Biden: collapse and aftermath

How it began, and where we are now:

Jon Stewart loses faith in Biden:

Black woman used as prop is ignored by Biden, causing yet more resentment:

The dam starts to break:

More demands for Biden to step down:

Humor: Joe Biden versus Joe Biden:

Styx on Biden losing Adam Schiff:

A "medical situation" as an excuse to step down?

Vince Dao on Biden getting COVID and possibly dropping out:

Styx: Obama leans on Biden to pressure him to quit:

Styx meditates on whether Biden will drop out:

Styx on the "palace intrigue":

Red Eagle Politics on Biden's having dropped out:

The Trump campaign responds to Biden's dropping out with a Kamala ad:

Liberal Hivemind thinks Biden's seeming endorsement of Kamala is an FU to the party that pushed him out:

Humor: Kamala addresses the nation:

Styx: "It's Joever":

Frankly, I don't like that spelling, and everyone's using it. When I see "Joever," I mentally pronounce it "Jo-ever." Write it as "Jover." It makes more phonetic sense.

Styx sees the Dems as collapsing spectacularly:

I think any talk of "collapse" needs to account for the way these things are pendular in nature. In time, it'll be the GOP's turn to collapse as well. Nothing lasts forever.

Is Biden feeling betrayed as fellow Dems maneuver around him?

Biden's own staff only found out about Biden's dropping out via Twitter:

So a major issue is one alluded to in those memes I'd published recently—was Joe even aware that he was going to be ousted? Because that seems to be what's happening: Biden probably didn't consent to the whole "tell them I'm bowing out" strategy. Just the day before, he'd been insisting he would be staying in the race. So he either succumbed to all the pressure, or people did an end run around him and published "his" letter and "his" Kamala-endorsing tweet without his permission. People are saying that, when you step down from a race, you normally go on camera and make the announcement. As the memes say, there's no way to know, currently, whether Biden consented to any of this. The irony, of course, is that the Democrats keep braying about how they're trying to defend democracy but, just like in 2016 when they brusquely shoved Bernie Sanders aside, they're acting in undemocratic, behind-closed-doors fashion. Or maybe Biden will come out and make an on-camera announcement that, yes, this was all his idea, and he'd had a sudden change of heart. So the next question, then, is why Biden would bother to finish out his term. If he's not going to be running for a second term, it must be because of infirmity or incapacity, both of which would make him incapable of holding the office he now (fraudulently) holds. But I can imagine the Dem rationale for keeping Biden in the Oval Office as long as possible: he can still pardon people like his fuckup of a son Hunter, and he can push out or at least rubber-stamp one last slew of executive orders that will make Trump's life hell as Trump is forced to waste time undoing everything—sort of a petulant "break all the toys before leaving" gesture.

UPDATE: Biden is, as you know, out, and Kamala is his likely replacement on the ticket, but that hasn't quite been finalized yet. The above thoughts and speculations, despite being slightly outdated, still apply. Be thankful Kamala's not officially president right now.