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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 24, 2024

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In the course of a week /r/neoliberal has flipped from smugly poo-pooing anyone questioning the mental fitness of Biden to accepting that he needs to be replaced immediately. Given that the subreddit for better or for worse captures the demographic of who runs the Democratic Party, I think that's a telling sign itself.

There can be few things in life as crushing as getting what you really wanted. Well this was what they wanted.

POLITICO headline: ‘Biden is toast’: Democrats are in full freakout over the president's debate performance.

I think it's a little hyperbolic, but at least one Democrat texted POLITICO that they thought Dems needed an open convention. I'm very glad I reserved judgement about his fitness for the debate.

We'll see what happens after people sleep on it. There've been rumblings before and, over time, people accepted the fait accompli. Happened with Trump too after the Access Hollywood tape and other issues.

Wow. And I just checked this is an accurate headline. Sometimes you should bet on obvious things. I have no idea why betting markets have been close to 50-50. Every Wall Street analyst or hedge fund manager has said Trump 100% wins. I thought it was obvious at this point. Nothing happened tonight I didn’t expect.

Keep in mind that this debate was abnormally early, and Biden and Trump only have one more to go. It’s quite possible that most liberal and swing voters mostly forget about last night by November. If Biden has a better performance in the next debate, that could swing things back the other way too.