Some Friendly Advice For Democrats: STFU
Democrats need to put on their big girl and boy pants and rally behind their flawed 2024 nominee.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.
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There’s a law firm in North Carolina called the Pot Brothers that does a regular feature on YouTube called “Shut The Fuck Up Fridays.”
Their basic message to people is that if a police officer asks you a question — SHUT THE FUCK UP!.
If you get arrested — SHUT THE FUCK UP!.
In short, never speak to a police officer without a lawyer present (for the record, this is excellent advice that I heartily endorse. Never subject yourself to questioning by a police officer. Ever).
Why am I flagging this video the day after Joe Biden had maybe the worst night of his political career on a debate stage in Atlanta? Because the Pot Brothers’ legal advice is also good political advice for Democrats
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
It took all of 15 minutes into Joe Biden’s no-good, terrible debate performance for Democrats and political pundits to start calling for the president to drop out of the race. Since then, it’s reached a near crescendo.
Here’s the thing: Joe Biden will not drop out of the presidential race because of a lousy debate performance. And if he doesn’t drop out, he won’t be replaced.
We no longer live in a world of smoke-filled backrooms from past political conventions.
These quadrennial dog and pony shows no longer choose nominees; they rubber-stamp the person selected by voters in the primaries. If Biden intends to stay on the ticket — and there is no indication he plans to withdraw — he will be the nominee. Period.
If Biden were to drop out, he would endorse Harris, and no Democrat — particularly not a white male Democrat — would get in the way of a Black female vice president becoming the party nominee. From the perspective of party unity, Democrats would almost certainly rally around Harris because no one wants an open Democratic convention trying to pick a nominee literally days before early voting begins in some states.
The DNC will not be opened up for delegates to choose the party standard bearer as if thousands of Democratic delegates would ever coalesce around another candidate during a four-day convention not designed to select a presidential nominee. Anyone floating Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer or some other Democrat unknown outside their state and unvetted on the national stage is engaging in a masturbatory political fantasy.
As I wrote in my MSNBC recap of the debate, “Democrats can engage in all sorts of “woulda, coulda, shoulda” about what Biden should have done — and maybe they’re right that Biden shouldn’t have run for re-election. But at this point, the die is cast, and Democrats have little choice but to dance with the candidate who brung them.”
Of course, this has not stopped Nervous Nellie Democrats from running to reporters and suggesting Biden should withdraw.
Look at these quotes in the CNN post-mortem about the debate:
“Biden looks and sounds terrible. He’s incoherent,” one Democrat who spent time working in the Biden administration said.
“Horrific,” said another Democratic operative.
And one Democrat who’s worked on campaigns up and down the ballot said simply: “We are f***ed.”
… “It’s hard to argue that Biden should be our nominee,” said an operative who’s worked on campaigns at all levels for over a decade.
This debate was historic for many reasons, but not least because it is taking place before each man is formally nominated at their respective conventions. The Democratic National Convention is set to convene August 19 in Chicago.
… Democrats were even talking about who it might be instead: “If I was Gavin (Newsom) or Gretchen (Whitmer), I’d be making calls tonight,” one said.
What possible benefit can come from leaking these statements off the record to a political reporter? I’m legitimately amazed that anyone who works in Democratic politics thinks it a good idea to crap all over the party nominee in a whispered tone to reporters hungry for these types of quotes. All it does is make a terrible situation a lot worse for Democrats.
Here’s one place where Democrats could take a cue from Republicans. Donald Trump could have thrown feces at last night’s debate moderators, and I assure you that GOP surrogates would have defended him.
I get that Democrats are a different breed of cat. But if you believe this is the Most Important Election Ever (as Democrats keep saying) and the future of democracy is on the ballot, then how are you protecting democracy by having a public meltdown and floating political scenarios that both have no chance of happening and undercut the candidate who will safeguard that democracy?
There is no Plan B here. The Democratic nominee will be Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. That’s it. Deal with it. Clutching pearls and wetting the bed over a genuinely awful debate performance four months before Election Day will not change that. If anything, it risks turning a debate debacle into a disaster.
Speaking Of Disasters …
We’re not spending nearly enough time discussing how bad Donald Trump was last night. From my MSNBC piece:
Unlike Biden he started off strong, but as the night wore on, he looked and sounded more unhinged. Pretty much every answer he gave had at least one big lie, and he refused to say he would accept the results of the 2024 election. He was mean, abrasive and unremittingly negative. Trump may truly believe that the U.S. today is a dumpster fire, but I’m not sure it benefits him or his party to keep dragging down the country.
There’s little question that Trump had a better night than Biden, but it’s not necessarily clear that he moved many voters to his camp. If anything, he may have reminded them why they don’t like him.
I’m hearing lots of talk from those around the Biden camp that undecided voters hated Trump. Maybe that’s true, and maybe that’s spin, but it’s one thing to say Biden lost the debate (he did) and another to say Trump won it. The former president is still the same unbalanced lunatic he was before last night, and if there is any solace for Biden, he still has plenty of time before Election Day to remind voters of that reality.
Biden missed a golden opportunity to solidify his election chance, but anyone who tells you the race is over because of last night can and should be ignored.
What’s Going On
Jim Fallows had a smart take on last night’s debate.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court destroyed the administrative state. I’m not joking. The Court’s decision today, overturning the Chevron precedent, is an unmitigated disaster.
Musical Interlude
Thank you. The irrational panic is driving me crazy.
We had a great run. Maybe the best ever.