And just like that.
Wasn’t it just about nine months ago when the Republicans on Capitol Hill were eating their own? Speaker Kevin McCarthy was unceremoniously dethroned. The House went without a leader for three weeks until Mike Johnson, a last ditch compromise choice, was finally elected.
Remember when the Democrats, led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were having a grand old time letting the Matt Gaetz’s and the Marjorie Taylor Green’s paralyze the GOP with their self-indulgent, party-destructive, personal agendas?
But nine months is a lifetime in politics.
Which party is now united behind its presidential candidate? Which party is clear-eyed about its choice to be its standard bearer?
Even the candidates that ran against Donald Trump spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention.
And just like that, the Democrats are in utter disarray.
Their candidate, Joe Biden, is on the verge of dropping out of the race after major players in the party like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama, told him that if he didn’t withdraw his candidacy, they would not only lose the White House, but probably the Senate as well, with no hope of retaking the House.
Who knows what’s really going through Biden’s brain right now. We’re getting all sorts of mixed messages from the big guy.
Biden told ABC’s George Stepanopoulos in that post-debate debacle interview, that the Almighty him/her/itself would have to come down and tell him it’s time, Joe, it’s time to pass the torch.
Then, last week in his post-NATO summit news conference, his first solo meet the press outing since November, Biden said he would withdraw if his close advisers told him he couldn’t win.
This past week, he told an interviewer for BET, Black Entertainment Television, that if a doctor told him he had medical condition he would consider dropping out.
Now, sources close to him are saying he’s begun to come around to the idea that the bell is tolling for him, that he can’t beat Trump and if he continues in the race he’s going to take down other Democrat candidates as well.
So what’s the next excuse Biden will use? His son Beau coming back to him during a west wing ouija board seance saying he should retire? Or will he opt for whatever the Magic 8 Ball reveals to him in Rehoboth Beach? Personally, I’ve had much success with the Magic 8 Ball.
Here’s what I think is going on.
At the end of the day, if he doesn’t pack it in, Joe Biden will be remembered for ushering Trump back into the White House and giving the Republicans control of the executive and legislative branches.
As plain as the thinning hair plugs on Joe Biden’s noggin, that is something he sure as hell doesn’t want to happen.
With everything the Democrats have done to Trump, with all their efforts to kick him off ballots, to prosecute him, to demonize him, all of it will be for naught because old Joe won’t exit.
Not a good look, to say the least.
The Greek chorus calling for his withdrawal is growing, and the unmasking of their emotions is spreading to more and more prominent party poohbahs.
The mega-money people are holding on to their wallets, not wanting to throw more cash into a cratered candidacy.
International allies like Israel’s Bibi Netanyahu, sensing a Trump victory, are paddling like beavers to get back in his good graces. An aide to Netanyahu told Axios that Bibi might even ask Trump endorser Elon Musk for help in mending fences.
Even parts of the Biden-loving mainstream media like MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, are sensing a November blowout and say their guy has to go. Pundits have always loved the smell of political napalm.
As for Donald J. Trump, he eerily came within an inch of his life, literally. The assassination attempt has galvanized his base and made contributions to his campaign erupt like a Texas oil gusher.
In his acceptance speech on Thursday night in Milwaukee, wearing his now iconic ear bandage, Donald Trump sounded fairly normal, at the beginning. He called for unity and said he would be the president for all Americans.
It didn’t sound like Donald. Remember the American carnage speech he gave at his inauguration in 2017. The speech that caused former President George W. Bush to turn to a morose Hillary Clinton and say, that was some weird shit.
But after a while on Thursday night, the true Trump emerged. The Trump we’ve heard again and again at his red meat rallies, where he riles up the crowd with his calls for retribution and where he unrelentingly recounts grievances, real and perceived. You know, the Festivus part, without the pole and the feats of strength.
So, despite an assassin’s bullet that almost ended his life and no matter whom the Dems nominate to try to Mar-a-Lago him for good, the race will be the same old Trump versus some, thrown-into-the-fire, Democrat. Probably, maybe.
If you think it’s been a wild and crazy game up until now, just wait. If nine months is a lifetime in politics then, as Joe Biden might say, guess what, so is the four months before election day.
Like my Magic 8 Ball says, you may rely on it, because anything can happen, just like that.