Joe Biden presidential portrait.
Joe Biden has announced that he is running again in 2024. BBC. Joe Biden is 80 years old and would be 82 if he is reelected. If he survived his 2nd term, which is no sure thing, he would be 86. The only saving grace for Biden's advanced age is that his probable opponent, Donald Trump, is also fairly old at 76 and would be 78 when sworn into office and 82 when he leaves if elected. Biden does face primary challenges, but his most credible threat, Senator Bernie Sanders, has declared that he is not running and is endorsing Biden. However, Biden faces a major popularity problem and a new poll said more than 70% of Americans, including half of Democrats, do not want him to run again, with his age being a major concern.
My Comment:
It is extremely odd that the Democrats are going all in on Biden considering his obvious downsides and failures. There are absolutely other candidates that could run and perhaps win on their own merits in their party but instead they are doubling down on a massive mistake. Biden is a liability to them and I don't understand why they don't see it.
The BBC article harped on Biden's age and I do admit that it's a huge problem for him. Biden is 80 but if you said he was 100 I would believe it. Age is a concern with Donald Trump, but unlike Biden, Trump still has a sharp mind and has energy. Biden appears to be in the initial stages of dementia and has declined since taking office. He's nothing like he was when he was a Senator or even when he was Obama's VP.
And the fact is that Biden could very obviously die in office if he gets elected and that's where another huge downside of Biden shows up. He is sticking with Kamala Harris, who is the only Democrat in the world that is less popular than he is, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton. I don't think anyone wants a Kamala Harris presidency but that is a real possibility even today.
I also think that Biden is hurt by the fact that nobody else seems to be running against him. Right now it's Marianne Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr. are in the race as well. Williamson is not a serious candidate but RFK is. The media is constantly reminding people that he's an anti-vaxxer but he's also a member of a major political dynasty and has some cross the partisan divide to vote for him. Indeed, I have heard a few Republicans or independents saying they could vote for him in the primaries, if not the general, just to keep Biden out of the race. Indeed, if the GOP race isn't competitive in the 2024 race by the time it gets to Wisconsin and the Democrats are still in play, I might do the same thing, even though I don't like RFK that much. I think the "anything but Biden" voters are real and might back RFK or someone else that enters the race.
The BBC didn't mention it but Biden's first term has been an absolute disaster. The economy is failing, banks are failing (including another one today) wages are stagnant and inflation is up. Foreign policy is even worse, Afghanistan was lost in humiliating fashion and face nuclear devastation because of our insane Ukraine policy. And Biden has been consistently on the wrong side of pretty much every social issue at a time when people are pushing back against such nonsense. Budweiser hired Dylan Mulvaney and lost billions of dollars in stock valuation and their brand is forever tainted, but Biden met with Mulvaney first.
Of course the other elephant in the room is election security and the collusion between big tech and the Democratic party that handed Biden the White House in the first place. That is of course the Democrats biggest advantage when voters don't matter, only ballots do. And the Republicans do not seem to be willing to do anything about it. Indeed, many of the leadership of the Republican Party don't seem to think there is a problem in the first place. They are more concerned about pushing Ron DeSantis and keeping Trump out of office than making is possible to win elections.
They do have a major advantage in that Twitter is now under the control of Elon Musk, who is dramatically less hostile to Republicans then the previous regime there. Since Trump won in 2016 largely because of social media it means they have a chance to right the ship if they actually try and do the same kind of shady ballot harvesting and vote by mail shenanigan's that the Democrats do. But will they even try or are they going to try and continue to pretend that the candidates actually matter anymore?
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