- Sep 13, 2002
- 95,381
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I really like this "Bullwark" newsletter. These are from that:
(Composite / Photos: GettyImages / Shutterstock)
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites — now I’m not talking about you guys — the elites in the party, ‘Oh, they know so much more.’ Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me,” Biden said in an appearance on Morning Joe, the breakfast show of choice for coastal elites.
Nancy Lee Grahn, a white actress on daytime soap operas, offered a representative sample of how that argument was playing out on social media.
This frame—that there is a cloistered, privileged media class playing games with democracy for shits and giggles while the average Democrat pines for Dark Brandon—is a compelling one. That’s because it presents clear, digestible heroes (marginalized Americans worried about how Trump 2.0 could hurt them) and villains (know-it-all limousine liberal environmentalists who are personally protected from the Trumpian threat).
But here’s the main problem with that story. It’s just not true. In fact, as Ezra Klein shared with me on yesterday’s podcast, the opposite is what’s taking place.
The real conspiracy is that the Democratic elites are the ones protecting Biden. They don’t believe he can win and they are sanguine about what a second Trump term would look like. And their “stay the course” talking points are merely an attempt to manipulate the desperate and worried Democratic base voters who are willing to do whatever it takes to beat Trump.
Here’s Klein:
These ****ers are out there telling those of us who are desperately arguing that the Democrats should present a path to victory, that we are helping Trump by demanding this bare minimum. Meanwhile, in private, they have come to terms with Trump winning.
Outrageous.
Grassroots Democrats who genuinely care about beating Trump should demand more from those they have entrusted with the responsibility to represent the party and successfully beat the Trumpian threat that they have been assured is existential.
—Tim Miller
But there’s another thread that’s emerging: voters comparing Joe Biden to their aging relatives who won’t give up their car keys. That’s not an analogy you want to hear with democracy on the line. On Wednesday, these comparisons were more common than ever among the voters I talked to—a group made up of those who cast ballots for Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 but were now undecided.
“I've seen firsthand how difficult it is to get, you know, mom's driver's license or aging parents’ license away from them,” one participant said. “What does that look like when it's the president of the United States?”
This is fundamental to understanding voters’ fears about Biden’s age. They are disinclined to give him the benefit of the doubt because many have seen this all before. They don’t want their octogenarian father (or grandfather) running the country, let alone driving a car.
Most of these voters believed Biden should leave the race: “Letting him continue to run is like not taking the keys away from your parents,” one said. “Anyone’s letting him run to this point is just being weak.”
—Sarah Longwell
The Bonfire of the Democrats
We are witnessing the makings of a bad mix of ambition, apathy, politics and greed.
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The Real Conspiracy of Democratic Elites
Biden’s campaign team, the influencers on his payroll, and a small cadre of loud political obsessives have argued this past week that there is a cabal of hand-wringing elites engaged in a palace coup against the will of Democratic base voters.“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites — now I’m not talking about you guys — the elites in the party, ‘Oh, they know so much more.’ Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me,” Biden said in an appearance on Morning Joe, the breakfast show of choice for coastal elites.
Nancy Lee Grahn, a white actress on daytime soap operas, offered a representative sample of how that argument was playing out on social media.
 |
But here’s the main problem with that story. It’s just not true. In fact, as Ezra Klein shared with me on yesterday’s podcast, the opposite is what’s taking place.
The real conspiracy is that the Democratic elites are the ones protecting Biden. They don’t believe he can win and they are sanguine about what a second Trump term would look like. And their “stay the course” talking points are merely an attempt to manipulate the desperate and worried Democratic base voters who are willing to do whatever it takes to beat Trump.
Here’s Klein:
You can live with Trump?! Are you sure??? Like really, really sure?
These ****ers are out there telling those of us who are desperately arguing that the Democrats should present a path to victory, that we are helping Trump by demanding this bare minimum. Meanwhile, in private, they have come to terms with Trump winning.
Outrageous.
Grassroots Democrats who genuinely care about beating Trump should demand more from those they have entrusted with the responsibility to represent the party and successfully beat the Trumpian threat that they have been assured is existential.
—Tim Miller
Speaking of existential…
If I took a drink every time someone in one of my focus groups used the phrase “the lesser of two evils” to describe how they make their vote choice, I would die of alcohol poisoning.But there’s another thread that’s emerging: voters comparing Joe Biden to their aging relatives who won’t give up their car keys. That’s not an analogy you want to hear with democracy on the line. On Wednesday, these comparisons were more common than ever among the voters I talked to—a group made up of those who cast ballots for Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020 but were now undecided.
“I've seen firsthand how difficult it is to get, you know, mom's driver's license or aging parents’ license away from them,” one participant said. “What does that look like when it's the president of the United States?”
This is fundamental to understanding voters’ fears about Biden’s age. They are disinclined to give him the benefit of the doubt because many have seen this all before. They don’t want their octogenarian father (or grandfather) running the country, let alone driving a car.
Most of these voters believed Biden should leave the race: “Letting him continue to run is like not taking the keys away from your parents,” one said. “Anyone’s letting him run to this point is just being weak.”
—Sarah Longwell
