zohran
From the minute former President exited the debate stage in Atlanta two years ago, Democrats have wished to put that disastrous night behind them, but for a variety of reasons have been unable to do so.
Even now, barely a month can go by without some Democrat reminding us of the challenges Biden and Democrats faced, culminating in Bidens withdrawal from the race.
Whether its former First Lady Jill Biden, former VP , the widely-panned DNC “audit” of what went wrong, or other members of the administration, Democrats are reminding Americans that plainly, Biden had no reason running for a second term.
They also remind voters that the party as a whole is struggling to recover from the defeat in 2024, a challenge made worse by Harris name and record consistently being in the spotlight as she considers a second run in 2028.
Moreover, in doing so, Democrats remind everyone of the lengths they went to hiding Bidens declining capabilities at the very moment they were asking voters to trust them.
The former First Lady says as much. According to her memoir, she knew something was wrong, writing that she wondered if her husband was having a , yet none of that seemingly mattered when she was forcefully defending him in the hours and days after.
And while voters are â understandably â still angry that the Democratic establishment did not admit what was obvious to the public, the political consequences of that night and the weeks after are still playing out. Indeed, as Carlos Lozada headlined a recent article in , “The Biden Verdict is in. It Isnt Pretty.”
Describing a book summing up Bidens presidency, Lozada writes that “The administration was an ominous interregnum” and that his term “ended somewhere between tragedy and farce.”
Whether due to Bidens age, stubbornness, or additional factors, throughout his presidency, the country lacked direction and an overarching vision.
Further, when the Biden did attempt to steer the country, they were often woefully out of step with what the majority of Americans wanted.
From throwing the Southern border wide open, to economic policies that stoked â which ultimately proved to be Bidens downfall â and a humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, the administration simply appeared rudderless.
Likewise, Bidens emphasis on transgender issues generated considerable backlash, leading to perhaps the most devastating political ad in recent memory, President Trumps “Kamala is for they/them, Im for you.”
Even when the administration did identify a problem many Americans cared about such as , they routinely failed to promote their policies, resulting in virtually no political points.
At the same time, despite promising to be a bridge between , more progressive Democrats, Biden exacerbated that ideological struggle, setting the stage for the ongoing fight today.
Put another way, rather than bringing both wings of the party together in order to set a new agenda, Biden allowed progressives to rapidly ascend, while the pool of moderates shrunk ever smaller.
To be sure, the consequences of that cannot be overstated, as it threatens the political viability of all Democrats, especially for state or national offices.
While popular in deep-blue pockets, progressives struggle when the electorate expands from ultra-liberal cities to entire states, let alone for the presidency.
And yet, progressives have grown so powerful within the that moderates are being primaried out of existence by an insurgent far-left that could keep the party out of the White House for decades to come.
As evidenced by the New York City primaries last Tuesday, that is no longer hyperbolic. Insurgent socialist candidates, backed by socialist Mayor won three races against more moderate candidates.
In that same vein, in Michigan, Maine, and even Texas, where far-left candidates Abdul El-Sayed, , and James Talarico, respectively, have surged
