The emerging conventional wisdom is that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump has made Joe Biden’s electoral problems even worse, so much worse that Democrats have given up replacing him because it’s hopeless.
NBC News reports:
At a time when President Joe Biden has been struggling to shore up support with fellow Democrats following a miserable June debate performance and shaky cleanup effort, some professional Democratic political operatives said Saturday’s shooting will end up sealing the incumbent’s electoral fate.
“We’re so beyond f—ed,” one longtime Democratic insider said, noting that the image of Trump thrusting his fist in the air, with blood dramatically smeared across his face, will be indelible.
“The presidential contest ended last night,” said a veteran Democratic consultant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to give a candid assessment of his own party’s standing less than four months before the election.
“Now it’s time to focus on keeping the Senate and trying to pick up the House,” he said. “The only positive thing to come out of last night for Democrats is we are no longer talking about Joe Biden’s age today.”
I’ve seen a lot of similar “wisdom” on X.
I don’t believe Democrats are folding the tent on Biden. They are stuck with him, and will use the change in focus as a chance to recalibrate and build Democrat unity. So reports CBS News:
The may have to dial it down, as ABC News reports:
Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump is expected to put President Joe Biden and his campaign even further on their back foot, curtailing their messaging and transforming a race in which Biden was already perceived to be faltering.
Biden will likely not be able to message as aggressively as usual, particularly on Trump’s supposed threat to democracy, while democratic strategists predict that the former president will get a polling boost from the shooting and this week’s Republican National Convention, where he will formally accept the GOP presidential nomination.
The fundamentally altered campaign dynamic comes amid a broader Democratic reckoning over Biden’s place atop the 2024 ticket — a debate that might only be temporarily paused.
Rather than destroying Biden’s campaign, the assassination attempt has given Biden room away from Democrats breathing down his neck, and time because the media focus has shifted away from his cognitive problems evidenced in the debate.
So no, it’s not over. It’s mid-July.
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