28 Comments

Obama has always been a master at bland platitudes that carry a subtext more radical and perverse than he would ever say directly. "The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam" ! Obama said at the UN in 2012. Uhh, you cannot slander someone who is dead, so what Obama is really saying (as he was arresting a Los Angeles videographer *responsible* for the Benghazi attack) is he wants blasphemy laws. So yes it is safe to assume that when Obama says *occupation* he is referring to ALL of the land of Israel.

Expand full comment

I've been betting on Biden bowing out of 2024 since before he even won the presidency. It's not about if he'll do it, but when and how the Dems will pull it off. My two cents? Biden gets the nod, then plays the health card at the convention or right after. It's a smooth way to duck out without the lame duck label and lets the DNC call the shots on who's up next.

It's like keeping it all in the family, with the Obama crew steering the ship. If Biden called it quits now, it'd be a free-for-all, and who knows who'd come out on top?ANd he would be a lame duck. Plus, there's the whole VP situation. Say they slot in Gavin Newsom as the new face; they could spin it that Kamala Harris stays VP because of continuity or whatever, and Newsom gets the top spot despite his record in running cali. However, with the way things are going, he may not be able to stay the course till the convention.

Expand full comment

A convention switch seems the most likely scenario to me too. Then Michelle O will "reluctantly" step in. She has been dropping bread crumbs for a while now.

https://pd1000.substack.com/p/is-michelle-obama-running

Expand full comment

Newsom and Harris are both from California which means that electors from California can't vote for both of them unless Harris changes residency (which would pretty much have to be to DC). It's not an insurmountable difficulty, but it's one more headache which might make the cost of keeping Harris too high.

Expand full comment

Nothing says the sitting VP has to be on the ticket for the next term. Swapping VPs was pretty common. FDR has 3 different ones if I remember correctly, and even Ford chose to run with Dole in 1976 rather than Rockefeller. If they pull a switch at the top after primary season it would seem just reasonable to let the nominee chose their VP. Sorry, Kaaaaaamalaa.

Expand full comment

Good point.

Expand full comment

For the last few years I have been wondering how long the Dems could keep their coalition together. They have already lost the white blue-collar worker; the union bosses are still loyal, but the rank-and-file have mostly left. Their collection of out-groups has always been more fragile than it looks. The black politicians may be okay with it, but the grassroots blacks never were that happy about the gays appropriating the language of the Civil Rights movement. Now many of the lesbians are getting fed up with the transgenders. The Hispanics--many of whom are hard-working blue-collar people--have had a tendency to look down on the blacks as lazy. And who thought it was a good idea to try to have Jews and Muslims in the same party? Since October 7th, I have been seeing reports of American Jews going out to buy guns and taking firearms classes.

For the record, I grew up in a UAW family (born in 1950). My father was the first in his family to finish high school; I was the first to go to college. And while I have a degree, I ended up spending most of my life working as a remodeling contractor. I enjoyed the work, and many of my clients appreciated having someone who could explain why I did things in certain ways, and could show them the problems with some of their ideas, and work out better ways with them. And since I was highly literate, I learned a lot from some of the trade press and kept up with new ideas. (Many people in the trades expect to spend their whole life doing what they learned at the start.)

A lot of the current problem was identified by Angelo Codevilla back in 2010. But now more and more people are seeing that the Establishment--of both parties--is more concerned with its own power and prestige than with their constituents. The bills are starting to come due.

Expand full comment

Everything Glenn says here makes sense, but a year is an eternity in politics. Plenty of time for Black Swans.

Expand full comment

Yup. Just as an example, consider the charges Trump's up on (or still others that may yet come). A jury conviction in DC or NYC wouldn't do much to sway his fans, but suppose he manages to get a change of venue that lets him assemble a truly impartial jury, but still loses in a transparently fair trial, and goes to jail. A lot of the most fervent Trump supporters would of course still support him on the grounds that the obviously political charges should never have been filed in the first place. But a lot of more mainstream Republicans (and an even bigger proportion of skittish Democrats who don't like where their party is heading) would find themselves unwilling to vote for somebody in jail on Election Day.

Expand full comment

Years ago, someone said that if newspapers told the truth, the entire US would vote like Texas and Tennessee. Still true but maybe people are catching on. The question is whether it is too late and whether the level of fraud now exceeds any hope of a fair shot.

Expand full comment

Despite their many and significant abuses of power, the Democrats don't act like they expect retaliation when the other party inevitably wins back control of the federal government. Is this because the Democrats don't fear the Republicans or because the Democrats don't expect to lose any future elections?

Expand full comment

Both. Hell, they can't even manage to censure Talib.

Expand full comment

This type of cogent reasoning is why I subscribe.

Expand full comment

Um, I think the refrain is don't get cocky.....

Expand full comment

But if Biden bows out and a Republican wins then Hunter and the brother will do serious time. Joe can plead dementia and get a free pass just has to pay taxes on all of the shady dough collected from our current enemies. But if he has any cognitive ability left I've gotta believe he'll try to hold onto the reins as long as possible to protect himself and the family. Should be an entertaining year in '24.

Expand full comment

My bet is that the pardon has already been written and signed, needing only a date and will be processed by Oba...I mean the President's office when needed. Why take a chance with Bidens health problems both physically and mentally.

Expand full comment

He can pardon himself and his family on his last day in office, after the election. My guess is he won’t need to pardon himself as he will have himself declared unfit to stand trial a couple of years down the road

Expand full comment

Harris-Newsome 2024! Cackle and Cream!

Expand full comment

The CBS/NewGov poll that came out yesterday confirms the NYT Siena poll in another devastating blow to the Biden campaign:

"More voters think they'd be better off financially if Trump wins in 2024, and more voters think it's Trump who can keep the U.S. out of a war, if he wins."

Expand full comment

The typical Democrat voter prefers the worst Democratic candidate over the best Republican. Our Civil War era division trumps candidate's personality, morality, and party machinations.

Expand full comment

The silent majority awakes...

Expand full comment

In the moments that remain, maybe *President Potted Plant should just announce (like LBJ) that he is not running for president in 2024, that he will serve out his current term and that he endorses (fill in the blank) for 2024? Will Slipcover Jill let him do that? Probably not.

Expand full comment

Were the wheels ever on it?

Expand full comment

It's so funny when conservatives get so close to understanding a situation, but their undying ignorance inevitably makes their statements illogical. Like you, thinking the camp david talks by dipshit W actually achieved anything.. when in actuality, Bush and rummy were ignoring the terrorists daddy Bush and Reagan created, who ended up reorganizing NY skyline around the time you apparently think Obama was paying Hamas?(who was already thoroughly funded by israel: they apparently learned how to build up an organization to kill its own citizens from many U.S . presidents.) Biden is losing because of his support for genocide of brown people, which you always are in favor of. He's actually done more nominally republican dipshittery than even your second TV president, and yet you can't seem to really understand why, I'm assuming due to the ignorance of conservativism.

Expand full comment