Biden will stay in – by Scott Greer

It's been two weeks since President Biden's disastrous debate performance, and the number of Democrats who want a new candidate continues to grow. Lawmakers and donors alike are organizing to tell Joe to step aside. The media continues to publish columns calling on the president to step down. George Stephanopoulos essentially hectored Biden out of the race during his interview.

But all this will fall on deaf ears. No matter how many Democrats and the media ask him to drop out, Biden will stay in the race. Only a crippling blow will derail Biden's ambition. People counting on Biden dropping out don't understand Joe and are overestimating the effect of the effort to oust him. The whole strategy is to politely ask Biden to drop out. Senile Joe has no reason to go, and it's the last thing his family wants.

What people don't realize is that Biden and his family are jerks. This was a well-known fact about Joe when he was a senator. When he was vice president, the media transformed him into a lovable uncle who spoke his mind and offered funny bites. The Onion's endearing portrayal of “Uncle Joe” helped solidify this misrepresentation. This image occupied the minds of voters when they went to the polls in 2020. It still lingers in the public consciousness despite the undeniable evidence that he is a jerk.

The stupid tendencies of the Bidens is best exemplified in how they handled their dogs constantly attacking the staff. They didn't give a shit about their dogs biting Secret Service agents and terrorizing White House staffers. This was a problem for others, not for Joe and Jill. The president watched as his dog attacked several subordinates without any worries. The Bidens fired back when people expressed concern about the dogs. The welfare of others does not matter to them. They only gave in and got rid of the dogs after the press shamed them.

Some say this shows the Bidens will drop out. They claim the Bidens caved after the backlash, so they will do the same to the campaign. This is an incorrect view. Dogs are not as important to them as the presidency. Jill knew that having the dogs made her look like a terrible first lady. This tarnished her image of the White House, which is the most important thing to her. Getting rid of the dogs maintained the Bidens' identity as president and first lady. That's his whole thing. They will sacrifice their own dogs for it, and they will not abandon it to satisfy their critics.

The Bidens are white trash with elite pretensions. Hunter's life story bears witness to this, but he is not alone. Ashley Biden, 43 years old danced inappropriately for the whole world to see at the White House 4th of July event. That's not very elegant. Jill Biden's insistence on being called “Dr. Jill Biden” perfectly illustrates the insecurity of the elite.

While Biden boasts of his working-class background in campaign speeches, he wishes he came from wealthier stock. As you can learn from Richard Ben Cramer's famous account of the 1988 presidential campaign, what is needed Biden's father desperately wanted to be rich. He failed, and it shaped his son's life. The modest circumstances humbled Biden. He wanted to be the elite, and he got it through the dumb luck of winning a Senate seat in 1972. He got his wealth and stature entirely through politics.

His wife, children and grandchildren owe everything to Biden's political stature. If he walks away from the White House, all of that is in jeopardy. The Bidens make money because the patriarch is important. Once he leaves the White House, all that political power will be gone. He will be a frail, senile man that no one wants to hear about. The Bidens will not be able to follow in the footsteps of the Obamas and the Clintons. Joe can't give speeches now. No one admires Dr. Jill the way Hillary and Michelle were admired. They will have no influence once they leave the White House.

This lack of influence will affect the wealth of the Bidens. This family has no way to make money outside of trading with Joe's power. When that power is completely gone, opportunities dry up.

In addition, they have a legitimate concern that the authorities will investigate and charge them with crimes if Biden leaves office. Republicans are vowing to use the Justice Department against them if they take back the White House. The Bidens think only Joe can beat Trump. If you really believe that and are worried that President Trump will come after your family, then it makes sense that Joe stays. It goes without saying that the legal troubles will hurt the family's finances and what little power they have outside of politics.

Democrats have no real leverage to push Biden out of the race. Conservative pundits speculate that they could use the DOJ or even bribe the Bidens into the White House. These extraordinary measures will not be taken. A Democrat-led DOJ will not go to the ground against its own president by running against his worst enemy. The Bidens know this and are not worried about it. There is also nothing the Democrats can bribe Biden with. Nothing can match the White House and the power of the presidency. The Bidens are also stubborn jerks, so these overtures will only anger them.

Democrats probably won't try these maneuvers in the first place. These are suggestions that conservatives put forward to entertain their audience.

More realistic scenarios may also be ignored by Biden. Right now, the strategy among dissident Democrats is to get lawmakers and prominent donors to politely ask the president to step aside. There is no way in hell that will work. Not a single Biden wants to leave the White House. Both Jill and Hunter want Joe to stay the course. Biden cares a lot more about what his family thinks than what Chuck Schumer or Barack Obama think. Biden also has a Trump card: he can simply ask his petitioners what they'll do if he doesn't step aside. They will all say they will still support him because they don't want Trump to be president. Then he'll laugh in their face and tell them he's staying.

Biden's whole campaign is that he's the only other option besides Trump. This works for both skeptical voters and powerful Democrats. They can only get another candidate if Biden steps aside, and he won't. They are stuck with Biden, as his polite request carries no stick. The New York Times Editorial Board admitted it I would still endorse it Biden did stay in the race, in the op-ed calling for him to drop out. Biden is right not to move.

Trump's card also deters Democrats from pursuing more aggressive measures. Let's say donors threatened to withhold their money unless Biden got on board. The president will tell them this will get Trump elected. Donors may not stop giving money for a bit, but they will come back when they remember that Biden is the only option.

Democrats could try to oust Biden at the convention, but that's a very risky move. It will turn the convention into a disaster and help Trump regardless of the outcome. There is no agreed challenger for Biden, so he could easily prevail because of a divided opposition. The opposition would need thousands of delegates to accompany this plan, which in any circumstance is a great task. There is also the issue of campaign money. Every penny donated to the Biden-Harris campaign is legally tied to Joe. It would be a complicated process to hand over the cash even if he quit. Experts say only Kamala Harris could access that cash. But if Biden is involuntarily replaced, you can bet he'll keep that money just to abuse the Democrats. Remember the Bidens are morons. They would rather the Democrats lose than be magnanimous in defeat.

The disastrous possibilities of a contested convention solidify Biden's case for staying.

There are two recent examples of a party that has panicked and wants to replace its presidential candidate. In the spring of 2020, there were serious calls to oust Biden over sexual assault allegations. (Amusingly, the preferred person to replace Biden it was then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who later resigned over the MeToo allegations.) The story faded and Biden became the 46th president. Of course, the calls to drop out were nowhere near the level they are now. But it does illustrate how Biden can ignore the noise of a news cycle and count on Democrats to rally back.

A more comparable situation is the one Trump faced after the release of the Access Hollywood tape a month before the 2016 election. Republican lawmakers, donors and conservative pundits demanded that Trump step down after it was discovered that he “grab them by the pussy”. Trump ignored the demands, positioned himself as the only alternative to Hillary Clinton, won back the support of many of these critics, and won the election.

Biden will do the same, except for the part about winning the election.

The question of whether Biden will drop out will be decided very soon. Democrats are ready to host a virtual nomination of Biden later this month to meet Ohio's voting deadline. If Biden gets the nomination, the matter will finally be settled.

The only chance the Democrats have of getting a different candidate is if Biden suffers a health episode and literally can't function anymore. Outside of that, Biden will be on the ballot in November. There is no way the Democrats can persuade him or his family to give up their dream. The party will reluctantly accept it once the news cycle progresses.