The former president has always considered himself to be the ultimate disrupter. But this time, the disruption is on the other side.

Through the weekend, there were an awful lot of questions that were going back and forth from people in the president’s tightest circle, and one of the questions that kept being asked was whether Joe Biden was going to endorse Kamala Harris or not. And the question didn’t revolve around whether he wanted to or not, but whether people in her camp thought it would be better for her to fight for it, win it on her own, and not be seen as somebody who was tapped by President Biden and so, in her own way, have a fresh start going into the campaign.

So the timing seems to be about as good as it could have been to end what has just been one of the craziest two or three weeks in American politics in quite some time.

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    142
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    5 months ago

    Can you blame him? Kamala was a District Attorney and an Attorney General. Even a competent opponent who based their arguments on facts would be intimidated.

    Trump wouldn’t stand a chance on that stage.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      36
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      IDK, considering the MAGA crowd consider Trump lies better than facts, because everybody know by now, that facts have a liberal bias.

      • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        53
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 months ago

        the fight is not for maga votes, it is for the undecided morons in the middle.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          34
          ·
          5 months ago

          The fight is against the couch, idiot undecided voters are basically a coin toss. Getting 80%+ of your supporters to actually vote for you is all you really need.

          Nothing was more demoralizing than Biden in the last debate. Trump against someone under 60 could have the same thing happen to him.

          • John Richard@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            23
            ·
            5 months ago

            People on the couch are the undecided voters. The more Democrats call them idiots, the less incentive they have to vote for whoever the Democrat nominee is.

              • John Richard@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                arrow-down
                7
                ·
                5 months ago

                Okay… and what are Democrats going to do about that to help educate America? Are they going to tax churches who act as a conduit for the Republican party and think tanks like The Heritage Foundation, who wants to defund the Department of Education?

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          15
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          The undecided will be gaslighted too. Are you really sugesting Trump would try to use reason to sway the undecided?
          Trump has only one mode, and that’s narcissistic pathological liar.

          • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            ·
            5 months ago

            Are you really sugesting Trump would try to use reason to sway the undecided?

            no, i am suggesting that primary goal of democratic candidate is not to go after maga voters.

            • Buffalox@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              5 months ago

              He needs to capture his base too, and make sure as many of them as possible will vote, without them the marginal voters are irrelevant.
              Trump will use stupid arguments and lies, and look like he is winning. That’s how he built the MAGA crowd, and that’s the system he will continue to use.
              The undecided he manages to convince to vote for him, will then be supporting MAGA by definition, even if they aren’t as batshit crazy as the hardcore MAGA supporters.

          • hitmyspot@aussie.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            5 months ago

            No, but a good and clear debater, like an experienced lawyer that she is, would blow him apart. Biden was an effective politician and debated pretty well, but its not his forte in the same way.

    • pigup@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 months ago

      I vaguely remember her debate against Mike pence, her performance was not to impressive. The fly helped. I wonder if they will let her a bit looser on the pedo

      • ImpressiveEssay@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        5 months ago

        She’s been VP for a few years since then. I hope she goes for the jugular… (Metharphorically of course. Seeing as maga is suddenly quite shocked about violent language LOL)

    • John Richard@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      34
      ·
      5 months ago

      We haven’t heard Kamala debate. She was not very popular in 2020. Sometimes she comes across as cringey and foolish. I wish people would stop acting like she should be coronated. She needs to prove herself before being the nominee. Just handing everything to her on a silver plater isn’t going to get the response Democrats are hoping for.

      • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        30
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        She’s the VP, and the President’s nomination. She’s already on the ballot, so she has access to existing campaign funds. There are no outspoken challengers, and there are eight weeks until early voting ballots are sent out.

        What do you suggest instead?

          • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            5 months ago

            That’s true. I should have written that she is the named VP of the candidate that received the donations, therefore she is allowed to use them to campaign.

        • John Richard@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          32
          ·
          5 months ago

          There is at least one outspoken challenger that I know of. She should hopefully be starting some live interviews today on news networks. If she’s like Biden and stays hidden unless there is a teleprompter and has her team silence anyone else, she’s toast too. She was also running cover and part of the team shielding Biden which is what put us in this predicament. If she intends to beat Trump, she needs to come out and start speaking about how she is different. The further she can distance herself from Biden altogether, the better.

          • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            32
            ·
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            Care to share a link or her name? Your comment reads like disengagement propaganda by putting down Harris without supporting your nameless alternative.

            • John Richard@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              21
              ·
              edit-2
              5 months ago

              https://marianne2024.com

              BTW I’m not putting her down. I’m saying handing it to her without any public debate or discourse, and just acting like cause she was Biden’s VP that she’s already got this, isn’t a winning strategy. She’s got to distance herself from Biden now and show America what she’s got that will be superior and better.

              • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                17
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                5 months ago

                Williamson didn’t break 10% in the 2020 primary. What makes you think she’s going to capture more of the Democratic vote now?

                • John Richard@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  15
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  5 months ago

                  I didn’t say she would. I said Kamala needs to prove herself… she needs to have some public discourse with other people to show the public she is the best candidate. If another candidate makes her look weak and she can’t talk about an agenda in details, then she’s not going to do very well.

                  • p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    11
                    arrow-down
                    1
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    5 months ago

                    She has been the fucking VICE PRESIDENT for awhile now, and she’s been an attorney general AND a district Attorney. She does not need to “prove herself”.

              • MagicShel@programming.dev
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                5 months ago

                I remember her from her last campaign. She is pretty articulate on stage, but she has some really fucking loony beliefs. Way too much spirituality and love. That’s a fine message for self-help books, but it was a bad look when Nancy Reagan was dialing Miss Cleo for advice, and it would look even worse today.

                Trump would tear her up one side and down the other.

                You want Kamala to prove herself? The clowns I’ve seen stepping forward - Manchin and now this - aren’t going to prove or disprove anything.

                • Dempf@lemmy.zip
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  5 months ago

                  It’s worse than that, IIRC she came this close to saying that the power of positive thinking would drive away covid. She is too far around the horseshoe imo. I’ve known people into the kind of magical thinking she’s into, and it’s really not a good thing.

                • John Richard@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  7
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  5 months ago

                  Because the DNC did what they always do. They said sure we’ll change the face but not give you choice. They hope just having a younger black female version of Biden will be sufficient, even though nothing is really changing. Voters weren’t just worried about Biden’s age, they are also tired of being manipulated and gaslit about their party.

                  • MagicShel@programming.dev
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    4
                    arrow-down
                    1
                    ·
                    5 months ago

                    Biden was a good President - the best going back at least as far as Clinton - and a younger black female version of him would be far from the worst we could do. That being said, no one is worried about DNC manipulation this time. That ship sailed with Bernie. I backed Biden and I said if not him Harris is the only other real choice. And here we are, and I’m feeling good about it.

      • slickgoat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 months ago

        I keep hearing about her unpopularity, but surely it’s related to how she’s got a low profile as VP and before that practically invisible on the country’s stage. Let the direct light shine on her for a period and that will change.