In an even funnier turn of events in the wake of President Joe Biden’s utter disaster of a debate with former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris is apparently attempting to be the only one considered to replace President Biden if he has to step down given the worries about his cognitive health in the wake of the debate.
The VP’s comments on the matter come as, after the debate, the main names being tossed around as President Biden’s replacement were California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Gov. Newsom was particularly commented on as a replacement, given that he was trotted out after the debate to comment on it, and Whitmer told Biden that her state is no longer winnable by him.
VP Harris, however, wasn’t having that, as she argued that it would be “offensive” for the party to replace Biden with either of those two white candidates when she, a black woman, is next in the line of succession and ready for the job. Her comments show the vast importance intersectionality has within the leftist coalition, and how it could lead them to a disastrous electoral outcome.
Speaking on that point to Politico, an ally of VP Harris said, “The fact that people keep coming back to this is so offensive to so many of us.” Continuing, and focusing on that intersectionality point, the Harris ally said, “They still don’t get that the message you’re saying to people, to this Democratic Party, is, we prefer a white person.”
And, whoever that source who spoke to Politico was, he or she wasn’t alone in focusing on the race and gender of VP Harris as the reasons for her needing to be Biden’s replacement, saying, “If they think they are going to get through South Carolina bashing an effective and qualified black woman vice president — their instincts are as bad as I thought they were.”
Newsom, for his part, has so far dismissed calls to remove Biden, saying, “I think it’s unhelpful, and I think it’s unnecessary.” He continued, “With all due respect, the more times we start having these conversations, going down these rabbit holes, it’s unhelpful to our democracy, the fate and future of this country, the world. They need us right now to step up and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
However, though the Biden Administration is insistent that he will remain on the ticket. Democrat donors are reportedly furious after his disastrous debate performance and so are starting to distance from him. One lawmaker, for example, told Axios, “I don’t ever want to see him here.” That lawmaker added, “Every single donor — and I’m only calling major donors — is furious and wants him to step aside.”
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Biden, in any case, maintains that the debate had some positive attributes. “I didn’t have a great night, but I’m going to be fighting harder,” Biden said at a fundraiser. he continued, “Research during the debate shows us converting more undecided voters than Trump did, in large part because of his conduct on Jan. 6,” he added. “People remember the bad things during his presidency.”
But the actual content of the debate would seem to belly that. Watch Biden’s bad debate moments here: