A Lose-Lose Situation for Everybody Except Trump

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President Joe Biden is fighting for his political life. Every new day is a new struggle to convince his detractors, and most importantly, those within his party, that he is fit for another four years of office and remains the best candidate to beat Trump in the general election. Yesterday, at a campaign stop in Wisconsin, he declared that "only the Lord Almighty" can prevent him from running. He will need some favourable divine intervention, not of the ancient Greek kind. Every day, he must overcome a new obstacle to win his case. Each day is "existential", and even if he overcomes pre-determined obstacles, there are always some just around the corner. Like Sisyphus, he has to roll the boulder of incredulity and mistrust up the hill, only to start over the following day. There is a distinct feeling of the end of a reign seeping into the political consciousness. Where pro-Biden people see his forceful declarations to continue in the race as positive and what is exactly needed, his opponents see it as a denial. When answering a non-scripted interview with relative fluidity and composure, all his answers are analysed under the microscope, and even the slightest mistake is amplified a hundred times.

All comparisons to past events, be it the early departure from the race of Lyndon Johnson in 1968 or the last time Biden was down in the dumps after the 2020 New Hampshire primary, are not accurate reference points. Today's circumstances are unique, and we are in unchartered territory. The only indisputable fact is that such uncertainty and the ensuing chaos are weakening the chances of the Democrats from keeping the presidency in November, not to mention trying to hang on to the Senate and win back the House. If Biden were forced to retire from the presidency altogether to allow Kamala Harris to campaign as incumbent president (a West-Wing TV type of script) or withdraw from the race despite the Almighty's support or if he soldiers on, the consequences of the ongoing turmoil and never before seen pressure campaign to change candidate at such a late-stage serves no one and ultimately the Democrat party may be mortally wounded at the end of the process. The only winner is Trump, who is counting his lucky stars and starting to believe he is the chosen one after ten days when everything seems to be going his way, beyond his wildest expectations. The Democrats must clear the fog as soon as possible, once and for all, and commit to a path, whatever it may be. If not, Trump will have free rein to open Pandora's box, and not even the Greek Gods will be able to help us any more.