President Joe Biden’s performance in his debate against former President Donald Trump has some wondering if he will step aside and allow another Democratic candidate to emerge out of the party’s convention this summer.
Biden’s showing sent Democrats reeling, with one official speaking on condition of anonymity, telling Jonathan Karl of ABC News:
“I am in a state of shock. He is diminished to an extent that has become undeniable.”
Another said:
“It’s a shame this debate didn’t happen during a Democratic primary. If it had, we would have a different nominee.”
With many likely feeling the worst kind of buyer’s remorse, it is not inconceivable that Biden — sensing the political winds — could find a way to bow out of the race without resigning the presidency, allowing for a more able Democratic candidate to surface.
Some, however, like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, think this may have been the plan all along.
“Democrats are saying Biden was an unmitigated disaster, and some say he should step down. I’ve said from the day this early debate was announced this was a set-up by the Democrats to replace Biden on the ballot. Part of the set-up was CNN’s split screen, which kept the camera on Biden,” Patrick wrote on X. “The Democrats’ post-debate analysts on CNN are making it clear that Biden needs to be replaced. So obvious this was the set-up. I told a large Republican group tonight that this whole debate sham was a ploy to make it absolutely clear that Biden had to be replaced. Now, we are watching it happen.”
Here is a bit of what Rémy Numa reported about that possible scenario for Fox News:
Biden is currently the presumptive Democratic nominee, because he has secured the overwhelming majority of pledged Democratic delegates awarded after each state’s primary election.
Former President Donald Trump is also currently a presumptive nominee.
Democratic National Committee rules give the power of the nomination to those delegates.
Delegates must “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them,” meaning Democratic primary voters.
In other words, as long as Biden wants to stay on the ballot, then those delegates are expected to vote for him.
Since the rules do not impose any legal obligation on delegates to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged, a mass defection is at least theoretically possible.
The party will formally nominate Biden when the delegates participate in a roll call vote.
That normally takes place during a party convention, which for Democrats begins on the week of Aug. 19.
But this year, the Democrats have said they will hold a “virtual” roll call vote by August 7 to comply with an Ohio ballot access deadline.
Following legislation signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine that moves the deadline to Sept. 1, Democrats no longer need to hold this virtual vote ahead of the convention.
But for now, the plan is that a willing Biden will become the nominee on August 7 at the latest.
If Biden steps aside before the roll call, then his delegates will no longer be pledged to him, and it will be essentially “open season.”
To read more about how this scenario could shake out, please click HERE.