The last two weeks in the American political sphere have consisted of dismay from the Democratic Party and their 2024 Presidential nominee and incumbent President, Joe Biden. In the most catastrophic and consequential debate performance in United States history, the 46th President embarrassed himself on a national stage in a contested rematch against former President Donald Trump on June 27th, struggling even somewhat to denounce the theory that he was too old or incoherent to serve the country another four years. Biden said that he "beat Medicare," name-called Trump throughout the debate, and took long pauses bumbling around without being able to convey why he and his administration should be re-elected to another term.
Meanwhile, President Trump looked as poised and sharp on policy as he had looked in his nearly decade as a president or presidential candidate. He called out Biden for his failures on inflation and foreign policy disasters with Ukraine, Israel, and Afghanistan. He even laid out his deportation policy to counter the amount of drugs and crime that had been smuggled over the southern border during Biden's presidency. Aside from his policy platform promotions, Trump did not get rattled or emotional during the debate, while Biden continued to falter frustratingly throughout the contest.
The reaction from the debate has shocked both the mainstream media and the Democratic establishment. While they were both told by the Biden camp that this would be the moment that his debate performance finally dispelled his 'elderly' status, it instead caused an attempted political coup unlike the American electorate has ever seen in the modern era of elections. The panel responses from left-leaning television networks like CNN, ABC, and MSNBC reflected how bad Biden's debate performance was. Immediately, commentators such as Van Jones started calling on the 46th President to drop out of the race, as it remained too essential to beat Trump. That night, many viewers and voters could already tell that the response from the establishment was a snowball that would turn into an avalanche in the days that followed.
Soon after the media reacted, Democratic U.S. House and Senate members also began to react. Democratic incumbents such as Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), and Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), all either expressed that Biden should drop out or at least consider the idea that he may not be the choice to defeat Donald Trump. This movement, aligned with pundits such as James Carville and David Alexrod expressing extreme concern about Biden's viability, started gaining traction, with support from most of the media, with the members that called on the 46th President to step aside. However, the attempted coup is being met with an ever-intensifying rejection from not only Biden's campaign but Biden himself.
It is evident that not only was Biden not going to step down, but he was ready for a fight if there was an attempt to remove him as the nominee. On the MSNBC show Morning Joe, Biden dared any Democrat that wanted to oust him to "Run against me. Go ahead---Challenge me at the convention". Following this appearance on June 8th, Biden sent a letter to his Democratic congressional colleagues that he was committed to staying in this race.
While this internal civil war was perspiring among the Democratic Party, Donald Trump continues to focus on his vice presidential selection, honing in on what policies and personnel he would install if elected in November, and is allowing Biden's campaign to fall apart. The 45th President was already ahead in swing state polling for months leading into the June debate. Still, now, Trump is allowing the Democratic Party to run out of ammo leading up to the general election. The unity between Trump, the Republican National Committee, and conservatives in the GOP as a whole has never been more vital as they look to defeat progressive, far-left Democrats that hold power in Washington and throughout the country. Trump's platform, to be proposed at the Republican National Convention, passed unanimously, his campaign now has more cash on hand than the Biden campaign, and his poll numbers continue to rise when he has not even picked a running mate yet.
The unity between the GOP and its presumptive nominee, former President Trump, has caused turmoil for President Biden and the Democratic Party. While many may have suspected Republican interference to get the spotlight off of Biden, neither the GOP nor Trump could have made any better decision than to allow Biden and the DNC to fall flat on their faces.
Now, with only a few months remaining, Trump and the Republican Party have not only set themselves up to win the war against Biden but to start a civil war amongst the Democratic establishment as well.
