What Democrats Should Do If Biden Steps Aside

It's already been one hell of a summer.

I was in the mountains with a friend mining for sapphires on Saturday afternoon when news broke that Trump was shot at a campaign rally. My thoughts immediately went to Trump and how no one deserves to be met with violence, regardless of the reason. Trump has done more to destabilize and dehumanize than anyone else in U.S. history, and even he deserves stability and humanity.

This was us, outside of cell phone service mining for sapphires, oblivious to what was happening in the rest of the world.

I work to help Democrats get elected up and down the ballot. My job covers races in individual communities all the way up to the U.S. Senate. I don’t think I have to tell you that my momentary lack of cell phone service during a national event made people I work with panic.

I did find some sapphires though.

NO RAGRETS

Everyone needs a way to stay sane amid all the upheaval, whether its a notification-free meal or a movie in a dark theater or a gem-mining expedition deep in the mountains.

What are you doing to find a measure of peace during this chaotic and uncertain time?

When people text me to ask whether or not I think Biden is going to step down, I tell them I’m done speculating about the next plot line in this season of American Politics. It’s fruitless. We’re living a drama that not even creative-genius Aaron Sorkin could write. A disastrous debate. Democrats turning on each other. The media spinning Parkinson’s rumors into the public conscience. An assassination attempt. Was that Hulk Hogan at the RNC? How is it only mid-July?

Yesterday the mainstream media published reports that Biden’s bid for a second term is collapsing around him.

With prominent Democrats and fundraisers calling for him to end is campaign and make room for a younger, more energetic nominee, I can’t help but recall Heather Cox Richardson’s historical observation, "If you change a presidential nominee at this point in the game, the candidate loses."

Is it true? Would Biden leaving the race this late in the game spell doom for Democrats’ chances at keeping the White House?

Twice in modern US history has a sitting president left a campaign for re-election this late in the game. Harry Truman dropped out in March 1952 and Lyndon B. Johnson announced he would not seek the nomination in the spring of 1968.

Both times, the Democratic Party lost re-election.

You’ve read my own observations about Biden’s fitness. I wrote about what I saw with my own eyes when I sat three rows away from him at an event two weeks before the debate — a much different Biden than the one on the debate stage.

I think Biden is capable of winning in 2024. But I’m not the one deciding.

The truth is, winning the executive branch wasn’t about Biden. It was about saving the most basic tenants of democracy from being dismantled by the worst actors in our nation’s history.

If Biden does decide to step down nothing — as far as we’re concerned — will change.

We should thank Biden for his service and legacy as the most progressive, get-sh*t-done president in modern history. We should wish him happiness and good health and be grateful for the 50+ years of service as a senator, vice president, and president.

And then we should move on.

Instead of trying to predict what happens next, Democrats should stay focused on one unwavering goal from now until November: Defeating Project 2025.

I get it. What I’m asking you to do feels feeble and demoralizing sometimes. It’s easier to get lost in the high-stakes drama unfolding before us. It feels simpler to abstain from the hard work of democracy and hem and haw on the sidelines about how we got here than it is to work toward what comes next. But the only way we keep the dystopian nightmare of Project 2025 from becoming a reality is to stand up, get out in your communities, and talk to people about it.

People are watching you. They’re seeing what you put out in the world. They’re noticing your energy and attitude. Your actions help them decide whether or not to descend into despair or behave like superheroes.

So take a deep breath. Take a rest. Go sit inside in some air conditioning for a few minutes (because it’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk). Get pumped. Put on your superhero capes. And get back out there.

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Here’s what to say if someone tells you they won’t vote unless their favorite Democrat is the presidential nominee:

Our democracy is on the ballot this November, and electing a Democrat for president is the only way to preserve the freedoms this country is founded on. Project 2025 is Trump’s transition plan if he’s elected president. The changes our country will see if we give him that power will be lightning fast, and there will be no going back.

Trump’s Project 2025 is a christofascist’s wet dream that promises to erode the separation of church and state, do away with social safety nets, dismantle union protections, make life harder for BIPOC Americans, imprison queer people, distress single parents, endanger women, hurt the environment, and threaten teachers, librarians, scientists, the disabled, people who live in poverty, and career civil servants.

Not a single Democrat will be perfect for every single person or every single issue. But not a single Democrat will do the amount of damage that Trump will do if he’s elected and Project 2025 comes to be.

This election will be won with face-to-face conversations, not by pundits and politicos. It’s time to refocus our message on the damage that Trump’s Project 2025 will do to the country if it comes to be.

Onward, Democracy Defenders!