Biden Survives. . . For Now

With a growing number of congressional Democrats calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race, his performance was under the microscope yesterday during closing ceremonies at the NATO summit. Many saw it as a “make-or-break” moment for his candidacy.

Well, as one political reporter put it, the result was “probably the worst-case scenario” for the Democrat Party.

Granted, the bar for Biden was very low. While he stumbled and struggled throughout the day, his performance was just good enough to satisfy his core base and stave off a full-scale revolt. But for the growing number of Democrats who think Biden isn’t capable of defeating Donald Trump, it was bad enough to confirm their fears.

The Democrat Party remains locked in a state of chaos and panic.

At one event, Biden was on stage to introduce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But he said, “And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine . . . Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”

Later in the evening, Biden held his first press conference in eight months. He spoke for over an hour and didn’t get lost on the stage. But he took questions from pre-selected reporters. We have no idea if they asked pre-selected questions.

Among other odd statements, including reminding us about half a dozen times that he “served a long time in the Senate,” Biden claimed that no poll shows he is losing. Fact Check: Donald Trump is leading in 14 out of 15 polls conducted since the June debate.

When asked about his confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden answered, “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump . . . if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president.”

Sometimes people slip up. Many people said “Osama” when they meant to say “Obama.” That’s understandable. But confusing Zelensky for Putin and Harris for Trump?

In addition, there are reports from left-wing media outlets that “longtime friends of the Biden family . . . were shocked to find that the president did not remember their names.”

Nevertheless, Biden did just enough yesterday to ensure that Democrats are stuck with him for now.

Friend Or Foe?

Something else has become very apparent over the last 36 hours. There are powerful forces on the left, including Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and perhaps even allies of Hillary Clinton, orchestrating events behind the scenes to deny Biden the nomination. Sources say the Biden clan is seething with anger.

There are also new reports of a brewing revolt among the delegates to the Democrat National Convention. Some have launched a petition calling for a secret ballot vote at the convention.

I was at an event yesterday with other conservatives. One of the speakers got everyone’s attention and said, “Folks, we have some breaking news. Biden is not running.”

There was a loud groan in the room. The speaker waited a few seconds and said, “He’s shuffling,” at which point the room erupted in laughter.

Why would conservatives groan at the news that Biden wasn’t running and be excited to learn it was just a joke? See below.

Plan B

Republicans want to point out Biden’s obvious limitations, but they don’t want him pushed aside because that would present a whole lot of challenges.

Let’s assume that Kamala Harris becomes the nominee. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would walk out together on the convention stage, holding one another’s hand up in the air. The media would hail it as a historic moment – the torch has been passed to the first black woman to run for president.

Harris’s polling now is not much better than Biden’s. But in the immediate aftermath of the Democrat National Convention, which will be a masterful Hollywood production reinforced by a fawning media establishment, I would bet the farm that she gets a significant bounce and jumps into a five- or six-point lead. Every attack against her would be deflected and denounced as “racism” or “sexism.”

Republicans would also be scrambling to remind people that Harris was the “Border Czar” and is the leader of Biden’s government-wide effort to deal with a major emergency. What’s the emergency? They’re terrified that the number of abortions may go down, and they’re doing everything they can to increase them.

Anyone who replaces Joe Biden will believe everything he believes. But they would be younger, more energetic, more charismatic, and more likely to fire up the left-wing base.

Weakness Invites Aggression

Put the nomination fight and the campaign aside for a moment. Joe Biden is still president for at least six more months. Those six months will be a very dangerous time.

Tyrants everywhere are on the move, and you don’t have to look any further than communist China. While Joe Biden continues to commit American resources to Ukraine, China continues to send military jets into Taiwan’s airspace.

But what made yesterday’s event so concerning is that it was the biggest Chinese incursion ever, involving 66 aircraft. The media largely ignored it.

Meanwhile, China is openly confronting Japan and the Philippines in international waters, and Chinese troops are conducting military drills in Belarus near the Polish border.

Targeting “Terrorists”

For some time now, conservatives have been warning about the weaponization of government and the demonization of normal conservative views. We just got another example of why there is such concern.

During a training session on identifying terrorists, soldiers at Fort Liberty were shown a presentation that included descriptions of several terrorist groups, such as ISIS. But immediately after learning about ISIS, our soldiers were told that pro-life organizations, specifically National Right to Life and Operation Rescue, were also terrorist groups.

The implications here are horrible. The men and women who are trained to protect us from enemies are being told that pro-life conservatives are the enemy!

A top priority for the next conservative president must be purging the Pentagon of far-left progressive activists and their woke ideology!

Your VP Pick

Earlier this week, I requested your feedback regarding your preferred choice for Donald Trump’s running mate. Here are the results:

• JD Vance 30%
• Marco Rubio 25%
• Other 45%

There were more than a dozen names suggested in the “Other” category, and no one really dominated that group. But the top three “Other” finishers, in order, were:

• Gov. Ron DeSantis
• Dr. Ben Carson
• Sen. Tim Scott

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share your thoughts with me!

Other Headlines

• A pro-abortion ballot measure in Arkansas was disqualified after officials determined that the organization promoting the amendment failed to follow state law.

• Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued an executive order instructing state officials to “take all necessary steps” to guarantee that only citizens are registering to vote.

• Oklahoma State Superintendent of Instruction Ryan Walters announced that schools will begin teaching the Bible as “a necessary historical document” related to the history of America and Western Civilization.

• The Texas Supreme Court upheld laws protecting children from sterilizing drugs and mutilating surgeries.

• A federal judge blocked enforcement in five states of the Biden administration’s radical rewrite of Title IX protections for women. In a victory for common sense and normalcy, the judge declared that the word “sex” in Title IX means the "traditional concept of biological sex in which there are only two sexes, male and female." 

• A federal judge blocked the Biden administration from attempting to force states to provide taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for children through Medicaid.

• After a serious customer backlash to its woke policies, Tractor Supply Co. initiated a sweeping overhaul of its corporate guidelines and procedures.