Biden Kaput!
- Thread starter petros
- Start date
CorteZ , wasn’t he a Spanish explorer with ties to the slave trade or something ?
Petros:
Since I was geared up to give you a double ration of shit if Biden hadn't pulled out by this morning, I guess I owe you props. . .
You called it.
Since I was geared up to give you a double ration of shit if Biden hadn't pulled out by this morning, I guess I owe you props. . .
You called it.
More Bad News for Democrats: Biden Cannot be Replaced on Ballot in Three Swing States, GA, NV, and WI,
Regardless of who replaces Biden, Canada faces protectionism
Canada needs to realize that with both parties in Washington, we are now outsiders looking in.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Jul 21, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Last week it was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, this week, Joe Biden has announced he is stepping down as the presumptive Democratic Party candidate for president. American politics is living up to that old saying: May you live in interesting times.
Biden issued a statement just before 2 p.m. on Sunday stating that he was stepping down as candidate but staying on as president.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.
Shortly after, he posted to social media that he is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s nominee. That statement was followed shortly thereafter by endorsements of Harris by Bill and Hillary Clinton, though strangely not Barack Obama, who only issued a statement thanking Biden for his service.
It’s not clear at this point that Harris will be the Democratic Party candidate despite the wishes of Biden and many in the donor class. There are people scouring the party rules looking to see what must be done and whether convention delegates in Chicago next month must be given a say.
What does all of this really mean for Canadians, though?
We watch American politics in this country, some even pay more attention to what happens in Washington more than what happens in Ottawa. One could argue that the American presidential race doesn’t really affect our daily lives north of the border but given the impact of America on our country, we know that not to be true.
The biggest thing to know about Harris is that, like Biden, she is an economic protectionist. She has claimed not to be in the past but has spoken out against our free-trade agreement and pushed for many of the protectionist elements in the administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
If Harris were to be the party’s nominee and win the election, she’d be every bit as protectionist as Biden, the most protectionist president Canada has seen in decades.
The protectionist push in the White House took off under Obama, got worse under Trump and went on steroids under Biden. He increased the tariff on softwood lumber, continues to threaten our pork and beef producers through labelling requirements and has opposed the import of Canadian oil as a way to boost American production.
As for Biden’s actions on the auto industry, his original plan, which became part of the Inflation Reduction Act, wouldn’t just offer incentives to automakers for going green, it would have decimated Canada’s auto sector. That plan would have required that electric vehicles needed to be assembled in America with American made parts completely ignoring NAFTA.
There can be no doubt that Trump is protectionist, as well, and he would threaten Canadian industries just perhaps in a different way.
Canada’s chattering classes, led by the Trudeau government in Ottawa and certain commentators, are warning the country to brace for a second Trump presidency. Truth be told, what we need to brace for is the changing attitude in both parties that rule Washington regarding trade with their neighbours.
After decades of preferential treatment that put Canada on the inside, we are now set to be on the outside. That’s what our elected leaders should be preparing for regardless of who takes the White House in November.
torontosun.com
Canada needs to realize that with both parties in Washington, we are now outsiders looking in.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Jul 21, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Last week it was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, this week, Joe Biden has announced he is stepping down as the presumptive Democratic Party candidate for president. American politics is living up to that old saying: May you live in interesting times.
Biden issued a statement just before 2 p.m. on Sunday stating that he was stepping down as candidate but staying on as president.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.
Shortly after, he posted to social media that he is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s nominee. That statement was followed shortly thereafter by endorsements of Harris by Bill and Hillary Clinton, though strangely not Barack Obama, who only issued a statement thanking Biden for his service.
It’s not clear at this point that Harris will be the Democratic Party candidate despite the wishes of Biden and many in the donor class. There are people scouring the party rules looking to see what must be done and whether convention delegates in Chicago next month must be given a say.
What does all of this really mean for Canadians, though?
We watch American politics in this country, some even pay more attention to what happens in Washington more than what happens in Ottawa. One could argue that the American presidential race doesn’t really affect our daily lives north of the border but given the impact of America on our country, we know that not to be true.
The biggest thing to know about Harris is that, like Biden, she is an economic protectionist. She has claimed not to be in the past but has spoken out against our free-trade agreement and pushed for many of the protectionist elements in the administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
If Harris were to be the party’s nominee and win the election, she’d be every bit as protectionist as Biden, the most protectionist president Canada has seen in decades.
The protectionist push in the White House took off under Obama, got worse under Trump and went on steroids under Biden. He increased the tariff on softwood lumber, continues to threaten our pork and beef producers through labelling requirements and has opposed the import of Canadian oil as a way to boost American production.
As for Biden’s actions on the auto industry, his original plan, which became part of the Inflation Reduction Act, wouldn’t just offer incentives to automakers for going green, it would have decimated Canada’s auto sector. That plan would have required that electric vehicles needed to be assembled in America with American made parts completely ignoring NAFTA.
There can be no doubt that Trump is protectionist, as well, and he would threaten Canadian industries just perhaps in a different way.
Canada’s chattering classes, led by the Trudeau government in Ottawa and certain commentators, are warning the country to brace for a second Trump presidency. Truth be told, what we need to brace for is the changing attitude in both parties that rule Washington regarding trade with their neighbours.
After decades of preferential treatment that put Canada on the inside, we are now set to be on the outside. That’s what our elected leaders should be preparing for regardless of who takes the White House in November.
LILLEY: Regardless of who replaces Biden, Canada faces protectionism
Whether it is Trump, Biden or Harris in the White House, Canadians need to adjust to the fact that protectionism rules Washington.
This is why I prefer Trump. He did less damage to our forest industry than any of the left leaning presidents. We were thinking at one time that access to the Alaska highway be tied to the Softwood Lumber Agreement, and fees equal to lumber tariffs be charged to all Americans using the highway.
How Biden dropped out, according to Democratic insiders
Biden made his decision feeling certain that he did not have a viable path forward
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Michael Scherer, Tyler Pager, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, Yasmeen Abutaleb
Published Jul 22, 2024 • 6 minute read
U.S. President Joe Biden called Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday to tell her directly.
He spoke one-on-one with Jeff Zients, his White House chief of staff, and Jen O’Malley Dillon, his campaign chair.
Zients then convened Biden’s White House and campaign senior staff for a 1:45 p.m. call, so that Biden could tell those who had worked closest with him he was abandoning his dream of a second term.
As Biden spoke on that call, a letter announcing his intentions went live online. The chief of staff followed up with Zoom calls for the Cabinet and those in the White House with the rank of assistant to the president.
“There is so much more to do – and as President Biden says, ‘there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together,'” Zients wrote the entire White House team at 2:26 p.m.
There were mutterings that it was coming. But until it was done, many of the people who work for the campaign and the White House only assumed something had to happen – some pivot, some admission of reality – but they did not know what, when or how. The map was expanding in the wrong direction. The party had turned. The money was drying up. The polls in must-win states had gone from bad to worse.
This story is based on interviews with more than a dozen Democratic insiders from the campaign, the White House and Capitol Hill, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
Biden huddled through the weekend with a small crew of family and advisers in Rehoboth Beach, Del.: White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, senior campaign adviser Mike Donilon, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal, all of whom were at the president’s vacation house.
Everyone else plowed forward, swearing publicly that none of that was happening, telling those that worked for them to not stop. O’Malley Dillon had laid down that marker Friday, when she went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and abruptly silenced the growing speculation that his exit was imminent. The feedback from door-knocks by campaign workers was good, she said. The campaign was humming. The president was determined.
“He’s not going anywhere,” she said.
That was followed by a tense high-dollar donor call Friday afternoon that left many of the party’s top money people fuming. Calling from the road, Harris joined the Zoom late for just a few minutes – boasted of the campaign’s efforts in Michigan and Wisconsin, expressed confidence in victory and then signed off, according to a person on the call. All the donor questions were left unasked and unanswered.
Donors left frustrated because “it was like we didn’t have eyes and couldn’t see what was going on,” another person on the call said.
It was a bold and definitive posture. Yet it was read by many inside the Democratic political world less as a final word, more like an extension of respect that the president was owed. This decision was always Biden’s to make. From the earliest days of the crisis, people close to Biden would contact those who went public with their dismay.
He deserved “grace,” was their message. Give him his space.
That created weeks of mixed signals, amid clearly deteriorating conditions. Ricchetti and Donilon were both full-steam ahead during the Republican convention all the way through Friday, said one person familiar with the conversations. Ricchetti got to the house Friday. Donilon arrived Saturday. They met Saturday evening, according to another person familiar with the events. Inside the campaign, the polls late last week had deteriorated further. The president, suffering from covid, was briefed on the data.
“The poll numbers they got recently were very sobering for them,” this person said. “They wanted to stop the bleeding, to give him time to think about what he wants to say. … It was so relentless. Every day it was a new person.”
The campaign continued to plan new trips and fundraisers for Biden on Saturday. A fundraising email for the Biden-Harris ticket was emailed out Sunday even after Biden had published his letter announcing his decision.
In fact, Biden had all but made up his mind Saturday night, said the person briefed on the events. He then went to bed. When he awoke, he did one more gut check before moving forward.
Biden made his decision feeling certain that he did not have a viable path forward. But he remained upset at Democratic lawmakers and party strategists who had begun to publicly come forward to push him out.
A member of Congress said that Biden is “deeply betrayed and upset” at all the people he thought were friends. The member said Biden had been receptive to arguments about polling and his legacy, but it took him some time, and that most staff were not in the loop.
Among much of the senior campaign leadership, the harsh reality had long ago been accepted. But people continued to speak on his behalf, routinely denouncing the anonymous sources describing what was happening.
A congresswoman said Biden had “honest talks” with his team this weekend about the polling, which was seemingly getting worse by the day. Democrats on Capitol Hill were also restless. Dozens of lawmakers had held off on going public, both out of respect for the president and in fear of the political risks of doing so. But many were discussing the best way to come forward in the coming week if Biden did not exit the race by the weekend, according to several people familiar with the discussions.
They were not, however, willing to bend to his will. Democrats in the Senate – where Biden served for 36 years – were being especially careful but had begun discussing whether to come out as a group or one after another, to arrange a number of senators to meet with Biden privately and urge him to exit or else warn that they would go public if he did not respond to their concerns, according to the people.
A number of his aides said on Sunday they were upset by being kept in the dark, having been told Friday and Saturday to keep fighting for his candidacy. Some were even working on Sunday morning, preparing for the morning shows, and heading back to Wilmington for the week.
As of Sunday afternoon, it was still unclear when exactly Biden would address the nation directly. He was still suffering from covid symptoms, including a hoarse voice, said one person familiar with the situation, and they suspected Biden and his team would wait until he sounded better for any public remarks.
Among Democratic lawmakers, there is disagreement about the best path forward. Biden’s endorsement of Harris is likely to stymie discussion over whether another candidate would be better positioned to beat Trump. But before his endorsement, many lawmakers had concerns over Harris’s ability to take on Trump – in part because of mixed internal polling data, according to two Democratic senators – and were interested in exploring the possibility of an open convention.
Others in Biden’s inner circle believe there is no option, no time to restart and restaff a campaign, which Harris will likely be able to inherit directly barring some legal challenges. One donor said there would be a push for an open process, and that Biden’s announcement of his endorsement of Harris had been a letdown.
“People were thrilled for that brief period between the first Biden announcement and the second,” this person said.
But that was tomorrow’s worry. Enough had already changed.
“I need a drink,” one campaign staffer wrote in a text message, just after 2 p.m.
torontosun.com
Biden made his decision feeling certain that he did not have a viable path forward
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Michael Scherer, Tyler Pager, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, Yasmeen Abutaleb
Published Jul 22, 2024 • 6 minute read
U.S. President Joe Biden called Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday to tell her directly.
He spoke one-on-one with Jeff Zients, his White House chief of staff, and Jen O’Malley Dillon, his campaign chair.
Zients then convened Biden’s White House and campaign senior staff for a 1:45 p.m. call, so that Biden could tell those who had worked closest with him he was abandoning his dream of a second term.
As Biden spoke on that call, a letter announcing his intentions went live online. The chief of staff followed up with Zoom calls for the Cabinet and those in the White House with the rank of assistant to the president.
“There is so much more to do – and as President Biden says, ‘there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together,'” Zients wrote the entire White House team at 2:26 p.m.
There were mutterings that it was coming. But until it was done, many of the people who work for the campaign and the White House only assumed something had to happen – some pivot, some admission of reality – but they did not know what, when or how. The map was expanding in the wrong direction. The party had turned. The money was drying up. The polls in must-win states had gone from bad to worse.
This story is based on interviews with more than a dozen Democratic insiders from the campaign, the White House and Capitol Hill, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
Biden huddled through the weekend with a small crew of family and advisers in Rehoboth Beach, Del.: White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, senior campaign adviser Mike Donilon, deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal, all of whom were at the president’s vacation house.
Everyone else plowed forward, swearing publicly that none of that was happening, telling those that worked for them to not stop. O’Malley Dillon had laid down that marker Friday, when she went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and abruptly silenced the growing speculation that his exit was imminent. The feedback from door-knocks by campaign workers was good, she said. The campaign was humming. The president was determined.
“He’s not going anywhere,” she said.
That was followed by a tense high-dollar donor call Friday afternoon that left many of the party’s top money people fuming. Calling from the road, Harris joined the Zoom late for just a few minutes – boasted of the campaign’s efforts in Michigan and Wisconsin, expressed confidence in victory and then signed off, according to a person on the call. All the donor questions were left unasked and unanswered.
Donors left frustrated because “it was like we didn’t have eyes and couldn’t see what was going on,” another person on the call said.
It was a bold and definitive posture. Yet it was read by many inside the Democratic political world less as a final word, more like an extension of respect that the president was owed. This decision was always Biden’s to make. From the earliest days of the crisis, people close to Biden would contact those who went public with their dismay.
He deserved “grace,” was their message. Give him his space.
That created weeks of mixed signals, amid clearly deteriorating conditions. Ricchetti and Donilon were both full-steam ahead during the Republican convention all the way through Friday, said one person familiar with the conversations. Ricchetti got to the house Friday. Donilon arrived Saturday. They met Saturday evening, according to another person familiar with the events. Inside the campaign, the polls late last week had deteriorated further. The president, suffering from covid, was briefed on the data.
“The poll numbers they got recently were very sobering for them,” this person said. “They wanted to stop the bleeding, to give him time to think about what he wants to say. … It was so relentless. Every day it was a new person.”
The campaign continued to plan new trips and fundraisers for Biden on Saturday. A fundraising email for the Biden-Harris ticket was emailed out Sunday even after Biden had published his letter announcing his decision.
In fact, Biden had all but made up his mind Saturday night, said the person briefed on the events. He then went to bed. When he awoke, he did one more gut check before moving forward.
Biden made his decision feeling certain that he did not have a viable path forward. But he remained upset at Democratic lawmakers and party strategists who had begun to publicly come forward to push him out.
A member of Congress said that Biden is “deeply betrayed and upset” at all the people he thought were friends. The member said Biden had been receptive to arguments about polling and his legacy, but it took him some time, and that most staff were not in the loop.
Among much of the senior campaign leadership, the harsh reality had long ago been accepted. But people continued to speak on his behalf, routinely denouncing the anonymous sources describing what was happening.
A congresswoman said Biden had “honest talks” with his team this weekend about the polling, which was seemingly getting worse by the day. Democrats on Capitol Hill were also restless. Dozens of lawmakers had held off on going public, both out of respect for the president and in fear of the political risks of doing so. But many were discussing the best way to come forward in the coming week if Biden did not exit the race by the weekend, according to several people familiar with the discussions.
They were not, however, willing to bend to his will. Democrats in the Senate – where Biden served for 36 years – were being especially careful but had begun discussing whether to come out as a group or one after another, to arrange a number of senators to meet with Biden privately and urge him to exit or else warn that they would go public if he did not respond to their concerns, according to the people.
A number of his aides said on Sunday they were upset by being kept in the dark, having been told Friday and Saturday to keep fighting for his candidacy. Some were even working on Sunday morning, preparing for the morning shows, and heading back to Wilmington for the week.
As of Sunday afternoon, it was still unclear when exactly Biden would address the nation directly. He was still suffering from covid symptoms, including a hoarse voice, said one person familiar with the situation, and they suspected Biden and his team would wait until he sounded better for any public remarks.
Among Democratic lawmakers, there is disagreement about the best path forward. Biden’s endorsement of Harris is likely to stymie discussion over whether another candidate would be better positioned to beat Trump. But before his endorsement, many lawmakers had concerns over Harris’s ability to take on Trump – in part because of mixed internal polling data, according to two Democratic senators – and were interested in exploring the possibility of an open convention.
Others in Biden’s inner circle believe there is no option, no time to restart and restaff a campaign, which Harris will likely be able to inherit directly barring some legal challenges. One donor said there would be a push for an open process, and that Biden’s announcement of his endorsement of Harris had been a letdown.
“People were thrilled for that brief period between the first Biden announcement and the second,” this person said.
But that was tomorrow’s worry. Enough had already changed.
“I need a drink,” one campaign staffer wrote in a text message, just after 2 p.m.
How Biden dropped out, according to Democratic insiders
Until it was done, many of the people who work for the campaign and the White House only assumed something had to happen