Dems: Facing the Abyss Inside the Abyss (2024)

Going into Thursday night’s press conference, the best hope for Democrats was that President Biden’s performance offered a definitive enough answer on his mental fitness to bring the brewing civil war within the party to a conclusion one way or another.A miraculously great night that staved off the rebellion among Democrats was one way to accomplish this, or on the other end of the spectrum, a complete face-plant by Biden that produced the groundswell needed to force him out of the race. The latter would allow Democrats to move on to the process of selecting a replacement as soon as possible.Instead,

Joe Biden's "big boy" press conference is in the books, and it did not go well. As RedState reported, the president showed up with a pre-selected list of reporters to call on, a fact that he announced before taking questions. During the first question, the president then called Donald Trump his vice president, confusing his political opponent with Kamala Harris. From there, he's been rambling and filibustering, attempting to burn enough time so his staff can claim he held his own. The truth is, this was a disaster.

President Joe Biden struck a defiant tone during what was perhaps the most consequential press conference of his political career, insisting that he is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump in November, even as he stumbled through several answers.Biden read prepared remarks off a teleprompter and answered questions from a pre-selected list of reporters Thursday night at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit, addressing a range of subjects including the history of NATO, Russia’s war against Ukraine, inflation, and Israel’s war against Hamas. The embattled president showed signs of his age throughout the event,

On Thursday evening, Joe Biden held what was widely dubbed his "big boy" press conference. Originally scheduled for 5:30 pm ET, it was delayed an hour, before again being pushed to 7:00 pm and then 7:15 pm.It was a rough start, for sure. Biden sounded hoarse at times, coughed quite a bit, and sounded like he had cotton in his mouth and nostrils. But, it was a campaign speech through and through. He repeated the same old stump speech lines that we've heard over and over and that haven't resonated with the public.Of course, the speech was irrelevant. The questions and answers

The Democrat Party is on the ropes, and frankly, it's long overdue.The Democrats have been on the wrong side of history since its birth. James Buchanan, a Democrat, sat on his hands as the nation slid into the Civil War, which would eventually kill 2.5% of the nation's population. When Republicans took away their slaves, Democrats responded with Jim Crow laws to keep black people down and the KKK to terrorize them with near impunity for generations.Many consider Woodrow Wilson to be the grandfather of progressivism, a racist, and a fiend. FDR refused to pass an anti-lynching law as black people were being hung throughout the Democrat-run South.

US intelligence discovered earlier this year that the Russian government planned to assassinate the chief executive of a powerful German arms manufacturer that has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine, according to five US and western officials familiar with the episode.The plot was one of a series of Russian plans to assassinate defense industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine’s war effort, these sources said. The plan to kill Armin Papperger, a white-haired goliath who has led the German manufacturing charge in support of Kyiv, was the most mature.When the Americans learned of the effort, they informed Germany,

President Biden drew gasps Thursday evening when he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” — confusing him with the Russian tyrant whose forces have invaded Ukraine for the past two-and-a-half years. Biden quickly apologized for the embarrassing flub, saying it happened because he was “so focused on beating” the Kremlin strongman. However, the mistake is likely to accelerate calls among congressional Democrats for the 81-year-old to end his bid for a second term.

Readers of Plato’s Republic will remember Socrates’ allegory of the cave in Book VII, but followers of Leo Strauss like to talk sometimes about “the cave beneath the cave,” and then things get really weird. (I know—big surprise.) But I think this cave-in-a-cave analogy may help explain the Democrats’ dilemma and hesitation right now.On further consideration, I think there is one major factor holding back DC Democrats from forcing Biden out immediately. To be sure, dumping Joe Biden for the uncertainty of successor candidate is to stare into the political abyss, which is scary enough. But it is doubly terrifying because deep inside that abyss is another, bigger

Shelley Duvall, the saucer-eyed, rail-thin waif who starred in seven films directed by her mentor, Robert Altman, and avoided the ax wielded by an unhinged Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, died Thursday. She was 75.Duvall died in her sleep of complications from diabetes at her home in Blanco, Texas, Dan Gilroy, her life partner since 1989, told The Hollywood Reporter.“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley,” Gilroy said. In November 2016, a disheveled Duvall appeared on an episode of the syndicated talk show Dr. Phil and revealed that she was suffering from mental illness.

One unfortunate feature of national political campaigns over the last quarter-century has been the "base turnout" model. Rather than try to modulate the message and agenda to appeal to the center, both of the major parties have focused instead on energizing their base. Barack Obama may have been the exception in this century, about which I wrote in my book Going Red, but even that was only in his first presidential election. By 2012, Obama had to rely on his base and his considerable personal approval to skate by in a close re-election effort.Donald Trump also relied on a base-turnout model in both of his presidential elections, as did

More than half of Democrats say President Joe Biden should end his reelection campaign because of his catastrophic debate performance, though he remains tied with former President Donald Trump, according to a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll released Thursday.Fifty-six percent of Democrats and 67 percent of all Americans believe Biden should withdraw “given his performance in the debate,” the poll found. Both Biden and Trump receive 46 percent support among all registered voters, nearly unchanged from the last edition of the poll in April. And a record-high 85 percent of Americans say Biden is too old for a second term — up from April, along with a new high of

Fearing a floor revolt against his nomination, President Biden’s aides are telephoning individual delegates to next month’s Democratic convention to gauge their loyalty to the president, according to three delegates who received a call this week.After a round of introductory questions confirming each delegate was still planning on going to Chicago and asking if they had served as delegate before, the Biden aide making the calls got to the point, the Democratic activists recalled to me in separate interviews.One of the delegates said the line of questioning turned with an inquiry along the lines of, “Do you understand what being a pledged delegate means?”