For all the talk about how much Biden and Trump suck from voices within the Democratic and Republican Party bases, both men seem bound to be renominated for the 2024 election. Biden is a forgone conclusion since he’s an incumbent president. Still, Trump’s grip on the GOP base is something his opponents vying for the necessary delegates this primary season grossly underestimated. It’s been exceptionally costly for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who expanded too fast and blew through so much cash that massive layoffs and staff changes from the top down had to occur. Staff changes can only do so much—sometimes, the candidate just doesn’t have the juice.
Could Ron be the GOP nominee and win? I think he can, but not with Trump in the picture. He’s filled a respectable war chest for this 2024 effort, and no significant poll movement has occurred. If anything, Trump’s legal woes have paradoxically helped the former president solidify his support among base voters, where he sits so comfortably ahead that he’s not even showing up for the Republican debate this week. What’s changed is that Trump’s opponent has a legal maelstrom of his own brewing.
Trump may face four trials, thanks to legal efforts fueled by political animus rather than fact. Still, Joe Biden could be subjected to impeachment hearings based on credible evidence of malfeasance and corruption. Unlike the Russian collusion hoax, which was entirely manufactured by the media, the Department of Justice, and members of the intelligence community, the bank records don’t lie, and neither do the IRS whistleblowers who have come forward to detail the pervasive DOJ interference in their investigations into Hunter Biden.
You’d think the Democrats would retreat once they couldn’t debunk or discredit the testimony of IRS agents Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley. You’d think maybe they’d discuss with Joe Biden what’s at the core of Hunter Biden’s sordid business deals once the ‘illusion of access’ talking point was shredded by the bank records of the president’s son. There’s nothing illusory when $20 million gets wired to the man. Six banks filed over 170 suspicious activity reports relating to the Biden family’s financial transactions. And yet, the elder Biden continues to say he knew nothing about his son’s dealings. So, what’s with the secret email account? Also, what father doesn’t know about millions of dollars flowing into his children's bank accounts? It was never a believable pivot, but Biden bought himself some time with his DOJ making US Attorney David Weiss a fake special counsel, thereby blocking his testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
I hope House Republicans remain steadfast in holding the Bidens accountable, not discouraged or shocked that the “big guy” would be making moves to cover his behind. Keep the pressure on Biden, and go after his attorney general, Merrick Garland, who lied to Congress over the independence his attorney, Weiss, had regarding pursuing charges against the president’s son. There are many targets the GOP could use to keep Biden’s corruption in the 2024 news. Will they have the stones to do it is the real question.
If Trump and Biden are the nominees, this election will be the first since 1892 that a sitting president will have a rematch against a former president he bested in the last election, something The Wall Street Journal pointed out regarding how this upcoming cycle could be historic. And yes, age was brought up too; Biden and Trump will be 81 and 78, respectively, next summer. The legal challenges Trump faces were mentioned, along with the possibility that another major candidate outside the Democratic and Republican Parties will emerge.
I’m unsure about that point, especially since those who would be part of this ‘No Labels’ bid declared they wouldn’t jump in if their candidacy would benefit either party. In this case, Biden’s camp would have to pound more Tums to settle the political heartburn from a third-party candidacy.
Now, will 2024 be close if Trump and Biden are the nominees? Yes, and it will be the chaos we all deserve: two senior citizens embroiled in legal trouble vying for high office, with confirmation that voting is nothing more than the mobilization of our animosities against one another:
We are living in an unprecedented era of close presidential elections. In the 17 races between 1920 and 1984, the winner prevailed in the popular vote by 10 points or more on 10 occasions, and by 20 points or more five times. In the nine elections since, no winner has come close to a 10-point margin of victory, and on two occasions the candidate with a plurality of the popular vote lost the Electoral College. During this period, the number of truly contested swing states declined sharply, to only eight by 2020. A shift of 43,000 votes in Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona, states Mr. Biden carried by wafer-thin margins, would have yielded a tie in the Electoral College, throwing the election to the House for the first time since the 1824 election.
Public opinion surveys thus far are pointing to yet another close contest whose outcome will be determined by narrow margins in the same states that became the sites of postelection legal struggles four years ago. Until the American people decide to award one party a majority that extends beyond a single presidency, today’s challenges to effective governance and national unity are all but certain to persist.
Biden has just as much, if not more political baggage now, with the bonus that his body cannot endure the stresses and physical demands of the office. Could a change-up also occur at the top of the Democratic ticket? Biden's skeleton crew of a re-election operation has raised eyebrows, with some looking to a certain California governor for political salvation. Or, with Trump on the ballot, Democrats are hoping college-educated whites and just enough Rust Belt voters return to bail them out again after four years of high inflation, economic torpor, and chaos abroad.
For many of us, this isn’t a hard choice.