After last week’s presidential debate, which proved to be a disaster for the Biden-Harris campaign, Democrats have incessantly called for Biden to step aside to improve the party’s chances of defeating former President Donald Trump later this year. Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan recently claimed that the “future of our republic” could depend on the party’s willingness to support Kamala Harris for the presidency.
Hasan, who has been critical of the Biden administration on issues such as Israel, published a piece in The Guardian calling Biden to step down and allow Vice President Harris to lead the ticket. The article was titled “Kamala Harris may be our only hope. Biden should step aside and endorse her.” Like many other Democrats, Hasan has lost faith in Biden’s ability to inspire confidence in voters.
“Who do you want standing on stage at the second debate in September, rebutting Trump’s lies, bigotry and nonsense? The woman who went viral when she grilled Bill Barr and Brett Kavanaugh at the Senate Judiciary Committee, or the man who went viral for saying he’d ‘beat Medicare’?” Hasan wrote, calling out Biden’s gaffes in the debate against Trump.
In his argument for Harris over Biden, he employed the use of identity politics, a common tactic on the left that often usurps merit. Hasan claimed that in light of Biden’s advanced age that could thwart the party’s chances of winning in November, having a female president with an assortment of intersectional identities could energize their base.
He explained that he is “reminding Democrats that they still have time to choose between trying to elect the oldest president in American history, whose age has become a weight around his neck, or trying to elect the first female president, the first Asian American president and the second Black president, which could energize their demoralized base.”
According to the ex-MSNBC host, the polling data indicates that Harris would have a better chance of defeating Trump than Biden. Reportedly, the vice president is also getting traction with minority voters in the black and Hispanic communities, with whom former President Trump has seen increased levels of support. This voting demographic will likely play a decisive role in the election, particularly in swing states.
“You might not want to believe it, and lazy pundits may say otherwise, but the polling is pretty clear these days: Harris actually has a better chance than Biden of beating Trump,” he added, further stating that Harris has untapped potential. “And, unlike the president, the veep’s numbers have – and you’ll be hearing this phrase a great deal in the coming days – room to grow.”
Hasan illustrated how Biden’s debate performance shattered the illusion that the president’s age was not a determining factor in his viability as a candidate in the upcoming election, an issue that the left has been seemingly blind on throughout the administration. He also argued that Harris could provide a better agenda toward the progressive left’s views on Israel.
“Prior to last week’s debate, it wasn’t Biden’s age that I considered to be his biggest electoral liability. It was his horrific stance on Gaza, from his non-stop supply of arms to Israel to his nonexistent ‘red line’ on Rafah,” he said. “Given Biden refuses to budge on this issue, a Harris candidacy might offer a fresh start for Democrats on Gaza.”
Watch recent footage of Speaker Johnson discussing the use of the 25th Amendment:
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