Biden Out, But Who Is In?

What will the Democrats do next?

Remember something I wrote recently that I titled, “Is Joe Biden Actually Going To Step Down?” Well he sure as malarkey just did. He made the announcement that he’s dropping out of the race on Twitter. Reports have shown that not even his staff knew about the President’s decision until after he tweeted his decision. The media had made a big deal about the way Trump fired cabinet officials through Twitter, which was fine. But it really is something when the sitting President of the United States announces that he is declining his party’s nomination for reelection—on Twitter! We live in absolutely nutty times.

Biden may have dropped out of the race, but we are not 100% sure who the Democratic party will nominate to replace him. The most obvious pick would Biden’s VP Kamala Harris. Biden has already endorsed her, along with many other Democrats, but there have been plenty of other high profile Democrats (such as former president Barack Obama) who have not announced their endorsement of the sitting Vice President. For the longest time, Harris was even more unpopular than Biden, but ever since Biden’s debate performance, her numbers have been improving. Still, there may well be fighting within the Democratic Party over whether their nominee should be Harris or not, but she is definitely the easiest route for Democrats to take right now. All the money that the Biden campaign has raised can go to Harris with no problem, but because of campaign finance laws, that would not be able to happen with anyone else (at least not easily). As The Dispatch explained recently:

As the vice presidential nominee, [Harris] would gain control of all of the Biden for President campaign committee funds ($91.5 million cash on hand as of May 31, according to Federal Election Commission records), while a different candidate would have to navigate a maze of campaign finance rules and procedures to access the funds….

If Harris were not selected, the campaign could still legally donate the funds to the DNC, indirectly funding the new candidate. The DNC would be allowed to donate only $5,000 directly to the new nominee’s campaign, and it could spend up to $32.39 million in direct coordination with the campaign. The DNC could also make unlimited independent expenditures, running web or television ads, for example. But, similarly to a super PAC, these purchases could not be made in coordination with the campaign.

While Harris may be a weak candidate (but we’ll probably see her poll numbers change if she establishes herself as the nominee), she is the most logical choice for Democrats to run with.

With Biden out now, there are just so many pressing questions. Along with the question I just tackled of who Biden’s successor will be, perhaps one of the biggest ones is: Will Biden resign? I’ve seen a lot of people say that if Biden is not fit to run again, then he is not fit to be president now. Jonah Goldberg has pointed out that the logic of this argument is not always self-evidently true (you can be in a place where you are unable to run and be able to serve out the rest of your term at the same time), but in Biden’s case it should be obvious that he is not currently in the condition to hold onto his office. According to Axios, Biden is only dependably engaged in between the hours of 10am and 4pm. That’s not at all a calming thought. Who knows if Biden can be expected to dependably respond to a national emergency in his off hours. Furthermore, with Biden’s decline obvious to the whole world, coupled with the destabilizing situation the country is in right now because that same declining president just made it clear that he can’t make it for another four years, the risk to America from the threats of foreign adversaries may very well be at a higher level than it has been for a while. I hope we don’t see any bad actors on the world stage do anything, but if they do, can we rely on our sitting president to respond in a capable manner? For the good of the country, Biden should resign.

Our country has been through a lot in the past couple of weeks. Pray that the Lord will guide our nation. But no matter what happens, if we trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him, then He promises to direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). So, don’t despair. We’re gonna be alright.

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