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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 24, 2024

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The editorial board of the New York Times now asks Biden to step aside.

Democrats who have deferred to Mr. Biden must now find the courage to speak plain truths to the party’s leader. The confidantes and aides who have encouraged the president’s candidacy, and who sheltered him from unscripted appearances in public, should recognize the damage to Mr. Biden’s standing and the unlikelihood that he can repair it.

Mr. Biden answered an urgent question on Thursday night. It was not the answer that he and his supporters were hoping for. But if the risk of a second Trump term is as great as he says it is—and we agree with him that the danger is enormous—then his dedication to this country leaves him and his party only one choice.

The clearest path for Democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his lies is to deal truthfully with the American public: acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place to defeat Mr. Trump in November.

It is the best chance to protect the soul of the nation—the cause that drew Mr. Biden to run for the presidency in 2019—from the malign warping of Mr. Trump. And it is the best service that Mr. Biden can provide to a country that he has nobly served for so long.

There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden.

This, for both parties. Seriously, Trump and Biden are both way too old to be POTUS in a term that could very well include literal WWIII. I've been hoping for ages that one of them has a heart attack* and gets replaced by a non-geriatric candidate (preferably Trump, because a lot of non-Biden Democrats are true believers in extreme forms of SJ and some of those beliefs are relevant to fitness to preside over WWIII, but I'll take a Biden heart attack if that's what's on offer). Accomplishing the same without a death required would be even better.

*NB: hoping that someone dies of natural causes =/= hoping that someone is assassinated; the latter would lead to chaos and I don't want that.