Meridith McGraw’s POLITICO report “Trump tries to undermine Harris’ legitimacy as a candidate” sounds a familiar theme.
For former President Donald Trump, the 2024 race is a contest between him and Vice President Kamala Harris. And President Joe Biden.
During a rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Trump repeatedly blamed Harris and Democrats for Biden dropping out of the race more than a month ago — undermining Harris’ legitimacy as a candidate and highlighting his one-time opponent.
He claimed, without evidence, that the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week is “rigged” because Biden isn’t on the ticket. He said Biden is a worse debater than Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke. And Trump accused the media of being biased in favor of the president.
“What happened to Biden? I was running against Biden and now I’m running against someone else,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Who am I running against, Harris?’ I said, ‘Who the hell is Harris?’”
On the one hand, it’s hilarious. He spent a whole lot of time and money running a substance-free campaign built on attacking his opponent for being old, and suddenly, it’s not only all for naught, but he’s now the old, inherent guy in the race. And his whining about it is just wildly counterproductive.
On the other hand, his feelings are justified. Democrats ran a primary designed to make it even harder than it would otherwise have been to replace the incumbent President, and Biden faced only token opposition. Despite being ahead in all the polls, he agreed to Biden’s impromptu taunt to hold the first presidential debate well ahead of the primaries and absolutely destroyed him in that contest.* He then survived an assassination attempt and further cemented in the public mind that he was virile and fit while Biden continued to embarrass himself in public appearances.
The primaries were over and the debate had signaled the official start of the general election campaign. And, suddenly, the Democrats simply get a do-over. Objectively, that’s just unsporting.
To be sure, politics ain’t beanbag. As a technical matter, Biden wasn’t the Democratic nominee until the yet-to-be-held Democratic convention formalized it. But, by any modern-era standards, that’s quibbling.
Now, the fact of the matter is that this is good for the country, which matters much more than what’s “fair.” As much as we treat Presidential elections as sporting events, they shouldn’t be judged by the same standards. A choice between a decent man who’s only occasionally lucid and a madman isn’t one that any country, let alone the preeminent global power, should be forced to make.
Indeed, I myself repeatedly called for Biden to step aside after the debate (and, frankly, before it), so I’m not complaining. While I would have preferred some process other than an instant rallying behind the unvetted Veep, she’s performed quite well on the stump in the early going and the party seems to have enthusiastically rallied behind her. But, for once, Trump’s grievance at least has real merit even if, as usual, his means of expressing it doesn’t.
Now, given that he tried to steal the last election—to the point of inciting a riot on the Capitol building to stop the legitimate counting of the vote—and is already setting the stage to declare a result other than a Trump victory illegitimate, my sympathy is decidedly muted.
*Granted, by any real debate standards, his stream-of-consciousness Gish gallop would not have been scored favorably. But Biden’s performance was almost universally seen, even by Democrats, as catastrophic.
