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Two weeks after President Biden’s “the emperor’s new clothes” debate, some of the Democratic Party’s power elite – donors, media, and battleground congressional candidates – are uniting to try to convince the incumbent president to forgo reelection and choose a new candidate at the Democratic Convention.
For now, he maintains he will run.
Many in Congress are still publicly supporting Biden, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, dodging all questions by saying “I’m with Joe” and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-South Carolina (who helped save Biden’s struggling bid in 2020), saying only that he “supports Biden.”
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But many remain skeptical about Biden’s chances of winning the presidential election in November. On Tuesday night, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado said Biden would likely lose decisively to Trump. And on Wednesday morning, despite Biden saying in a letter that he was determined to remain the nominee, House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., continued to apply pressure, saying Biden needed to make a decision.
She certainly sounded determined about what the decision should be.
But realistically, can Democratic skeptic donors (and there are many), close candidates, and left-wing media do anything to keep him off the ballot?
Many point to the time in August 1974 when former Republican presidential candidate Berry Goldwater, then a senator from Arizona, led a team to the White House to convince President Richard Nixon to resign.
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The public perception of the visit was that Nixon had listened to the elder statesman and decided that it was best for himself and the country.
In fact, Goldwater’s message was not subtle: Nixon knew he would be impeached by the Democratic-controlled House, but he thought he had a chance of surviving the Senate trial and staying in office. Goldwater actually told Nixon that many Republicans would vote to convict him and that Nixon would almost certainly be removed from office by the Senate.
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Are similar threats being made by Democratic Party elites who apparently want President Biden out of office?
In fact, that is the case.
Under Democratic Party rules, pledged delegates are required to vote in line with voters’ support in the primaries and caucuses that send delegates to the party’s convention party in Chicago in August.
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But the Democratic Party has a rules committee that can recommend new rules to be voted on by the Democratic National Committee and convention delegates.
There have been floor battles over party rules before, such as the ABM (Anyone But George McGovern) movement in 1972, the ABC (Anyone But Jimmy Carter) movement in 1976, and the pro-Teddy Kennedy movement to oust incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980.
In reality, parties have mechanisms to change their party rules and decide to go in a different direction than how their delegates have been “pledged” to by the party rules.
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And Democratic elites wield great influence. They were the ones who chose Biden as their candidate in 2020 after his unexpectedly strong performance in South Carolina. They were highly skeptical of Biden, but the 78-year-old former vice president, who has no notable Democratic base and has been unsuccessful as a candidate at least three times, seemed the best option in November’s election.
It remains to be seen whether the elites will play this game, but the White House shouldn’t think it can force Biden to be the nominee.
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