Looks like I’m one for two when it comes to big predictions about US politics.
Yes, Donald Trump’s opponents tried to assassinate him, just like I predicted back in December, but no, Biden is not going to be the Democrat candidate for president.
You win some, you lose some, I guess.
I thought the admission of a “Biden oligarchy,” made a few weeks ago in the most casual manner by Axios after the calamity that was Biden’s debate performance, would be a chance to put managed democracy on the ballot for the very first time in American history. The ticket would have been something like, “Anything but Trump,” and voters would have been encouraged to welcome a shady unelected oligarchy running a senile president, simply because it would mean—well, anything but Trump.
Anything but four more years of Orange Man Bad.
Anything but four more years of American fascism and the return of the Trumpian redcaps to power.
The “Biden oligarchy,” according to Axios, was a “group of lifelong loyalists” that included his wife Dr Jill Biden, his sister, his close confidant Ted Kaufman and “a small band of advisors.” These people, Axios boldly proclaimed, would be the ones to make the decision for the President whether he would drop out o the race.
“The only way President Biden steps aside, despite his debate debacle, is if the same small group of lifelong loyalists who enabled his run suddenly — and shockingly — decides it’s time for him to call it quits.”
If the Biden oligarchy didn’t want Biden to go, he wouldn’t. Simple as.
The US has been heading in the direction of managed democracy for some time—we can debate exactly how long, later—and I thought having an acknowledged puppet president in the White House, a man whose only real concerns were ice cream, naps, and sniffing little girls’ hair, would be the perfect opportunity to put the seal on the deal.
The seal on the steal, rather.
After all, we had the “Secret History of the Shadow Campaign that Saved the election”: the brazen admission that not only is there really a deep state but it really did conspire and collude to make sure Trump didn’t win the election and then couldn’t do anything about it. This admission revealed, retrospectively, that American democracy was being handled by a coalition of the “wise” and “good”—by people who know better than the American people what’s right for their country—so why not a prospective measure too? Why not just get it out there in the open?
Anyway, that’s not happening now. The Biden oligarchy has been deposed in nothing less than a palace coup, barely 24 hours after Joe Biden told his aides that it was still “full steam ahead” with Biden-Harris 2024.
A few weeks ago, I’m sure you’ll remember, Biden told the world that only “God almighty” could convince him to drop out. According to Politico, the President’s mind was changed on Saturday when he was presented with “damning new information” in a meeting with two of his closest allies, Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon.
Does that make Steve and Mike God in Joe Biden’s world? I suppose it depends on the level of medication the President is on. I’m sure his handlers probably know exactly what and how much of it they need to make the poor old fool do and believe whatever it is that’s required of him, including that he’s actually the President of the United States, running the whole show, and not back in Delaware sixty years ago giving Corn Pop a good seeing to.
Frankly, though, I doubt anything of the sort happened. Biden wasn’t won over by argumentation. It’s quite obvious that the US has been subject to a coup—a palace coup, as I say—worthy of a Third World country or the Soviet Union at its inglorious end. Think of Gorbachev trapped at his dacha in the Crimea by KGB agents and you’re on the right track.
Biden hasn’t been seen in public since Wednesday, when he was diagnosed with COVID-19. When the announcement came, there was no press conference. No photograph. Just a statement typed out on Twitter by whoever it is who runs the President’s account. Dr Jill Biden responded to the statement with a heart emoji, for God’s sake. Joe Biden’s brother, Frank, even darkly suggested, in an interview with CBS, that his brother didn’t have long left to live.
Joe Biden really might die, and soon. How convenient, now he’s outlived his political use. His position as President is untenable, so death is almost certainly the least messy option.
I may have got the specifics of my prediction wrong, but the fundamentals are still there. This is still a demonstration of the managed nature of American democracy. For one thing, it’s an enormous slap in the face of the American people—of the millions of people who actually did vote for Joe Biden in 2020, and of all those Democrats who selected him as their candidate in the primaries, back in March.
It’s clear that the will of the American people will not be respected and that whoever gets chosen to be the Democrat presidential nominee will be chosen in a manner that’s totally out of keeping with established norms.
We can see this in the battle over endorsements that’s currently taking place. “Joe Biden,” supported by the Clintons and billionaire powerbrokers like the Soroses, has thrown his support behind Kamala Harris, but the Obamas are clearly having none of it.
In a long statement posted to Medium, Obama praised Biden as “one of America’s most consequential presidents” and said his decision to remove himself from proceedings reminds us “that he’s a patriot of the highest order.” But he also made it crystal clear that nothing has been decided with regard to Biden’s replacement.
“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
The leaders of our party. Create a process.
In a bathroom somewhere in the Hamptons, Big Mike is girding his loins.
If the last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that this election season is going to be unlike anything seen before. There are still three months to go until election day. Nothing is settled. Everything is to play for—the future of American democracy really is at stake.
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