Speculation about President Biden stepping aside has reached a ridiculous fever pitch. Forget it: It’s Biden vs. Trump.
The presidential election is less than five months away, and the Democratic National Convention that will officially nominate sitting President Joe Biden is exactly two months away.
You’d think by now, and with these events fast-approaching, we’d have finally moved through the stages of grief to acceptance that Joe Biden, for all his flaws and weaknesses, is the Democratic candidate.
But it seems some are still stuck in denial and bargaining, and they’re offering up speculative, baseless and, in some cases, delusional hypotheticals to soothe their anxious minds.
Talk of replacing Biden with someone like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or California Gov. Gavin Newsom started way back in 2022, perhaps a reflection not of Biden’s unpopular policies but of his advancing age and missteps.
As time to decide approached, a never-ending swirl of speculation and stories about whether he would run again — and whether he should run again — became a regular distraction for the Biden administration, with reporters stopping Democratic members on Capitol Hill to ask if Biden was fit for reelection. Enough hedged, wavered, or flat-out said no to be worrisome.
But the time to turn worry into action was then, years ago, when Democrats could have given voters time to get acclimated to the idea that there would be a new nominee.
As we all know, in April 2023 Biden formally announced he was running for reelection. For better or worse, that should have ended all hypothesizing about a Biden replacement.
