(LibertySociety.com) – With President Joe Biden now out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris in line to become the Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, the party will have only a few months to sell her to the American people and that plan may already be backfiring, which might play into the hands of former President Donald Trump.
Ever since Biden flopped during the first presidential debate with Trump on June 27 hosted by CNN, it was all downhill from there. Pundits who used to champion him immediately threw Biden under the bus. Major Democratic lawmakers and influencers began to call for him to drop out of the race, including celebrity donors.
Amid the mounting pressure, Biden insisted he would not quit and would stay in the race, but it seems that powerful forces within the party pushed him out. After the optics of the debate performance, there wasn’t much Biden could do to recover. He eventually caved to the pressure, announcing the suspension of his campaign on July 21 and subsequently endorsing Harris to run in his stead.
The sudden and swift change left much of Biden’s team blindsided, and how Harris was shoehorned into the role and mustered delegate support drew heavy criticism from many who felt the democratic process was subverted. Although Harris was on Biden’s ticket, she wasn’t who voters technically voted for during the primaries. Although mostly coming from Republicans, even some Democratic lawmakers are criticizing how Biden was pushed out, such as Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, although he ended up backing Harris anyway and said “grassroots support” was needed considering her “late state.”
Without an open process to determine who would have actually been the best choice, the Democrats are now stuck with Harris and are throwing their full weight behind her. Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michele Obama have also now given her their seal of approval.
Despite having the Obamas onboard and millions of funds raised over a few days, not everyone from the base Harris is trying to appeal to is buying it. Even the activist organization Black Lives Matter criticized the way Harris was installed and said in a statement about the vice president that “talking to party bosses” over a period of 24 hours to gain delegate support was “not democratic.” The organization called on the DNC to establish an open process allowing “public participation” in selecting the nominee.
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