One of the most remarkable aspects of Joe Biden’s presidency so far, is the willingness of the left to openly discuss the possibility of replacing him before the next election.
It’s not just activists, either. Democrat political operatives are taking part in this discussion.
Holly Otterbein writes at Politico:
The left is already looking to 2024. Some want to see a Biden primary challenge.When Joe Biden first came into office, progressives said he could be the next FDR.Now, as Biden’s relationship with the left has come under strain, liberals are talking about treating him like former President Jimmy Carter instead — and mapping out a Democratic primary challenge in 2024.“Will there be a progressive challenger? Yes,” said Jeff Weaver, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ former presidential campaign manager.Weaver stresses that he is not advocating for such a primary campaign. But the chatter about a left-wing challenge to Biden, which was virtually nonexistent weeks ago, has suddenly burst into public view in the wake of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) killing the president’s climate and social spending bill.“He’s deeply unpopular. He’s old as shit. He’s largely been ineffective, unless we’re counting judges or whatever the hell inside-baseball scorecard we’re using. And I think he’ll probably get demolished in the midterms,” said Corbin Trent, co-founder of the progressive No Excuses PAC and former communications director for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). “People will smell opportunity, and D.C. is filled with people who want to be president.”
The names being thrown around here are not what you would call top-tier:
Instead, liberals believe lesser-known candidates are more likely to primary Biden if he seeks a second term, such as former Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner, 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson or millionaire and $18-an-hour minimum wage advocate Joe Sanberg.“Yes, but someone like Nina Turner or Marianne Williamson. Doubt anyone currently elected,” said one prominent progressive when asked if someone from the left would run against Biden.
Ed Morrissey of Hot Air reacted to this report by noting that one of the reasons Biden has been so ineffective as a president is because he has listened to the very progressives who now want to replace him:
People are certainly smelling something, but it’s probably not opportunity. In fact, what they might be smelling is betrayal. Biden blew up his presidency in 2021 by an overt decision to buy into that next-FDR nonsense in the face of an evenly split Congress and a voter mandate for calm and quiet. Progressives pushed Biden all year into becoming their champion, which Biden idiotically embraced despite clearly not having the votes to push their hard-Left agenda.Now progressives want to replace Biden with one of their own, but without any of Biden’s ties to the centrist wing of their own party. How do they calculate that will improve their ability to pass legislation, especially in a future Congress that will almost certainly be under full Republican control by 2025, if not 2023?
This has the potential to blow up in Democrats’ faces.
Wouldn’t that be a shame?
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