If Joe Biden has been anything this past week, it's defiant. Calls for him to drop out began almost immediately after the presidential debate in Atlanta and have only grown since. Elected Democrats, previously only willing to speak anonymously, are slowly coming out of hiding, calling on Biden to drop out, but he remains unmoved.
I'm sure his inner circle sees the polling and understands that his already shaky campaign was made even weaker by his debate performance. So why is he staying in? I have my suspicions.
A common belief is that he wants to protect his son, Hunter, from his legal troubles. It's an interesting theory, except that if he were to drop out of the race but remain president, there'd be nothing stopping him from pardoning Hunter before he leaves office.
Perhaps it's the cash flow coming into the Biden family from selling access and influence? Does anyone in Biden's inner circle believe he'll last another four years in office? They know that they're running out of time already.
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I think Biden told us the real reason he's staying in the race during his interview with George Stephanopoulos last week.
"And if you stay in, and Trump is elected and everything you’re warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?" Stephanopoulos asked him.
"I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest [sic] job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about," he replied.
Aside from his use of the non-word "goodest," Biden seems okay with the idea of him losing Trump, which is rather telling. I suspect he'd rather lose to Trump than risk another Democrat possibly winning against Trump.
Of course, polls show that no one on the Democratic bench is performing much better than Biden is against Donald Trump. However, much of the justification for running in 2020 was that he thought he was the only Democrat who could beat Trump, and that remains his justification today.
"I wouldn't be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024," he told congressional Democrats in a letter on Monday.
This morning, I sent a letter to my fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill. In it, I shared my thoughts about this moment in our campaign.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 8, 2024
It’s time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/ABtAaJrr0n
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Biden's determination to stay in the race despite mounting pressure and a slew of polls showing him losing suggests a deeper concern beyond the immediate political landscape. For Biden, maintaining his status as the "only Democrat who can beat Trump" isn't just about winning the election; it's about securing a critical element of his legacy.
Having positioned himself as the party's best hope against Trump since his 2020 bid, Biden likely sees this as integral to how history will judge his political career. His stubbornness isn't just due to personal ambition but also to a diabolical obsession with his own legacy. He'd rather lose to Trump than let anyone else become the Democratic Party's savior.
