The former president has always considered himself to be the ultimate disrupter. But this time, the disruption is on the other side.
Through the weekend, there were an awful lot of questions that were going back and forth from people in the presidentās tightest circle, and one of the questions that kept being asked was whetherĀ Joe BidenĀ was going to endorseĀ Kamala HarrisĀ or not. And the question didnāt revolve around whetherĀ heĀ wanted to or not, but whether people in her camp thought it would be better for her to fight for it, win it on her own, and not be seen as somebody who was tapped by President Biden and so, in her own way, have a fresh startĀ going into the campaign.
So the timing seems to be about as good as it could have been to end what has just been one of the craziest two or three weeks in American politics in quite some time.
I laughed a lot when the international news on TV around here claimed that āin a move that took politicians and campaign mangers by surprise, Biden left the raceāā¦ But the more I look around, the more it looks like people were surprised by it.
How come?
Because it hasnāt happened a lot. If you are the incumbent, you are running for a second term unless you are beat or dead. Leaving for whatever reasons is very rare.
People saying that Biden should have dropped out two weeks ago have never, in their entire life, had to make a life-changing decision. Whatever the result, I personally applaud his ability to put aside his pride and his ego for the sake of a cause larger than himself.
Cal comes to mindā¦ and thatās the only one that I can immediately think of.
Edit: looked it up: LBJ, Harry S Truman, Cal, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Buchanan, and James K. Polk. So yeah, really short list.
Everytime someone mentions Harry Truman, I have Linda from Bobās Burgers song that she apparently sings while braiding her daughterās hair come to mind:
And, again, disastrous every time. Landslide losses when you switch out the incumbent.
I donāt think too many realists were surprised. I think a lot of people that buy into a lot of bothsiderist bullshit might have been surprised, I dunno. Or the types that some call āblue magaā, but honestly, unless someoneās paycheck relies on believing in this, I donāt know who qualifies as āblue magaā.
No one. Outside of a MAGA talking point and an attempt to āboth sidesā MAGA, itās no one.