.

Just made a large post on this elsewhere, but the TL;DR is that the party can't just replace Biden. He has all the delegates from the primaries. Do you really think the party that is campaigning on preserving Democracy can get away with ignoring elections?

Now, it's possible that Biden gets diagnosed with a severe case of not-gonna-win-itis which adversely affects his health to the point that he has to resign not only from the campaign, but from the Presidency. If that happens, Kamala Harris becomes the 47th President, and has the only real claim to take over the ticket. It has the fun side effect of making Trump reprint all his hats to say "45 - 48" instead of "45-47".

(The Secret Service better take good care of President Harris, because whatever VP she appoints to take over that role needs to get a majority vote in both houses of Congress, and the House will never do it.)

the TL;DR is that the party can’t just replace Biden.
The Democratic Party can run whoever it wants. The primaries and party nomination are (mostly) party-internal processes. They could say "now the rules are we choose a random US citizen". They don't have to do a primary at all. Some parties don't. There was a point in time in US history when primaries weren't a thing, and parties were quite happily doing their thing back then.
kagis for a starting date
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_election
The direct primary became important in the United States at the state level starting in the 1890s and at the local level in the 1900s.[17] The first primary elections came in the Democratic Party in the South in the 1890s starting in Louisiana in 1892.
The United States is one of a handful of countries to select candidates through popular vote in a primary election system;[12] most other countries rely on party leaders or party members to select candidates, as was previously the case in the U.S.[13]
EDIT: As a good example, the Libertarian Party -- though much smaller than the Big Two -- is the next closest. Under their rules, they participate in primaries, but they treat the primary simply as a way to obtain the preference of the electorate; the primary doesn't bind the party, under their rules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Libertarian_Party_presidential_primaries
The Green Party has a mix of conventions and primaries, depending upon state; a random member of the electorate may-or-may-not directly vote to select their party's candidate.
https://www.gp.org/2024_nomination_process
- Also, fun trivia bit:
  They could say "now the rules are we choose a random US citizen".
  There were historically some systems of government who not merely had random people chosen as candidates, but random people chosen to run the society.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
  In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of public officials or jurors using a random representative sample.[1][2][3]
  In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy.[4][5] Sortition is often classified as a method for both direct democracy and deliberative democracy.
- I'd add that I don't at all agree with some of the people in this thread, who are on the left end of the spectrum and mainly seem to be hoping that the Democratic Party will select someone further left than Biden because they personally would prefer a further-left candidate. In the American electoral system, voting is FPTP. That means that you tend to wind up with two large, big-tent, fairly centrist parties (which approximate party coalitions in parliamentary systems), and the smart move for each to win general elections is to run a centrist candidate.
  A Big Two party can nominate someone out on the fringes, but then they will cede the general election to the other party if the other party runs a centrist candidate.
  In fact, a major argument against primaries is that they may tend to choose a suboptimal candidate for the general election, since they tend towards electing candidates towards the center of the political party, and that that a more-winning strategy for a party is to choose someone not at the center of their party's views, but between that and the center of the general electorate, and that the party members are more-likely to make use of strategic voting than are members of the electorate that votes for their party's candidate.
  I watched a very similar discussion play out on British political forums over the past decade or so. Due to Labour changing some internal party policies that lowered the bar to party membership, party voting changed. Some left-advocacy groups organized a campaign to get people on the left side of the Labour spectrum to become members, to act in the party candidate selection process, and as a result, Jeremy Corbyn -- who is on the left end of the Labour spectrum -- was chosen as Labour candidate. There were people who were absolutely convinced that running Jeremy Corbyn would be a stupendously winning strategy because they personally were politically closer to Corbyn and couldn't imagine why anyone else would vote against him. I watched Tony Blair give a talk where he pointed out that unless a political party wins elections, it doesn't get to have political power, and that while he was a centrist candidate, he actually won elections and that Labour had mostly been out of political power for an awfully large portion of recent British political history. Sure enough, Labour proceeded to run Corbyn twice and were clobbered in two elections. Now they're back to the comparatively-moderate Keir Starmer and based on polling, are looking at having strong results in the imminent election.
  EDIT: If you want a great graph illustrating the Corbyn situation, here's a graph of polls of voting intent for the next UK election. Corbyn lost the leadership position (which in the UK's political system, also normally grants one the prime minister's office in the event that one's party wins) in April 2020, to provide time context.
  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election_after_2019_%28LOESS%29.svg
The primaries aren't actually legally binding. This is a misconception that keeps going around but the party makes the rules for the convention and it's the convention that nominates the candidate. Furthermore, Russia has more democratic elections than the primary we got this year. A single name on the ballot isn't an election. It's a roll call.
Yep. It’s too late. Should’ve done this ages ago if you were going to do it.

At this point it's starting to feel like Biden's holding the nation at gunpoint and making us have a second Trump term. He's always been a terrible politician, running twice for the nomination and failing to get a single delegate, until Obama made him VP. Honestly I suspect part of the reason Obama chose him is because he didn't wanna play kingmaker and figured Biden was too old to run again.

Then in 2020 I think the argument was Biden could benefit from Obama's popularity. I certainly thought that was a terrible pick, but not totally lacking in logic. But in 2024 there was utterly no rational basis for Biden to be running in the first place. Now that he's been a complete disaster, he's just fucking us as a nation for his own narcissism.

Yeah, but the question is who else. Any suggestions?
- Anybody. Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders, AOC, John Elway, I don't care. Biden keeps saying he's the only guy who can beat Trump. After last night's debate it should be obvious that he's the only guy who can't beat Trump.
- Take the L and use the incoming 4 years to plan for a candidate that doesn't suck

People will come out and vote for Bernie.

Another old dude?
- Bernie isn't senile
- With national name recognition and wildly popular policy plans

With as many people voting against trump rather than for Biden, I'm interested to see how much this does or doesn't do anything

it won't move the needle

But...isn't this the point of having a VP?

It feels very reactionary, especially on something that doesn't really affect voters by all that much. If Biden announced a popular VP candidate, they can lead with that person being ready to step up if required.

His VP isn't popular tho. Kamala would get absolutely crushed by Trump
- Is Kamala still the VP pick?
That's the thing, Harris isn't popular. Even her own staff hates her.
Biden would ideally have to replace her with a stronger candidate and step down as President. Neither is likely to happen.
- The public dislikes Harris, for the same reasons I could see her becoming the de-facto president by remaining in her position. Big business interests and Donors would love to have an empty-suit like her to push around.
He's stuck there too, because he promised last election to have a woman of color. He would get attacked even more from his side if he dropped her, and if there was a better candidate that checked the diversity boxes they wouldn't have picked Kamala
- Fuck it, call up Stacy Abrams.
The VP is a solution if he dies, it's not a solution for him being unable to fight his own battles on the campaign trail. If he gets elected, I'm not worried about his age. He can resign or be puppetted by his staff or VP and things will be fine. But there's no such solution for the campaign itself.
That VP candidate would be doing so much we'd all be openly wondering why they weren't the nominee in the first place.

Literally anyone that is younger than 70 could run and win. Biden needs to do everything in his power to campaign for whoever NOW. It may already be too late.

I would even vote for that smarmy little shit Pete Butigieg at this point.
- Yeah, there's a lot of people I wouldn't support in a primary that I would be happy to see. He was never a favorite, but I soured on Buttigieg when he abandoned his sort of forward-looking original platform to compete for the center track, but having a younger and charismatic candidate I can trust to handle himself in front of the camera would be a fantastic relief.

A man 14 months older but mentally 10 times more mentally sound

I honestly think the job of being President of the USA is too taxing on the body. I don't think Bernie is up to the task anymore.
- Little do they know that taxing is Bernie’s kink.

Gretchen Whitmer.

I wouldn't wish that horror on anyone, not even my worst enemies.

Just get the Bern in there

Because it is sooo late in the arbitrary-election-cycle, no matter what the Dems do, they're fucked.

Go with Biden?

Then they're fucked.

Go with Kamala Harris, whom the white-supremacists have been working against for years?

Then they're fucked.

Find somebody else?

There isn't time, so then they're fucked.

This highlights the category of political-lesson that you have to "fail early & fail often" ( to use a phrase from successful serial-startup founders ) in order to find the robust candidates whom you can currently win with.

UNlike the way the Dems have played.

The CNN+NYT "shutting down" of progressive-issues & progressive-voices, in the last election, burned too much potential out of existence, and that traction is gone: non-recoverable.

The mega-entitlement of the Biden insitution is buckling & collapsing with increasing obviousity.

I fucking told everyone so, again & again & again, but it was all my "delusion" & "incompetence" & "defectiveness" & "lies", was it??

Trump is going to become the US's dictator,

& is going to begin the 2nd half of the US's Civil War ( the Confederates only pretended to surrender, & now are earning a "reverse takeover" ), & the butchery will probably reduce the US's population by 2/3rds, within 12y, counting all the consequences both direct & indirect ( complete failure to manage a hurricane's landfall costs much more life than does managing it competently: multiply that by a dozen per year, & you've got human-costs up the gills, without even considering atmospheric-rivers, megadroughts, quakes, wildfires, or any other kind of disaster to multiply costs on, right? ).

it is infuriating to see people insist that "social pressure will make this work", millions of times,

while it measurably, proveably, isn't working, but that is what Natural Selection at the species-level means, isn't it?

Terminal Species-ending Butchery.

Sunak's obliteration of his own party, Kim Campbell's obliteration of her own party, what was that Liberal premier who wiped out her own party, in Ontario, can't remember that one's name..

Social-pressure never acts when it is needed, it only acts when it gets around to feeling comfortable with acting, and that is consistently too-late.

So, when will the Democratic Party admit they need to change gears??

After they've fundamentally lost, is when.

Imagine running a bunch of freight-trains that way: "oh, we'll slow-down when we feel a collision beginning, but until then, we're really fine, & there's no indication of any real need to be doing anything different, is there?"

Feelings are the wrong metric for preventing this kind of catastrophy.

frustration-rage

Authority needs to have hard walls, bright lines, & deadly-force biting its corruptions/entitlements/dishonesties/DarkHexad enactments, etc.

Political-process won't ever allow any such rule, in its dominion, of course..

And that is why political-process cannot be permitted to own our world's fate: its conflict-of-interest, & its inescapable-corruption disallow integrity from ruling, & without integrity, then only "Justice", with falsifying-quotes, the phony version of Justice, remains..

So, The Great Filter's going to extinguish yet another world, from this Universe, is it?

Political-machiavellianism/dishonesty's going to snuff all LivingPotential, LivingWorth, LivingOpportunity of this whole world, while the "social consensus" indulges in orgiastic clusterfucking, until existential-viability itself is gone..??

Ah, but at least everyone will be able to feel that they "weren't responsible", right?

Social-feelings: that's the real LORD, and so long as it's happy, then existence, itself, isn't actually necessary, right??

bitterness

Bro had absolutely zero business writing this banger but he did it anyways, what a madlad.
Respect
- I mean, I think it devolved into a literal mental breakdown at the end. That or it was just a freeform poem all along.
It's hard being intelligent enough to see the problems but lack the political will power and opportunity to change them.
I believe you. I think Trump has a very good chance of winning and the result could be conflict among different states or groups within them. Unless the conspiracy theorists are right and the Gavin/Kamala ticket is already selected for the ballot and the win. But it seems likely Trump will win. The upper classes have engaged in price gouging because a Democrat was in office, Biden never called them out on it in aggressive way because he lacked the aggressive nature and rage and gall to do it, and an incredible number of people are feeling stressed out by price changes. There are also many swing voters unhappy with immigration policies and think they are too mild. Between the two issues, Biden would lose even if he did seem energetic and lucid.
Do you think it's bad enough that it makes sense to flee the US? And to where would one even flee? There are wars in Eastern Europe, it's not even clear Western Europe is safe. I have always though Trump was likely in the pocket of Russia or an actual Russian Spy, so when Trump wins he will unequivocally support Putin, which will be a disaster because Western Europe can't stand up to the evil of Putin and Trump alone... especially not when there are Chinese and Saudi alliances that Putin has been working on.
It's terrible but the best option is probably for Biden to escalate the war now, which he is unlikely to do since he's sort of become a bit of a hippy. Putin sees Biden's hippy weakness as well. If Trump is a Russian spy, the US intel agencies likely know and have to decide whether to do something to protect the country, even something that some might seem nefarious.
It's a terrible situation and mostly a distraction from the environmental catastrophy on the horizon.
Do you think it makes sense to leave the US now? I am not that attached to anything and could go anywhere. I am white but don't like bigots, which may impact my options.
- Tbh, I think that the US is done for, as a country, but it'll take years for the destruction to progress through its different phases..
  Trump promised his followers they'll never have to vote again..
  Quite the promise, isn't it?
  Quite the threat, from the perspective of all who aren't his followers..
  Canada, EU, Down Under, other Commonwealth countries, British Isles, etc..
  Get out before 2031, as by then it'll be too-late, & everything-turning-to-hell will be going on..
  IF some anti-Trump appears on the world-stage, decide if you want to be with them, & find some way of moving there..
  The US Civil War Part2 should begin in 2032 or so ( it seems to be a 7-8y cycle for each stage? ), & it should run for 7-8y, until the US is completely-destroyed, roughly 2040.

Pete Buttigieg

I was not crazy for him in 2016 but he has grown on me a lot. I think he is a great candidate! Biggest issue this election cycle is he is gay. Lot of bigots will not vote for him because of it and go for Trump.
I really hope he make a presidential run again!
- Yes, but were any of those people not going to vote for Trump?
- The interesting thing about Pete is I know life-long Republicans who said they would vote for him. Maybe it's one of those, "he's one of the good ones" situations.
He's already accepted the nomination.

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

That doesn't hold up logically. Editors can ask any question they want in a headline.

Like I said, I'd vote for a rock at this point.

A O C

Bernie!

Lol wtf. The BBC implying that Biden did such a shit job he could stop running.

They asked the question because ...
Some Democrat politicians and operatives reportedly texted CNN commentators with hopes that Mr Biden, 81, would step aside.
That's from the summary and article, if you had bothered to read it.
- Treating the opinions of any asshole with a cell phone as "news" is one of the leading causes of the downfall of civilization.
  That's from common fucking sense, if you bothered to have any.

Bernie?

Finally getting the Bernie/Hilary ticket everyone has been asking for
- If Bernie is in, I choose AOC as his running mate instead.
  Fuck Hillary.

How about Jimmy Carter?

Lol 99 Is too young!
- He can still serve one more term! Why don't we dig up Mondale while we're at it

First of all the party doesn't have to do anything. They literally make the rules of their nominating convention. So the idea that it would just be unfettered chaos is ridiculous.

With that idea firmly in place, yes it's physically possible to replace him, until the nominating convention nominates him.

As to the idea that it must be an open convention instead of some kind of brokered convention, the earlier the democrats get on this and the more buy in they have from Biden, the more successful it will be. If they aren't going to pull the trigger though you'll never hear about anything because it could damage the campaign. So it's a crossing the Rubicon moment the second they announce they're going to do something other than nominate Biden.

first of all, some names that have been thrown around-

Newsom, high profile governor from taking runs at MAGA in the media. Was already raising his name recognition for a 2028 run. Whitmer, governor of a key state, bullet bump from the kidnap attempt Pritzker, governor of a key state Shapiro, governor of a key state

Obviously some other people are getting their names thrown around, but the party is not going to take any extra risk in a time like this. So the replacement would very likely be straight, white, male, and photogenic. I wish we lived in a world where that wasn't true, but they're trying to reach for every single vote they can and they cannot afford racism or misogyny to pull anything.

Bernie, I love him but we're not exactly going to say Biden is too old and then nominate Bernie.

How the party does this would also have an effect. If they make it an inclusive process, debates with a caucus or comment period before allowing only the top two or three (according to polls and comments) to go into the convention then they can avoid a lot of the anger over appearing to just throw Biden away. The elephant in the room here is they did not have an actual primary this year. One man's name on the ballot is not an election. So they'd need to have that sort of atmosphere, but in just the few weeks before the convention. If they don't try to include their voters then this would fail.

Over all there's a lot to be said for sticking with the guy versus taking a path with so many failure points. If they approach a candidate and that candidate leaks the plan, they're worse off than before. If they don't make the voters feel included they fail. If they allow the convention to become a chaotic mess they fail. If they can't get Biden to endorse the replacement they fail. If they choose wrong with the abbreviated vetting period and we get another October surprise then they fail. And there's always the chance that they sustain too much damage even though they do everything right and fail anyways.

But yeah, it's possible, it doesn't have to be chaos, and there are people who can step in.

Yeah, Newsom and Whtmer, no one else has the name recognition ….. but half the country will reflexively vote against California
- If they go hard and use their entire war chest then name recognition won't be an issue as long as the person has a good starting position.
I think the most concerning thing. Is that its so clear with bidens age decline. We have seen this before. FDR, the later term of Ronald Reagan, Dianne feinstein. Its not ok to put up figure head leaders who are just puppets of their cabinets. All the blatantly undemocratic behavior from trying to sue RFK Jr off the ballot, canceling the primaries, trying to block a debate from every having happened in the first place.
I think Donald Trump was wrong about the whole stolen election. BUT. Watching this election cycle one thing is very clear. There is no integrity left in american elections. Our democratic process has already degraded to banana republic. I cannot in good conscience vote for a senile puppet and I cannot vote for a man who is clearly acriminall, not an exemplary american leader, and not a good statesman. There is no lesser of two evils. There are other options and people being unwilling to believe that there are other options is the only reason we are stuck with this bullshit.
I truly believe Robert F Kennedy junior oa the only sensible choice for president in today's political climate.
- I don't agree about RFK but I do agree that our democracy is clearly very damaged.

Your Naked Mother

Stacie Abrams

Abrams can't win local elections, she has no shot at a national level.
- A black women not being able to win the governorship in Georgia doesn’t necessarily mean she can’t win election period

~~A BOX OF HAIR WITH A STICKER OF A CARTOON BLUE DONKEY ON IT COULD EFFECTIVELY REPLACE HIM~~look... We're really not asking for much. The bar is subterranean. It's clear that the Democrat party is dead set on playing limbo in hell. But I admit... It's nice to dream. I hated buttigieg in 2020. In fact I couldn't fucking stand any of the vaguely beige cardboard standees that made up the lion share of all democrat candidates that year, but the truth is that just about any of them would be acceptable now just to ensure that we're one step closer to extinguishing the GOP because frankly THE ONLY WAY WE'LL GET A GOOD PARTY IS IF THE MOST EVIL ONE DIES AND THE REMAINING ONE SPLITS. Like when our forefathers curb stomped the federalists into oblivion - whom were ALSO nationalistic conservatives and absolutely deserved their resting place in history's rubbish bin. For fucks sake, the Democrats desperately don't WANT the Republican party to die and that's all the more reason to KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT. So just vote for literally anyone other than the GOP to make the Democrats suffer and then their party will disintegrate into two subfactions and we can focus on purging the tradcon SCUM from them, too.

Me

This guy

Is wondering how Trump is allowed to run for a third term.

There is no official anything when two duopolic corporations (with wildly similar interests) decide which candidates to bring forward. They decide which two will be the only viable choices.

Afaik there are no legal requirements binding them except the restrictions who is eligible ("being born in USA", that sort of arbitrary weirdness).

Being born in the US is such a stupid requirement. Someone who immigrated here as a child in a relatively non-wealthy family would understand the average american so much better than the super wealthy politicians we have now
- Yeah.
  \ No meritocracy at all.
being born in USA", that sort of arbitrary weirdness
The actual requirement is "natural-born citizen", which doesn't really have a definition. John McCain was born on a US military base in Panama, Rafael Edward Cruz was born in Calgary, yet both were citizens at birth and nobody contested their status as "natural-born" when they ran for President
- Are we sure that Ted Cruz was born and not hatched?
- So vaguely USA flag styled placenta & a gun, got it.
  I remember the McCain debate, yes, it makes sense for the 'citizen' part. Not sure why does it have to be from birth tho. But it was prob written in colonial times or something.

No, comrade.

Biden can only be removed by Biden, but frankly, his performance last night was so terrible, he not only needs to stop the campaign, he should consider stepping down from office.

If he can't handle Trump in a debate, there's no way he's handling the duties of office.

As for who would replace him?

The DNC would push for Kamala Harris which would guarantee a Trump win.

The next two logical choices would be Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer.

But there are lots of good Democrats out there, Peter DeFazio, Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, Earl Blumenauer, all from Oregon.

If you're dead set on "ancient white guy", I hear Jerry Brown is still available. :)

I don't think Harris guarantees a Trump win, even if she's clearly a riskier pick than a more popular Democrat. And I don't think she is a good pick. I feel like either party could win simply by putting up a younger and more competent candidate, but their internal politics prevented that. Harris, for all her focus-group flip-flops and questionable past, would be able to respond directly and forcefully to Trump while conveying a capability to do the job. For all the bad vibes Biden put off with his oldness and feebleness last night, in my opinion not effectively attacking Trump was the real loss.
And to be clear, I think she's a terrible choice. She was a terrible choice when she was picked for VP and they've done nothing in four years to groom her as a successor, but I think the race is still tight and there's so much potential for gain simply not being 80 that her risks don't put us in a worse place. We'd be better with someone else, but I'm not sure the cost of passing over the black female VP when there's no other clear leader to coronate would be worth what will already be a chaotic decision.
- Black female doesn't carry the weight when it turns out she was suppressing evidence in CA and blocking the release of innocent prisoners.
  https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article233375207.html

It's time for Warren to step in!

It's time for Warren G to regulate!
Elizabeth Warren is just as old.
- She's too old to replace a president for being too old, but she's younger than Biden was when he was nominated.

Joe's Biden should be replaced with Boe Jiden

This is the thing with a primary season. If something happens late in the season, then how do you go back and change the results from earlier in the season?

Let's say for instance Biden listens to all the "sky is falling" pundits and retires now. How does the DNC choose its candidate? I'm not very familiar with procedures for a closed system like that. Do they do an open convention and let the delegates vote on whoever they want? Do they have a list of candidates to vote one at the convention? Who makes up that list?

From the article ...
There, a candidate must win support from the majority of "delegates" - party officials who formally choose the nominee. Delegates are assigned to candidates proportionally based on the results of each state's primary election. This year, Mr Biden won almost 99% of the nearly 4,000 delegates.
According to the DNC rules, those delegates are "pledged" to him, and are bound to support his nomination.
But if Mr Biden were to drop out, it would be a free-for-all. There is no official mechanism for him or anyone else in the party to choose his successor, meaning Democrats would be left with an open convention.
Presumably, Mr Biden would have some sway over his pledged delegates, but they would ultimately be free to do as they please.
That could lead to a frantic contest erupting among Democrats who want a shot at the nomination.
- Thanks!
  So the alternative would be chaos with the hope that a good candidate emerges.
If Biden dies of natural causes before the convention, they will use the convention to elect a new candidate. It’s pretty obvious Gavin Newsom has been positioning himself for such a scenario.

Gavin Newsom or Jon Stewart would be the only people with name recognized and the politics to win. Knowing the DNC will get Hillary Clinton or Hakeem Jeffries

Jon Stewart
Would be extremely funny if the Dem response to Trump was to seed the election with their own brand of C-List celebrity.
But our country simply isn't that cool.

The conspiracy theorists all say Joe is supposed to step down and Gavin Newsom somehow is added to the ticket which then will win. These conspiracy theorists also say that candidates are selected in advance by the powers that be and it’s all pagentry to deceive the gullible masses. If this is true, then we need not worry for this is all fot dramatic effect and Gavin and Kamela are already selected.

The conspiracy theorists all say Joe is supposed to step down and Gavin Newsom somehow is added to the ticket which then will win. These conspiracy theorists also say that candidates are selected in advance by the powers that be and it’s all pagentry to deceive the gullible masses. If this is true, then someone is already selected.

A lot of the presidency seems to be cheerleading and keeping up appearances which is what a lot of celebrities are pretty good at anyways so I'm the spirit of slam dunking Trump on the name recognition side may I propose:

Not like it's the first time we've had an actor as president or anything either :>

I believe The Rock, despite his amusing connections with Elizabeth Warren, is actually a left-moving former-Republican. Not exactly a hard no in the Democratic party, but we can probably find a charismatic person who's at least center-left.

If any democrats want my vote they have to replace biden.

So you'd rather have Trump as president?
- Unfortunately, while I normally would volunteer to canvass and get out the vote, I'm instead going to need that time for planning out how to flee the country
- No... That's why I want biden to step down.

@girlfreddy

Who could replace #Biden?

That's easy.

It's #California Democratic Governor...

GavinNewsom.

He'd have to resign as Governor first, and seeing as the convention is less than 2 months away it's unlikely he would/could do it.
- Quick, change the law so he can run for president whilst being governor, worked for Florida.