Hello, happy independence day. I hope it's not the last. We have 123 days until the election. I don't need to tell you what we're talking about in this issue. You know it.

Is he old or tired? Will he retreat or fight to the end? Will Kamala Harris be next or will she be removed?

So many questions.

We get a lot of responses from pundits, politicians and even your Auntie Nancy – who should we believe?

There is only one person who knows what is going on, and it is not Joe Biden. (Just kidding.) Of course it is Joe.

We can't read his mind, but here are some things to think about as you start your God-Bless-America day drinking.

Never to be defeated

Election campaigns are usually long-term, and this one didn't start with debates, and it won't end with debates.

Biden has never lost a general election since running in a local election in 1970.

I say this not to make the point that he's old, but to make the point that he's tough, and he knows how to win, winning the 2020 election with 306 electoral votes (well over the 270 needed) and 81 million popular votes. The highest number of popular votes in history.

Biden is not withdrawing because MSNBC or CNN thinks he should. Or because a few politicians have staged a rebellion. Maybe he should withdraw, maybe he shouldn't, but he's not withdrawing.

“The president understands that it's natural for people to ask that question,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference Wednesday.

But even when he gets down, he gets back up right away.

The machine is starting

Whatever side of this debate you're on, it's worth remembering that election campaigns are long-term. This one has been going on for months, if not years.

Biden has delivered on many of the promises he made in the last election, especially to young voters and unions, though some are certainly upset by his handling of the Israeli-Hamas war.

But others see him as the best bet for standing up for working Americans, fighting to combat climate change and lower drug costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and finally, civil rights for women, LGBTQ+ people, and basically everyone.

And he's not an orange fascist who wants to deport 10 million people.

That means Biden has loyalty — loyalty that won't switch candidates without his permission. While individual wealthy donors may have their own opinions and the ability and willingness to act quickly, polling groups and organizers are unlikely to act immediately.

That's why AFL-CIO President Liz Schuller issued this statement: “President Biden and Vice President Harris have always been on working people's sides, and we will continue to be on their sides.”

I also spoke with Jack Lobel, communications director for the Gen Z group Voters of Tomorrow.

Lovell is 20 years old and this is his first presidential election, and he points out that he's not surprised to learn that Biden is older and in decline.

“I decided to vote for President Biden not because he was a good debater, but because he was a good president,” Lovell told me. “While people are panicking, we are determined to elect President Biden and defeat President Donald Trump.”

So, despite what Twitter would have you believe, not everyone is leaving.

Next Move

Biden convened 20 state governors who are presidential candidates, including Gavin Newsom of my state, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and JB Pritzker of Illinois, at the White House on Wednesday, likely to try to bring them together, and we can expect them to show up to campaign for Biden this holiday weekend.

Biden also announced his first post-debate interview, a light-hearted one with “Good Morning America” ​​and “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, set to air starting Friday.

But surrogates and interviews won't fix this. Regaining trust requires seeing Biden often and unscripted. And that comes down to the questions Nancy Pelosi asked. “Is this an episode or a symptom?”

If, as the White House would like us to believe, it was really just a case of stuffy nose and jet lag, President Trump will have to prove it repeatedly and forcefully.

M. Steven Fish, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in democracy and authoritarianism, recently wrote a book called “The Comeback: Stopping Trumpism, Reclaiming Our Nation, and Restoring Democratic Primacy.”

He told me there's one small silver lining to this mess: Biden has shown a lot of grit, not letting poll numbers and fears get the better of him.

“He's backed into a corner and is finally starting to show a little bit of an edge,” Fish said.

He points out that Democrats aren't doing a good job of “high-rule politics,” something Trump excels at. tell Voters will become aware of how they should think, instead of constantly reacting to what the polls tell them they think.

“Leadership is about authority, it's about submission and it means some people are the boss,” he said.

And either way, that's the direction this is going. Biden is not going to take it easy. He's going to stay and prove us all wrong. He's showing his boss energy.

But one more weak performance and he's finished.

So what do we do?

There are several roads, but they all lead to Harris.

Richard Hazen, a law professor at UCLA and director of the Project on Securing Democracy, told me that despite all the fears, there are no legal obstacles to Biden dropping out: he's not yet an official candidate.

But Harris' campaign finance issues “are going to be complicated,” Hasen said, unless Democrats endorse her.

“Then it's pretty seamless.”

But there's also talk of a mini-primary if Biden were to drop out. And of course a mini-primary would make great TV and put Trump completely in the shadows. But at the end of the day, the Democratic Party needs unity. And unity is not going to come at the expense of Black South Asian women.

Voters are already frustrated by an election that devolved into a felon and his grandpa discussing golf.

Do we want change? Harris is change.

No matter how many people claim to dislike her, her four-month campaign has played to her strengths as a prosecutor and spun a coherent narrative. She may seem awkward at times, but I think if you give her a clear objective: to prove that Trump is unfit to lead, she'll get it done.

And there would be no time constraints: Biden could hand the presidency over to her now, at the convention or even later, and let her stay in office.

on wednesday, Coconut and palm tree memes have taken the internet by storm (See below if that doesn't make sense.) All that time spent on college campuses and, as she likes to call it, “on the streets” may pay off: Her consistency alone may give her enough freshness to capture a key demographic of undecided voters who haven't paid much attention to her before, and who don't like what they see.

Leading pollster Paul Mitchell said Biden's poor performance had not changed the minds of Democrats.

It is up to disinterested, nonpartisan voters to decide whether this election will be won or lost by Biden, Harris, or whoever survives this slow-moving train wreck.

“There's no playbook for this,” Mitchell said.

But despite the controversy, Joe hasn't crashed yet, and until he does, he's the man.

Every time Pops takes a step, we all watch with bated breath.

What else to read

Must Read: Times/Siena Poll shows Trump widening lead after Biden debate gaffe
Required Reading II: Biden and his aides acknowledge he needs to quickly demonstrate his fitness to be president.
LA Times SpecialAs Biden struggles, Kamala Harris faces political pressure, opportunity

Stay golden,
Anita Chhabria

P.S. “You think you fell from the coconut tree? You exist within all that lives and all that came before you.” It's a strange but true quote from Harris, and it's being talked about (again) for better or worse as she is talked about as a possible successor to Biden.

Below is a YouTube clip of the speech from lifesitenews.

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