The president often had a weak, raspy voice during his first debate against Trump, in what Democrats had hoped would be a turning point in the race.

  • Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m not in a panic. I knew this. Should he have run again? Hell no. I wish he would have had the courage to call it a day.

    That being said, I’m fully willing to endure 4 years of Weekend at Bernie’s if it means I won’t have to go through the embarrassment of having the orange moron at the helm.

    • John Richard@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Are you willing to let Trump win though than have Biden step aside? That is what the DNC should be asking themselves. The polls are way to close for Biden to have that poor of a performance. If Democrats are seriously worried about Trump being the end of Democracy then they would not be okay with Biden being the DNC’s best choice.

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I think it’s to late to change things up. That’s the problem, everyone told the DNC this was going to happen and yet they all just kept with Biden.

        That being said, I don’t think either Trump or Biden are in a state to actually run the country. Their cabinets are going to hold all the power, and I trust Bidens cabinet over Trumps any day.

        • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          Any change no matter if is too late or too inconvenient would be a better change for the DNC than to allow Biden at the top position. Seriously, any other DNC politician would be better than Biden even if they changed right now or in the next few months. All you need is some politician who is about 50 years old to fight Trump every day until the election and the orange menace would suffer a heart attack trying to keep up.

          This is insane … it’s almost as if the powers that be want Trump to win and the only way they can ensure that is to put him up against an 80 year old competitor because it is the only candidate he could possibly beat.

          • btaf45@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Any change no matter if is too late or too inconvenient would be a better change for the DNC than to allow Biden at the top position.

            It’s not up to the DNC to “allow” candidates or not. The DNC charter says the voters choose the nominee. They literally have no power to change the will of the voters. They could theoretically alter the Dem party charter, but doing so this close to an election would likely not stand up in courts. The only possible way to get a replacement candidate cough Gavin Newsom cough would be for Biden to formally ask his delegates not to select him. And since Harris would be the automatic replacement she would likely have to agree to allow someone else.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              It’s not up to the DNC to “allow” candidates or not. The DNC charter says the voters choose the nominee. They literally have no power to change the will of the voters.

              The DNC argued in court that they could ignore their bylaws and put their thumb on the scale as much as they wanted. Guess that only applies when they’re fucking over progressives.

              • btaf45@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Nope. A lawyer argued in court that they could legally change the party charter, in to win a court case. Which they theoretically could, but if they tried to alter the charter this close to the election it would be overturned in court for a great many reasons.

                Thinking that “DNC” small group of caretakers can choose anyone they want shows that you have a profound lack of understanding of how things actually work. Legally, control of the DNC lies in the hands of the newly elected delegates. The small caretaker group does not have the power to purge the much bigger general membership of already elected delegates. If they tried to, every single DNC delegate elected this year could sue the caretakers and would very easily win that lawsuit. Furthermore, the party charter bounds the delegates to Biden on the first ballot. Biden will have to be convinced to formally release them before they could legally vote for anybody else.

                The reason why you have a profound misunderstanding of how things actually work is because you were subjected to an onslaught of Kremlin propaganda in 2016 without knowing the source. And that propaganda gave you a dunning-kruger effect of vastly overestimating your knowledge of how the political parties actually work.

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  Centrists gaslight when they know they’re wrong.

                  I’ve read the transcripts. They argued that the charter was discretionary.

                  • btaf45@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    A) I voted for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020.

                    B) This article explains how things really work and how the elected delegates are legally binded to Biden on the first ballot and that it would be illegal for anybody in the executive committee or anybody besides Job Biden to release the delegates.

                    https://apnews.com/article/biden-replacement-democratic-ballot-dnc-rules-7aa836b0ae642a68eec86cc0bebd3772

                    I’ve read the transcripts. They argued that the charter was discretionary.

                    You misread the transcripts and it gave you a dunning-kruger understanding. Even if the lawyer had said that it would still be completely incorrect.

        • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          That’s the problem, everyone told the DNC this was going to happen and yet they all just kept with Biden.

          i think that’s only the tip of the iceberg; we’re going to vote for them anyways so they literally have no reason to bother listening, ever.

          • dudinax@programming.dev
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            4 months ago

            That’s the real danger of Donny. If you care at all about the country you have to vote for the Democrat. It gives the Dems too much power.

            • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              4 months ago

              If this strategy allows them to win elections while putting forth the most donor friendly and least citizen friendly candidate, they’re not going to stop on their own. Go vote Biden sure but in 4 year if you don’t have a plan to ensure the next Dem candidate isn’t the least liked person whos technically better than a Republican then you’re responsible for the regression of the country.

        • John Richard@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I agree. I’ll vote for Biden if I have to, but if Trump wins I’m not blaming RFK Jr like they blamed Bernie and Jill Stein in 2016. I’ll blame them and likely never vote for a majority political party again.

          • btaf45@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            and likely never vote for a majority political party again.

            If Trump wins you will never get to vote in a free and fair election ever again.

              • BReel@lemmy.one
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                4 months ago

                This line of thought always amuses me. “It’s democrats faults for not stopping republicans from being horrible people”

                Oooooorrrrr maybe it’s republicans fault… for being horrible people?

                “It’s the fire departments fault my house burned down, not the guy who lit it on fire.”

                • John Richard@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  Republicans are horrible people. They gaslight, obstruct & project. Democracy is on the line here, so Democrats do the logical thing. They go to a nursing home and find someone that is talking about beating medicare to help lead them to victory.

              • btaf45@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                It will be the fault of Republicans first and asshats on the internet 2nd.

            • PrettyLights@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              If Trump wins you will never get to vote in a free and fair election ever again.

              We heard this same talking point in 2016 but somehow we still had a 2020 election.

                • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  4 months ago

                  As if it was successful. The US isnt a dictatorship, the president isn’t a dictator, and last time they tried to overwhelm it with force it did little to the political institutions of our country other than scare some politicians. The same body that was under attack voted against calling it a coup.

        • Furbag@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          At the end of the day, that’s the main takeaway here. It’s not so much the men themselves, but the people they intend to appoint to positions of authority. Biden will appoint experts and professionals to run the country for him. Trump will appoint sycophants and yes-men to do whatever he wants to do, even if it flies in the face of reason or standard procedure, and unlike last time he won’t allow anyone who isn’t 100% loyal to him to work in his administration.

          • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Thats my take on it at least (although with Trump I’m not sure who will be using who if he’s elected). It’s frustrating that few people are talking about this, cause at the end of the day neither of them are fit (physically/mentally) to be president. So for once it really is just about the party and policies and not the person running.

        • btaf45@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          That’s the problem, everyone told the DNC this was going to happen and yet they all just kept with Biden.

          What is with this absurd disconnect from reality? The DNC charter says only the voters have the power to choose the nominee.

      • Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        While I agree, it’s way too late in the game to change up now. There’s no strong candidate waiting in the wings. It’s not about willing, it’s about alternatives.

          • John Richard@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            There are so many better options at this point. I can’t help but shake that the two party system is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Make people think that mediocrity is the best we can get if we’re lucky.

            • btaf45@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              We got FDR and LBJ and Lincoln and Washington. So if you think that then that’s on your own faulty thinking.

              • John Richard@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                You’re free to keep supporting Biden at this point but hopefully when you see all the Democratic news outlets saying the same things tomorrow and this coming week and the polls showing Biden’s support dropping you’ll reconsider

                • btaf45@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  WTF are you talking about. What I want is for Biden to drop out and be replaced by Gavin Newsom. Nor did I vote for Biden in the 2020 primary. I’m just saying that you’re completely wrong that the system cannot produce good candidates since we’ve had great presidents in the past.

        • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          There doesn’t have to be a strong candidate, just anyone stronger than Biden who’s basically zombie-crawling across the floor.

          He absolutely can be replaced at this stage, and by nearly anyone.

          • Blackbeard@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            He absolutely can be replaced at this stage, and by nearly anyone.

            Only if they can convince him to step aside and let someone else run. At this point the voters have selected 3,904 delegates who are contractually obligated to cast a vote for him at the Convention. If the delegates somehow simply ignored the primaries, they’d be quite literally ignoring the will of their voters and taking matters into their own hands. It’s alarming how many on the left (who presumably had a problem with the DNC’s treatment of Bernie in 2016) are cheering for the DNC to heavily influence the primary process again. I don’t necessarily disagree that something drastic needs to be negotiated, but the irony of this is really hard to ignore.

            • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              This is the way the DNC set their rules up, they’ve been ok using the system to kneecap progressives, I see no reason that they shouldn’t do that to Biden. I’m not precious about the DNC and I have no illusion that it’s democratic, so they just need to stop pretending they’re being held back by principles and just pull the levers they always pull to control the convention outcome.

              • Blackbeard@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Yes, and the rules were voted on by party members before the primary started. They’re now in place, and they’re obligated to respect them until this process plays out. Same thing happened in 2016. Say what you will about whether the rules were “fair” or not, they were agreed upon before Iowa, and they were respected through the Convention.

                The way you use “kneecap progressives” tells me you’re conflating DNC primary rules and campaign finance. The two are not the same thing. They could do to Biden what they did to Bernie and blast the airwaves with damaging, misleading attacks, but none of that would fundamentally change the fact that the primary rules were agreed upon and are immutable until the Convention comes to a close.

                And to reiterate, it’s not “principles” that are holding them back. It’s a contractual obligation whose violation would open them up to civil litigation. Voters picked delegates and they’re obligated to respect the voters who selected them. The DNC can’t just tell them to take a hike.

                But Biden can.

                edit: AP just put out a piece that confirms what I’ve been saying. They’d be sued into oblivion if they usurped the process right now. The ball is very much in Biden’s court.

          • btaf45@lemmy.world
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            He absolutely can be replaced at this stage, and by nearly anyone.

            He absolutely can’t be legally replaced unless he agrees to that. And the replacement would automatically be Harris unless she agrees to allow someone else. The DNC charter says that only the voters can select the nominee. Changing that charter this close to an election likely wouldn’t stand up in courts. The only way to replace Biden would be to convince him to step down.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              The DNC charter says that only the voters can select the nominee.

              They argued in court that they could ignore this.

        • John Richard@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          AOC would be a really strong candidate. The right would freak out and she’d end up getting more press coverage than Trump. I imagine she’d make several Republican’s embolisms pop.

          • Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world
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            Yes, she’s probably the only one with enough name recognition and veracity to take on the orange moron in my opinion. Problem is corporate Democrats wouldn’t back her because she’s too progressive and that goes against their corporate masters.

            • John Richard@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              True… However if Trump gets elected and our government is able to prevent a dictatorship, in 4 years progressives will hopefully realize the DNC needs them more than they need need the DNC.

              • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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                4 months ago

                in 4 years progressives will hopefully realize the DNC needs them more than they need need the DNC.

                the progressives already know that the dnc needs them more than they need the dnc as evidenced by dnc surrogates perpetually shaming progressives for not voting for the dnc; i’m guessing there’s a typo in your sentence somewhere, but i’m not sure where.

                • John Richard@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  If the progressives truly thought that then the US would have a much different stance in regards to Israel.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      We’ll need to see the polling in about a week but I haven’t seen a performance this bad since Palin. The Democrats may need to go to an open convention.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      I’m fully willing to endure 4 years of Weekend at Bernie’s if it means I won’t have to go through the embarrassment of having the orange moron at the helm.

      DEAR PLEASE GOD someone turn this into comedic satire before the election!!!

    • TokenBoomer@lemmy.worldOP
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      I would. You would. But there are millions of voters who aren’t as informed. And what they saw last night was an ancient, out of touch candidate channeling Walter Mondale. Many will probably still vote for him, but this performance will depress voter turnout.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      After he wins the election, he could retire and let Harris rule in his stead.

      Then there’s Schumer (provided he’s still the majority leader.)

      There really is no need for a weekend at Bernie’s situation.