Time Magazine's cover was released hours after the news that Biden would drop out of the race.
Joe Biden dropped out yesterday. I was browsing a bookstore that had a coffee shop where people sat and looked at their phones. It was a quiet day in coastal New England. The weather was sunny and not a lot of people wanted to be inside. I was a pretty good distance away from the coffee shop area when I heard a woman shout, "Biden's out!" I looked. She and her friend were furiously scrolling on their phones. I stopped and then took out my phone and started looking at Twitter, and then the New York Times to confirm.
Some time between that afternoon and watching coverage on TV, Time Magazine released its cover, which, of course, went viral on social media. Rachel Maddow on NBC sounded giddy. "Harris will beat Trump," she said assuredly. I had mixed feelings. I knew Biden did something that only a great man could do: give up power; put country before ego. I also believe that this will energize the Democratic Party like nothing else. And the Republicans are angry.
This is a moment in history and it's scary and unprecedented and exciting for, I hope, good reasons. But that's just my take. Here's someone more qualified:
Historian and author Heather Cox Richardson writes about history and politics in her daily substack, "Letters from an American." I like her take and you can subscribe at the link if you would like her essays in your in box every morning. Here is today's column:
“My Fellow Americans,
“Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.
“Today,
America has the strongest economy in the world. We’ve made historic
investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug
costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record
number of Americans. We’ve provided critically needed care to a million
veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in
30 years.
“Appointed the first African American woman to the
Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in
the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to
lead than we are today.
“I know none of this could have been done
without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a
century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great
Depression. We’ve protected and preserved our Democracy. And we’ve
revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.
“It
has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And
while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in
the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and
to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder
of my term.
“I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.
“For
now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked
so hard to see me reelected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala
Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me
express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith
and trust you have placed in me.
“I believe today what I always
have: that there is nothing America can’t do—when we do it together. We
just have to remember we are the United States of America.”
With
this letter, posted on X this afternoon, President Joe Biden announced
he would not accept the Democratic nomination for president. So ended
the storyline begun after the event on June 27, when Biden appeared
unable to respond effectively to Trump’s verbal assaults. Since then,
there has been a drumbeat of media stories and some demands from
Democratic lawmakers and donors calling for Biden to step aside and
refuse to run for a second term. Increasingly, that drumbeat imperiled
his reelection, opening the way for Trump’s election to install a
dictatorship of Christian nationalism.
In another post shortly
after the first, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the
presidential nomination, writing: “My fellow Democrats, I have decided
not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties
as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the
party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President.
And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full
support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this
year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do
this.”
Harris smoothly took the baton. “On behalf of the American
people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President
of the United States and for his decades of service to our country,” she
wrote. “His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern
American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have
served two terms in office.
“It is a profound honor to serve as
his Vice President, and I am deeply grateful to the President, Dr.
Biden, and the entire Biden family. I first came to know President Biden
through his son Beau. We were friends from our days working together as
Attorneys General of our home states. As we worked together, Beau would
tell me stories about his Dad. The kind of father—and the kind of
man—he was. And the qualities Beau revered in his father are the same
qualities, the same values, I have seen every single day in Joe’s
leadership as President: His honesty and integrity. His big heart and
commitment to his faith and his family. And his love of our country and
the American people.
“With this selfless and patriotic act,
President Biden is doing what he has done throughout his life of
service: putting the American people and our country above everything
else.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my
intention is to earn and win this nomination. Over the past year, I have
traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear
choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to
do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to
unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump
and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.
“We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”
Biden’s
announcement ended the month of suspense under which the Democrats have
lived, and in the hours since, they appear to be coalescing around
Harris with enthusiasm. Those who might have challenged her nomination
have stepped up to support her: California governor Gavin Newsom,
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper,
and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg all backed Harris; Michigan
governor Gretchen Whitmer said she does not intend to challenge Harris.
By tonight, all of the state Democratic Party chairs were on board with
Harris. Endorsements continued to pour in.
So did money.
Following Biden’s endorsement of Harris, donors contributed more than
$46.7 million to Democratic races before 9:00 p.m., and major donors,
who had paused donations to Biden, have said they will contribute to
Harris’s campaign. The Biden-Harris team also managed the paperwork to
transfer the $95 million in Biden’s campaign coffers to Harris because
the money was raised for the ticket, rather than for Biden alone.
But
party rules say that Biden cannot pass his delegates to another
candidate, so Harris will have to cement them on her own, as well as the
superdelegates, a group of party leaders and former elected officials
whose votes carry weight in the convention. As of 10 p.m. on Sunday, she
had won 531 of the 1,986 delegates necessary to win the nomination.
Biden’s
decision has left the Republicans in deep trouble, and they are
illustrating their dilemma with high-pitched anger that the ticket of
their opponents has changed and by insisting that if Biden is not fit
for another four-year term he must resign the presidency immediately.
House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he will sue to try to keep
Biden in the race; Democratic election litigator Marc Elias responded
that “if your lawyers are telling you that they can prevent the
D[emocratic] N[ational] C[ommittee] from nominating its candidate of
choice, they are idiots. I know a lot about that, since I beat them more
than 60x in court after the 2020 election.”
Trump, meanwhile, has posted seven times about Biden since he dropped out of the race. He has ignored Harris.
The
Republicans’ anger reflects that fact that if Biden is off the ticket,
they are in yet another pickle. Just last week, the Republicans
nominated Donald Trump, who is 78, for president. Having made age their
central complaint about Biden, they are now faced with having nominated
the oldest candidate in U.S. history, who repeatedly fell asleep at his
own nominating convention as well as his criminal trial, who often
fumbles words, and who cannot seem to keep a coherent train of thought.
Democrats immediately pounced on Trump with all the comments Republicans
had been making about Biden. Republicans have already suggested that
Trump will not debate Harris, a former prosecutor.
With
39-year-old Ohio senator J.D. Vance now their vice presidential nominee,
it will be tempting for Republicans to push Trump out of the
presidential slot. But aside from the fury that would evoke from Trump
loyalists, it would further alienate women from the Republican ticket.
Republicans were already losing voters over their overturning of the
Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that
recognized the constitutional right to abortion, so many that Trump has
recently tried to sound as if he is moderating his stance on abortion
and to appeal to women in other ways. Just this weekend at a rally in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump appeared to be courting suburban women by
promising to “stop the plunder, rape, slaughter and destruction of our
American suburbs and cities” he implied had taken place under Biden. (In
fact, violent crime has decreased significantly since 2020.)
Vance
is an extremist who supports a national abortion ban, has said he does
not believe in exceptions for rape or incest in abortion bans, and has
praised women who stay in abusive marriages.
Biden’s decision not
to accept the Democratic presidential nomination has created yet
another conspicuous contrast with Trump. Thanks for a job well done and
praise for his statesmanship have been pouring out ever since Biden made
his announcement—indeed, they have apparently convinced some people
that he has stepped down from the job altogether, while in fact he will
remain the president for another six months.
Among others,
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called Biden “an extraordinary
guardian of America’s national security,” thanked him for his leadership
and statesmanship, and called him “one of our great foreign-policy
presidents.” President Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughters called him “a
patriot without peer” and said, “we love you and thank you for your
selfless service to all who love democracy, social justice and the rule
of law.”
For all the accolades, though, it is likely that the one
the family-oriented president values most came from his son Hunter,
whom the Republicans hammered for years as a proxy for his father.
“For
my entire life, I’ve looked at my dad in awe,” the younger Biden wrote.
“How could he suffer so much heartache and yet give so much of whatever
remained of his heart to others? Not only in the policies he passed,
but in the individual lives he’s touched…. That unconditional love has
been his North Star as a President, and as a parent. He is unique in
public life today in that there is no distance between Joe Biden the man
and Joe Biden the public servant of the last 54 years. I’m so lucky
every night I get to tell him I love him, and to thank him. I ask all
Americans to join me tonight in doing the same.”
In a time of
dictators, Trump tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential
election and install himself in power against the wishes of the people.
President Joe Biden voluntarily turned away from reelection in order to
give the people a better shot at preserving our democracy.
He demonstrated what it means to put the country first.
—
Notes:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/21/read-joe-biden-letter
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/21/harris-biden-drops-out-letter
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/27/trump-biden-cnn-presidential-debate-reaction-highlights
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/21/kamala-harris-fundraising-surge.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/21/kamala-harris-biden-campaign-funds-00170136
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-21/michigan-s-whitmer-said-to-stand-down-from-presidential-run
https://apnews.com/article/harris-biden-democratic-convention-2fb8b1bc88b99e919872e63efdd8c275
https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-mock-donald-trump-as-too-old-to-runlike-he-did-to-joe-biden
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/07/20/barack-obama-joe-biden-pelosi-latest-news-us-election/
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/violent-crime-falling-nationwide-heres-how-we-know
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/politics/kfile-jd-vance-abortion-comments/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/all-50-democratic-party-us-state-chairs-back-harris-sources-2024-07-21/
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4785260-vice-president-harris-delegates/amp/
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