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Notes -
I advocate the other approach simply because there are a lot of unknowns here and very little upside.
Biden is basically only plausible if he has absolutely no more memory or misspeaking issues which given the fact that he referred to Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump isn’t looking that good. If he wonders about and looks confused, if he issues a word salad, or messes up grammar, etc. then he’s not going to carry the election. And given 6 months to go, he’s probably not going to be able to not have those kinds of moments. So we’re talking about a near certain loss for Biden unless he makes a miraculous recovery.
Another huge problem is that even if you’re avoiding the obvious signs of dementia being put on display, you’ll still always be on defense with Biden. They haven’t been able to pivot to “and this is why you shouldn’t vote for Trump” since the debate. They can’t attack Trump on tariffs or abortion or anything like that because they’re still trying to convince people that Biden isn’t senile. They can’t talk about their plans for the future because they’re stuck talking about whether or not Biden is cognitively competent to run the country.
Even with an initial bit of discord around picking someone else, at least you can start to run a proper campaign here. You can forward a plan for the county and pivot toward why you’re the best guys for the job. You can talk about the student loans crisis, Gaza, Ukraine, the economy, inflation and so on. Even if it’s Buttigege or someone that takes the senility off the table. It’s not a millstone around the democrats’s neck. If the person chosen comes out swinging and on message, I think most of the unity issues solve themselves.
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