We Have To Beat Trump and the Republicans in November

Biden announced he is ending his presidential run. Let's focus on the bottom line here. 

Trump aided and abetted an attempted insurrection. 

This alone disqualifies him from public office. The Supreme Court -- as they did in their travesty of an immunity decision this time with more votes at least part of the way -- was wrong when they (in an unsigned opinion they didn't show up to hand down) said otherwise. Also, they left open congressional enforcement of the insurrection disqualification.  

He has been found liable for sexual assault. He has repeatedly been found liable for financial wrongdoing. He was found guilty of business fraud, upped to a felony because it was used to advance election interference. He is a racist, sexist, incompetent, and his mental acuity is dubious.

Trump's overall platform, now aided and abetted in his authoritarianism by a barely qualified vice presidential pick (his first one not supporting Trump, after he egged on his followers to threaten Pence's life), is horrible. We already saw what he did with COVID, the Supreme Court, and international affairs, not including the support of fascists. 

Congressional Republicans were his enablers, including not removing him by impeachment or raising the insurrection disqualification option. A supermajority of House Republicans joined in his insurrection effort by voting to block electoral votes even after the invasion of the Capitol. 

The HOR is now led by a Christian Nationalist.  The Senate will block the Democratic president's nominees and policy choices. A united congressional front is necessary along with a Democratic president for any major Supreme Court reform to be a likely reality.  The "moderates" are the likes of Susan Collins who supported Kavanaugh and now will write in Nikki Haley, a Trump supporter. Way to go, Susie! So brave.

So, the path to sanity, the rule of law, and basic decency is to get as much Democratic control as possible. This includes state races, which involve abortion and other important issues. The fact this is an uphill battle in various respects is granted. Our country is sick in multiple ways.

Is this what we have been concerned about since mid-June? No. A self-fulfilling prophecy of getting Biden to resign from the race has been the focus of many outlets. I hold to what I just said about AOC's comments. A TPM summary leads this way:

As you, TPM reader, no doubt know, the calculus for many Democrats shifted dramatically on June 27, when President Biden's debate performance revealed him to be older, frailer, and more halting than many of his supporters had realized.

He had a bad debate. After the debate, he was not "older, trailer, and more halting" than before. A one-shot appearance should not lead to the first time a presidential candidate steps down this late in the race. The debate was an excuse that was used to reaffirm existing concerns.

The whole thing was handled horribly. If the debate was so very important, it was an epic failure to allow him (and for him) to go on unprepared. 

They shouldn't have had a debate at all. Was the debate meant to be a "hail Mary" for an already struggling campaign? Bad risk. 

If the campaign was in trouble, the primary should have been used in another fashion. Now, people like me feel robbed since our choice was pressured -- clearly somewhat kicking and screaming -- to leave. All the evidence he was not simply older, trailer, and more halting was ignored. NYT and others had a one-sided drumbeat, only now and then addressing Trump. People cocksure about a risky move. 

But, the die has been cast. Alan Lichtman -- who has predicted presidential winners well -- argued Biden should not drop out. IF he did, AL argued he should resign, giving Kamala Harris the benefit of incumbency. Will Republicans reject her vice presidential pick [a majority of both houses must confirm]? Let them be obstructionist. Not like Harris will leave the presidency vacant, leading to a Mike Johnson presidency.   

That sounds reasonable. But, if not, the bottom line is that we need to defeat Republicans in November. That is the bottom line.