Biden has Covid

[Viviennemary]

Just heard this on the news. They are making a big thing of it. I bet he will use this as an excuse to step down. Bit too convenient IMHO. They are saying very problematic.

Yes, I just read your link. It is not straight forward though

Oh there's a counter up now on the corner of the Sky News screen of 'Democrats calling for Biden to go: 20' - once there's a counter, you know it's happening!

I think that Harris would logistically be the easiest option for them, but she's not going to win...

I hope he goes but it’s a shame it’s this way. One term and not running from 2023 and he would be known for important money for poor people and support for Ukraine. Still that was his choice.

Wow, ok. So, for the reasons discussed above ref donors and money etc, they have someone who stands some chance of winning against Trump (Biden) versus someone who has a lesser chance (Harris). So if they want the person with the best chance to go...then the Democrats don't actually seem to care if Trump wins... Make it make sense!!

I think the issue is also that if Biden did win (and that's a mahoosive if) how could he possibly carry on in the job for any decent period of time..

True, he would probably have to hand over to Harris sooner than later .

What a clusterf*ck of epic proportions.

Absolutely, I’m wondering if he is still able to do the job now. Not to mind 4 years time.

I think they going to have to stick with Biden, it's their only hope of a win. Harris can take over later if necessary. I think he still has a chance of a win, despite everything. I think a lot of people will hold their nose and vote for him because he's old, he's sick, he may not be up to the job but he's not Trump.

Twitter seems to think he'll announce he's not running again on Sunday. He won't stand down as the President now, but he won't run again, apparently. Let's see... 👀

Nancy Peolsi knows politics better than anyone and she told Biden he is going to lose🤷‍♀️

Biden’s chance of winning is close to zero. Not being Trump simply isn’t enough now, he’ll lose the swing states even if he takes the popular vote. They need someone young and vigorous, who can speak to Black and brown voters as well as suburban women.

The question is whether he brings down the Senate and House with him.

Oh it's moving fast now, Nancy Pelosi is apparently saying that Biden is 'very close' to abandoning his bid to be re-elected. Oh my.

Part of me feels so sad that this is (maybe) how it ends for him. A lifetime of service and it ends with him alone in Delaware as his party turns against him.

I think a lot of them are actually pretty genuinely worried about the fate of democracy.

@Boohbooh

Thanks both. I believe Harris is polling even lower than Biden, so, really it has to be Biden for them to have any chance...

I don't know if America is ready for a woman president, let alone a non-white woman, but realistically it's impossible to extrapolate on polling for a candidate who's not actually in the race.

Sarah Longwell, who's brilliant (albeit a Republican) thinks, based on her focus groups, Harris has a decent shot. She seems to particularly like her paired with Josh Shapiro
https://x.com/Meyer_HM/status/1813620195916992636

I completely agree @Igotjelly - it's looking more & more like an Obama/Pelosi/Schumer fait accompli.

The problem is that voters think it. I might or not vote for Harris, would if she was against Trump due to his threat level. I’d want to know what beliefs are, main policies etc.
However vote Biden and at some unspecified time get Harris again I’d probably go for but more reluctant.

Ok, thanks for all the info and various views. All we can do is wait and see, maybe more news on Sunday...This so fascinating and unusual, maybe some major surprise might still pop out of the hat. An historical moment for sure.

My understanding was (and I might be wrong) that Harris just isn't that popular, even with black voters, and this led Biden to feel he had to press on.

She’s known for her word salad type answers when asked a question ir giving a speech. Either that or she just laughs manically. She doesn’t come across well. Perhaps that will change if she becomes the party nominee

Have you watched her lately? I wasn't impressed in 2020, but I think she's seriously on fire right now.

And this is from 2019. I'd hardly call it word salad or laughing maniacally. Maybe she's been a bit underestimated?

After the momentum that felt like it was building last night it all seems to have gone quiet today. If anything Biden seems to be gripping on the the candidacy with two hands and acting as if it’s entirely normal.

@Igotjelly I think the tech outage has been a massive distraction and disruption for everyone today. I still think they will manage to unseat him, over the weekend or at the beginning of the week. Every time I check the Guardian live feed there seem to be more names added to those coming out in favour of him stepping aside. I don't think the tenacious old feller is going to manage to hold on, I really don't.
I could be wrong of course.
I really want to start to see the succession process got to grips with. He's just delaying that. There are actually quite a few interesting possibilities and they need to get on with it.