Almost anything else seems besides the point and not worth mentioning. Hurricane Beryl? Climate change? My health? Exercise and diet? Trivia, all. There's been a bloodless (so far) coup and America's been taken over by an extremist, far-right, junta of Christian Nationalist judges, and that's all that is worth talking about.
Okay, maybe we could talk about the opposition. Ever since Joe Biden's pitiful, halting, forgetful (but not forgettable) performance in last week's debate, he has made no public appearances other than a few carefully stage, scripted appearances at a rally and a news briefing. No press conferences, no interviews, no televised appearances on t.v. assuring an anxious public that he's alright. Just gaslighting and talking points by White House apparatchiks saying the debate wasn't that big a deal.
In politics, its often said that it's not the crime, its the coverup that matters. I was dismayed but still on board with Biden the Friday morning after the debate. But as day after day passed and the White House kept Joe hidden from the public, I lost faith.
To me it's clear what needs to happen. One role of the Vice-President, the major role it can be argued, is to fill in and replace the President in the event of a catastrophe. If it were a bullet or a stroke that hit Biden, VP Harris would automatically become President (unless the extremist, far-right, cabal of Christian Nationalist judges decides that the 25th Amendment doesn't apply to Democrats in election years, and awards the presidency to Trump). But if whatever combination of old age, absent-mindedness, dementia, and forgetfulness plagues Biden makes him incapable of running for President, the V.P. needs to step up and assume the candidacy.
Kamala Harris would bring a lot to the table. She's been Veep for almost four years now and can claim at least partial credit for all of the Biden Administration's many achievements. As a woman, she can credibly champion the case for reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, and establishment of Roe v. Wade as national law. She's smart, quick-witted, and as a former prosecutor, aggressive enough to take the fight to Trump in ways that Biden couldn't, or wouldn't. Or, at least, didn't.
What would be a disaster would be to spend more time dithering, and then decide to hold a political beauty contest at the Convention, only to emerge with some midwestern state politico that no one actively dislikes but doesn't bring a lot to the table electorally. Save that for choosing Harris' running mate.
Kamala needs to sit Joe down, explain to him that he may still feel like he could beat Trump, but the voters no longer have confidence in him, and that for the good of the country that he loves, he needs to make the hard choice and step down.
It may already be too late and the fix already in on the 2024 election, but it's our only shot and we should at least go down swinging.
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