Losing My Political Mind 🤯

I don't normally write about politics, but...

I’ve been losing my political mind over the past two weeks since the presidential debate. In his July 3rd op-ed for The New York Times, Charles M. Blow perfectly unpacked my thoughts about the post-debate calls for Joe Biden to step down:

And Biden staying the course may be the best course.

The American University historian Allan Lichtman, a prescient predictor of presidential election results, told me on Sunday that pushing Biden out of the race would be a “tragic mistake for the Democrats,” because he believes that the president remains his party’s best chance at winning the election.

As for the alternatives, Lichtman adds, “It’s not as if there’s some, you know, J.F.K. out there just waiting to jump on the white horse and save the Democratic Party.”

I agree with him: There are no potential replacements that would stand a better chance of defeating Donald Trump than Biden.

Yes, a CNN-SSRS poll conducted in the days after the debate found that Vice President Kamala Harris performed slightly better than Biden against Trump, within the margin of error but still trailing. (But note that a brand-new Reuters-Ipsos poll found that only one-third of Democrats think Biden should exit.)

This is (unfortunately) how I feel about the whole thing:

Yes, Joe Biden is old—only three years older than Trump, mind you—but if that truly becomes an issue, that’s why we have a VP in the first place. I would love it if Kamala Harris could win at the top of the ticket, but we live in a sexist, racist country, and if Hillary Clinton couldn't do it after winning the primary, I don't think Kamala can do it with less than four months to spare.

Gavin Newsom is too liberal, and no one else has enough name recognition to win a national election. I mean, maybe we could run Joe Manchin, as Ross Douthat suggested. That might help pick up some moderate Republican voters, but it’s certainly not going to rouse the bluest Dems out to the polls in November, so I’m not sure where that gets us.

I think we’ve lost the plot. Show me our secret JFK in waiting (and don’t say Michelle Obama; there’s no indication she’s interested), and I'll quickly change my tune. For now, I think this whole debate is just handing the election to Trump.

This is my issue with the Democratic Party—it's all emotion and moral superiority with no practical strategy to back it up.

Ezra Klein was early in calling for Democrats to pick another candidate via open convention, even before the debate, but he seems to be walking that back in his latest episode, which is a great listen on the matter.

There are very real risks to these knee-jerk calls for Biden to step down. Yeah, the debate was bad, but we don't live in a fantasy political system. Maybe save the drama for after the election to have any hope of beating Donald Trump (and avoid losing the Senate AND the House).

Today, my MFA mentor sent us a poem called “In This Dead-End Road," and this couplet stuck with me:

Don’t risk thinking,

                         for these are strange times, my sweet.

Strange times, indeed. Needless to say, I’m dreading the next four months. Maybe I shouldn’t think so much.

So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️

Where do you stand on this? I would love someone to make it make sense.

Follow me @courtneykocak on Twitter/X and Instagram. For more, check out my website courtneykocak.com.