Last night on CNN it looked like Joe Biden's funeral.

Immediately after the debate, I expected CNN's Democratic handmaidens to launch into their usual trolling about how healthy and fine Biden is. But the consensus seemed to be unanimous: this is not the Joe Biden we know and love, this is not the right man to take on Donald Trump and the rising spectre of fascism, and only one question remains: In their words: Spiritual AncestorsVladimir Lenin: What is to be done?

It seems Biden is gone. We have witnessed elite opinion shift and reconsolidate in real time as CNN heavyweights weigh in on the idea of ​​replacing Biden ahead of the election. Van Jones was in tears, and even Morning Joe said in his opening monologue this morning that it's time to consider other options. Prominent Democratic voices — Friedman, Christophe, Bruni They are already calling on Biden to back out. Overnight, virtually all Mainstream Exit Echoed Several Form of “Democrats in Panic, The future is uncertain” story and spent relatively little time on the usual Trump furor. Then the floodgates were opened and the furor began.

Self-parody. For months, Morning Joe has defended Joe Biden as extremely energetic and intelligent, then gives up on Biden, after which Micah declares, “So, you see, you're not going to see us spin on Morning Joe.” pic.twitter.com/W3DhESDC5D

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 28, 2024

CNN's Van Jones was moved to tears by Biden's performance.

“That hurt.” pic.twitter.com/krbpVPVVbp

— Libs on TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 28, 2024

It's all pretty strange. I thought Biden did a good job.

Of course, I don't say this in a vacuum. It's certainly not a good look for the leader of the free world to stutter, stutter, look watery-eyed and confused. But this is about the best you can expect from a man who's made a habit of all sorts of missteps. Biden looked and sounded exactly like the man we're already accustomed to seeing.

Biden was not completely overwhelmed by Trump, as Trump was strategically low-key and mostly stood back to give Biden room to sink. In fact, Trump could have gone a little further without crossing the line that would have alienated housewives and swing voters. But Biden did not physically collapse, freeze like a corpse, bleed from his face, or soil his pants onstage, which would have been truly shocking. Instead, Biden gave the best performance any decent observer could have expected, blaring out a rambling collection of incoherent talking points and charging ahead.

It's a jobber. pic.twitter.com/EVupaLfqai

— Raw Egg Nationalist (@Babygravy9) June 28, 2024

This makes the media's post-debate hyperventilation sound even more unnatural. Surely the media workers who have covered Biden obsessively for the past four years didn't expect his debate performance to turn out like this. So why were they surprised?

So the question arises: to what extent was this orchestrated?

Months of chanting “Genocide Joe,” “Climate Action Now,” and demands for reparations and student loan forgiveness may have triggered a frustrating outburst on Biden's left. Like the Bolsheviks in 1917, they may have seen an opportunity and seized it. CNN panelists on the aftershow repeatedly pointed out that they received text messages from panicked Democratic activists throughout the debate. With Biden on the defensive, the left may have started texting and calling bigwigs they know in the Democratic media, panicking the masses and causing irreparable damage to Biden. (Related: After 'disastrous' debate performance, panicked Democrats rush to replace Biden)

But if this is an intra-party coup, it's a big gamble. Defeating Biden doesn't automatically put you on top. But as the Bolsheviks and the great revolutionaries who followed them knew well, the first step is to sow chaos for your own purposes. Power can only be seized by destabilizing the current order. But it seems more likely than ever that the establishment will consolidate power. Good luck to the Bernie Sanders insurgents. They might finally find out about the Deep State that those crazy Republicans complain about.

So maybe this was planned from the top down from the beginning. It makes sense why the powers that be decided to put Biden on stage, knowing this performance was inevitable. It also explains why the debates were scheduled so early in a presidential election: They now have time to mobilize their PR machines and get a new candidate ready in time for the party convention in August.

The media's fake shock and despair will be engineered to make it all seem natural. Biden has been good until now, but in this debate he has shown for the first time that he is not up to the task, and now every person with a conscience recognizes that for his own sake and for the sake of the country, he must be replaced. This is the noble ploy the establishment will use if they really do want to replace him.

This might work if they could smoothly shift the blame to Vice President Kamala Harris. The obvious deception of the American people might be downplayed with a popular successor. But Harris is a long shot, and may be the only person in Democratic politics more unpopular, disliked, and incompetent than Biden. Any successor would require pure bargaining, because competing candidates and coalition interests would devolve into blatant power politics that would rarely go unnoticed by the public.

We may never know Who The strings are being pulled, but it's obvious even to anyone who knows politics. There's someone there. Last night's debate was not the first time Americans benefited from a demented president. It merely confirmed what Americans have worried about for years, and partisan media insiders have been telling them they are crazy conspiracy theorists for even considering it. Now those same insiders have turned around and said, “We're not going to let Biden off the hook. He's not going to let us …

This brazen deception of the American people, in addition to the politically damaging chaos that will surely ensue, cannot be easily tolerated. It is hard to imagine the Democrats winning with Biden, but it seems impossible to win without him. In any case, the Republican Party is undoubtedly the “normal” party.

The last option is that maybe the media and political establishment all believed their own bullshit all along. Maybe they really assumed Biden was okay. The selectively edited footage doesn’t show the full extent of his vitality, and his stance on issues is consistent despite occasional gaffes. They are such ideological fanatics, driven by their hatred of Trump and their own utopian dreams, that they couldn’t see the obvious facts until they saw them on TV screens for 90 straight minutes. What happens next will happen naturally as voters decide whether they can tolerate the re-nomination of the man they saw on stage. Maybe we’ll finally see the Democrats in action, as they keep promising. (Related: Gavin Newsom's betting odds soar as Biden's debate performance soars)

Unfortunately, the public will likely never know the truth about what will happen in the coming months. Occam’s razor dictates that the simplest explanation (in this case, the latter) is probably correct. But we should never underestimate what a staunch ideological cabal will do to stay in power.

Democrats seem to think they have no choice but to replace Biden, so mark what I say: Biden will not run for president in 2024, and the reason for this will most certainly have nothing to do with democracy.