One of the reasons why so many Democrats still kept the faith with President Biden is because we feared utter party chaos if Biden stepped away. It’s been less than 24 hours since Biden ended his reelection campaign and while everything is not perfect, it’s been a shockingly good moment for Democrats and for Vice President Kamala Harris. The enthusiasm for VP Harris was immediate, the fundraising got a huge jolt and endorsements for Harris are still pouring in. Another weird/positive spin on the past three weeks of utter Democratic dysfunction is that “Dems-in-disarray” overshadowed all things Donald Trump. While the Trump campaign saw polling gains in many states, the campaign still sent a babbling, slurring, white supremacist moron on stage at the RNC and the “acceptance” of Trump was contingent on the fact that President Biden is even older and that he did so poorly against Trump at the debate. All of which to say, Cheeto and his people are panicking about Kamala Harris. From The Atlantic:
Republicans I spoke with today, some of them still hungover from celebrating what felt to many like a victory-night celebration in Milwaukee, registered shock at the news of Biden’s departure. Party officials had left town believing the race was all but over. Now they were confronting the reality of reimagining a campaign—one that had been optimized, in every way, to defeat Biden—against a new and unknown challenger. “So, we are forced to spend time and money on fighting Crooked Joe Biden, he polls badly after having a terrible debate, and quits the race,” a clearly peeved Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social. “Now we have to start all over again.”
For months, in talking with Wiles and LaCivita, I was struck by their concern about the potential of a dramatic switch—Democratic leaders pushing out Biden in favor of a younger nominee. They told me that Trump’s campaign was readying contingency plans and studying the weaknesses of would-be alternatives, beginning with Vice President Kamala Harris. By the time of the debate, however, they believed that Democrats’ window had all but closed. Even in the immediate aftermath—as Democratic officials openly called for Biden to quit—Wiles and LaCivita were betting on the status quo. More than anything, Trump’s allies believed that the president’s stubborn Irish ego wouldn’t let him back out of a fight with a man he despised.
But they couldn’t take any chances. Two weeks ago, according to a campaign source who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity, Trump’s pollster Tony Fabrizio went into the field to begin testing the outcomes of a Harris-versus-Trump matchup. These surveys, conducted across several battleground states, represented the most concrete step taken to prepare for the possibility of a new adversary. Still, with the polling a tightly held secret—I couldn’t verify the results—there were no outward signs of Trump’s operation expecting a reset. When convention speakers reached out to the GOP nominee’s campaign, gauging whether to hedge their speeches with attacks on Harris, they were told to keep the focus on Biden.
Yeah, Republicans spent the bulk of their convention mocking Joe Biden and his presidency. They’re scrambling. Trump is upset that, compared to Kamala Harris, he looks like what he is – a 78-year-old felon in severe cognitive decline who only appeals to bigots, idiots and traitors. Also: the enthusiasm gap is going to be seen very quickly. In fact, we’re already seeing it – Black women locked in within minutes of Pres. Biden’s announcement. It’s been a deeply underreported story, but the enthusiasm has been way down for Trump for several years now. He can’t fill arenas anymore, and his supporters are starting to realize that it’s all a cult and a scam.
Donald Trump donated $5,000 to re-elect Kamala Harris for California Attorney General in 2011.
According to public records, he made an additional donation of $1,000 in 2013. pic.twitter.com/dLt6TkeIiT
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 21, 2024
Something mainstream media won’t report:
There was a Zoom tonight for Black women organizing for Kamala Harris.
The call had a max of 1000 people. They hit it immediately, and got a hold of the Zoom CEO to help.
40,000 people joined. For over 4 hours.
Trump is soooo screwed.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) July 22, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.