Democrats Plot Celebrity-Filled Game Plan to Replace Biden

As questions remain about Joe Biden’s fitness for the presidency after his disastrous debate less than two weeks ago, some Democrats are now floating a unique plan to replace him as the Democratic presidential nominee.

The plan would have Biden step down as the party nominee in the next couple of weeks, followed by the announcement of a “blitz primary” before the Democratic National Convention in August. Candidates would use the next few days to enter the race, and then pledge to run positive-only campaigns for a quick primary in the month or so before the convention.

The “blitz primary” would include candidate forums every week to engage voters, hosted by celebrities such as Michelle Obama, Oprah, and Taylor Swift, among others. The eventual nominee would be chosen by delegates using ranked choice voting before the convention begins on August 19.

“In the midst of malaise and crisis, we can forge an uplifting path,” said Ted Dintersmith, a Democratic philanthropist and one of the two architects of the plan. The other person behind the proposal is Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University who served in the Obama and Clinton administrations and volunteered for Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Brooks and Dintersmith outlined their plan in a memo that they sent on Tuesday to donors, campaign officials, Biden appointees, and other powerful Democrats. But it remains to be seen if any such Democrats will sign on. Biden said in a Friday interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that only “the Lord Almighty” could persuade him to drop out.

In the past couple of days, the wagons appear to be circling. A group of Democratic senators led by Virginia’s Mark Warner is seeking to convince Biden to withdraw, and several top Democrats in Congress are making public calls for him to go. For the “blitz primary” plan to work, Biden would need to drop out quickly, but he’s clearly not there yet. Plus, while the GOP is more than happy with Biden as their opponent, they are already strategizing on how to handle a replacement nominee.

Nobody seems to trust Ted Cruz anymore.

The Texas senator’s simple hurricane warning message was ill received by state residents late Sunday, apparently reminding the Lone Star citizens of another one of his climate misfires.

Cruz reshared an emergency relief video made by local businessman Jim McIngvale, better known as Mattress Mack to Houstonites, offering help should the storm take a turn for the worse. Cruz urged people to stay safe, ahead of Hurricane Beryl’s landfall.

“Mack is an American hero,” Cruz wrote on X. “Stay safe & avoid high water as the hurricane makes landfall.”

But sending a message of care to Texas residents reminded too many critics of 2021, when Cruz ditched his constituents—and his dog—during a historic winter storm to take a conveniently timed trip to Cancun, Mexico. That record cold snap, and Texas’s failure to mitigate damage to critical infrastructure, resulted in the deaths of 246 people.

Cruz’s vacation mishap also led him to propose legislation to reallocate airport security toward high-powered officials, a move that would have made it significantly harder for the press to catch him (and other lawmakers or judges) in efforts to bail during future bad weather. Ultimately, Cruz’s amendment was blocked in April by Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson.

“I’m glad that sanity prevailed and this provision—which almost no one really wanted—wasn’t included in the final FAA bill text,” Thompson said in a statement at the time. “Congress should be focusing on improving TSA and keeping our skies more secure, not burdening its workforce and potentially diminishing security.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene spent the Fourth of July weekend getting barbecued after boldly declaring that several people who did not sign the Declaration of Independence were signers of America’s most well-known document.

Among those Greene incorrectly claimed as signers of the Declaration of Independence was Alexander Hamilton, the subject of an extremely famous Broadway musical about his life prior to and after helping craft and sign the Constitution in 1787—more than a decade after the Declaration of Independence was adopted. In addition, Hamilton was 19 when the Declaration of Independence was signed, not 21 like Greene stated.

It’s unclear where Greene got this information, what prompted her to post it, or why, days after making it, she hasn’t taken it down or corrected it. One user mused that were Greene to have to take a citizenship test, as all immigrants to the United States seeking citizenship must do, she would likely fail, while others wondered how a sitting member of Congress could be so brazenly ill informed about U.S. history.

Other users skewered Greene by building on her list of signers detached from reality, adding names like Karl Marx, Gandalf, Kermit the Frog, and Beethoven.

Only two of the people Greene named actually signed the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson, who wrote it, and John Hancock, who was the first to sign it. Here’s the full list of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and here’s an explainer about the differences between the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution.

Senator Marco Rubio ran a flimsy defense for Donald Trump Sunday, after the former president tried to distance himself from a conservative think tank’s fascist plan for Trump’s potential presidential takeover.

During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash played the Florida Republican a clip of Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation. The far-right think tank is behind Project 2025, a sweeping 180-page shadow platform that explains how to roll back rights and tear apart the administrative state and replace civil servants with loyal Trump sycophants.

Bash played a clip of Roberts making a chilling warning during an appearance on the far-right network Real America’s Voice last week. “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless—if the left allows it to be,” he said.

“Are you comfortable with that?” Bash asked Rubio.  

“Well, he’s not running for president, is he?” Rubio said. “I mean, our candidate’s Donald Trump. I didn’t see Donald Trump say that.”

“Donald Trump’s running on common sense, on restoring common sense versus the lunacy of the last four years, on the far left, and the shadow government that now is running our country with Joe Biden as its figurehead. That’s what he’s running against.

“Think tanks do think-tank stuff,” Rubio said, as nonchalantly as one might say, “Fascists do fascist stuff.”

“Look, I like the Heritage Foundation, I agree with some of the things they stand for,” but, Rubio said, the group has a lot of different projects. 

“And Donald Trump is running on restoring common sense, working-class values, and making our decision on the basis of that, and not on ideological lunacy, which is what we’ve seen over the last four years under Joe Biden.”

“Is that what Project 2025 is, is ideological lunacy?” Bash asked. 

“No, I think it’s the work of a think tank. Of a center-right think tank, and that’s what think tanks do,” Rubio said, going on to argue that plenty of “left-wing think tanks” and “opinion writers” had now become the policy of the Biden administration. How that point could possibly help his argument that Project 2025 should not concern voters is unclear.

Since Roberts’s cryptic threat last week, Trump has tried to claim that he doesn’t know what Project 2025 even is, although it was written by several former members of his administration. 

More top Democrats are vehemently shifting away from President Joe Biden after a disastrous debate performance last month revealed key issues with the chief executive’s age.

The number of lawmakers who believed that Biden should throw in the towel in the 2024 race outweighed the number backing his decision to stay in, during a Democratic leadership call on Sunday afternoon. At least four more prominent Democratic representatives joined a growing chorus urging Biden to step out, reported NBC News. Those lawmakers included New York Representatives Jerry Nadler and Joe Morelle, California Representative Mark Takano, and Washington Representative Adam Smith. All four men serve as the ranking members on powerful House committees.

But even lawmakers who didn’t outright agree that the former president’s place on the November ballot was compromised thoroughly questioned his ability to retake the White House for a second term. Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, Virginia Representative Don Beyer, and Connecticut Representative Jim Himes expressed concerns that Biden was not the strongest candidate the party could put forward.

Most lawmakers on the call believed that Vice President Kamala Harris would be a stronger option at the top of the ticket, calling her the obvious choice to replace Biden should he leave the race.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held the hour-long call with the Democratic brass but did not weigh in with his opinion on the movement to oust Biden, according to CNN.

Last week, Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, and Seth Moulton formally called on the president to exit the race. But many more have signaled their preference in subtler ways, including legacy politicians such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the latter of whom suggested that growing concern over both candidates’ ages was a “legitimate question.”

Panic over Biden’s age and ability has consumed the Democratic Party since the president’s abysmal debate performance last week, during which he appeared dumbfounded and frail through the majority of his first 2024 matchup against Donald Trump. Since the face-off, droves of private-sector leaders, donors, and consultants have urged Biden to call it quits, looking for spontaneous alternatives to a candidate that they openly describe as “comatose” and “dead.”

Donald Trump’s lawyers on Friday used the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling—and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion—to argue that his entire classified documents case should be put on hold until the constitutionality of special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment is clarified.

Trump’s legal team filed a notice of supplemental authority asking the Trump-appointed Cannon to review Smith’s qualifications to pursue the case, citing Thomas’s opinion that questioned whether Smith was legally appointed to his position.

“Highlighting grave separation-of-powers concerns, Justice Thomas suggested that [U.S. penal code 28 subsections 515 and 533] do not establish ‘by Law’ Jack Smith’s position under the Appointments Clause,” the motion states.

In an ouroboros of conservative chaos, Thomas’s questioning follows Trump’s lawyers crafting that argument to Cannon, which The New York Times describes as one of the “far-fetched issues” Trump’s team has raised in an effort to remove Smith from the case. A notice of supplemental authority is essentially a summary of notable concerns addressed in oral arguments, meaning Trump’s lawyers argued against Smith being on the case, which Thomas in his concurrent Supreme Court opinion that ruled in Trump’s favor also floated, which Trump’s lawyers then used as support for their argument to remove Smith.

The notice follows hearings held by Cannon exploring whether Smith was legally appointed. The crux of the argument from Trump’s lawyers (and Thomas) is that special prosecutors have so much power, they should be voted into their roles by Congress and that Smith’s appointment is unconstitutional—even though settled law states the attorney general can appoint a special prosecutor and they are accountable to the attorney general.

“The legal issues and questions she claims to be struggling with are quite basic,” Joëlle Anne Moreno, a law professor at Florida International University, told The New York Times in June. “Most judges would consider many of the defense arguments to be meritless.”

Cannon has struggled with basic law concepts, is reportedly prone to exploitation due to her inexperience, and has shown unusual deference for Trump—including intervening in a Trump lawsuit arguing the classified documents he kept were his personal property, which Cannon ruled in his favor only for it to be overturned. That failed intervention provoked calls from more experienced judges to encourage Cannon to pass the case over to a better qualified judge when it was assigned to her in 2023, which she refused. Cannon also postponed the case indefinitely in May, and has spent weeks entertaining questions about Smith’s qualifications and funding with ineptitude that legal experts have described as “bonkers.”

Virginia Senator Mark Warner is looking to assemble a supergroup of Democratic lawmakers to force President Joe Biden out of the 2024 presidential race.

The Old Dominion senator has told people that he no longer believes Biden has enough sway with voters to prevent another Donald Trump presidency, according to two sources that spoke with The Washington Post with the condition of anonymity.

Warner’s spokesperson Rachel Cohen refused to either confirm or deny Warner’s current beliefs about Biden’s ability. “Like many other people in Washington and across the country, Senator Warner believes these are critical days for the president’s campaign, and he has made that clear to the White House,” Cohen told the Post.

So far, Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, and Seth Moulton have formally called on the president to exit the race, but many more have signaled their preference in subtler ways, including legacy politicians like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the latter of whom suggested that growing concern over the candidates’ ages was a “legitimate question.”

Panic over Biden’s age and ability has consumed the Democratic Party since the president’s abysmal debate performance last week, during which he appeared dumbfounded and frail through the majority of his first 2024 matchup against Donald Trump. Since the face-off, droves of private-sector leaders, donors, and consultants have urged Biden to call it quits, looking for spontaneous alternatives to a candidate that they openly describe as “comatose” and “dead.”

An anonymous document titled “Unburdened by What Has Been: The Case for Kamala” is circulating in Democratic circles, according to CNN, as discussions for Biden to leave the Democratic ticket swirl among Democratic donors and party leaders grappling with his debate performance last week. “We have one goal: defeat Trump,” the subheading for the document reads. “Like it or not, we have one realistic path: Kamala.”

Deriving its name from a line frequently espoused by Vice President Kamala Harris, “Unburdened by What Has Been” breaks down the pros and cons of Harris being chosen to replace Biden on the ticket—and treats Biden stepping down as a foregone conclusion. The document acknowledges her abysmal approval numbers and proclivity for peculiar gaffes—such as nearly calling Biden the vice president during a July Fourth event—to her unpopularity as the face of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Those pitfalls are weighed by the document’s authors against Harris’s “massive structural advantages” of already being on the ticket alongside the potential to energize support among “younger/POC voters we’re bleeding” on issues such as abortion, jobs, climate change, and LGBTQ+ rights.

The document, authored by anonymous self-described “senior operatives within Democratic political institutions that will not be taking a position regarding this crisis,” functions as something of a playbook for like-minded readers with influence to “make noise in support of this basic premise: Kamala is the only viable option to succeed Biden, and if she gets the nomination, she can win.” As CNN notes, while the document’s authors are unknown, it has circulated “in group chats of Democratic donors and leading coalition groups.”

“Running as a Presidential candidate will allow Harris to present herself in a more commanding light,” the document argues in contrast to current skepticism of Harris. “She’ll be a prosecutor going up against a convicted felon; a woman fighting against the man who ended Roe v. Wade. The headlines write themselves.”

“To be clear: this isn’t an argument about deservedness, or about why you personally should love Kamala,” the document states. “This is about strategy and winning in the face of unimaginable electoral stakes. The anti-Trump coalition cannot afford to discount the strengths of the nominated Democratic running mate and current vice president. She’s not the best option—she’s the only realistic option to win.”

Beyond pitching Harris as a viable alternative, the document explores “the Kamala scenario” against “the chaos scenario” built on the basis of Biden agreeing to end his candidacy. The document argues that the “Kamala scenario”—where Biden steps aside and encourages his delegates to back Harris at the DNC—would cast Biden as “a modern-day Cincinnatus—the reluctant hero who took up his sword to protect democracy, delivered transformational legislative achievements, and passed the torch to a historic figure from the next generation.”

Whether anything comes of the document or public calls for Biden to step aside is ultimately up to Biden: Biden and the White House have both said he has no plans to leave the ticket. A New York Times/Siena poll released Wednesday reports Trump’s lead against Biden has grown since the debate. To date, three House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to drop out, joining 14 governors and members of Congress who have expressed concerns about Biden remaining in the race. Former Democratic House Representative Tim Ryan declared Harris should be the party’s nominee, and Representative James Clyburn has also hinted at the same.

A West Wing official is sounding the alarm over the aging president—and this time it has little to do with his health.

The official, who refused to divulge their policy area, age, or gender in an interview with Semafor, feared that some policy decisions were “being made without” Biden’s knowledge and claimed that it was unclear to even some staffers involved in the West Wing policy process just how many policy proposals were reaching the president.

“I’m super proud of the policies,” the person told Semafor. “I’m talking to you because I’m incredibly upset and scared for the country and I would like to do what I can.” Several Biden administration officials rejected the account, telling the publication that Biden is “in the middle of everything” and is “sweating every relevant detail.”

“He signs off on everything,” White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed told Semafor. “Many of us have sat with him as he’s made hundreds of decisions.”

“Nobody has the authority to freelance,” he added.

Top White House economist Jared Bernstein described Biden as a president who “makes decisions on everything from student debt relief to 301 tariffs to housing policy.”

Panic over Biden’s age and ability has consumed the Democratic Party since the president’s abysmal debate performance last week, during which he appeared dumbfounded and frail through the majority of his first 2024 matchup against Donald Trump. Since the face-off, droves of private-sector leaders, donors, and consultants have urged Biden to exit the race, looking for spontaneous alternatives to a candidate that they openly describe as “comatose” and “dead.”

Donald Trump’s advisers are reportedly already preparing a playbook for dealing with Vice President Kamala Harris, amid swirling rumors that she might be tapped to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president in 2024.

Trump’s advisers seemed adamant that Harris would struggle to retrieve support from blue-collar workers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, according to Axios. One Republican operative even suggested that the Democrats should leak the likely abysmal polling on Harris from these states, if they want to end the speculation that she could replace Biden. It’s likely that this would be central to their campaign against Harris, should she run.

Blue-collar workers are a demographic Trump has been particularly anxious to capture; he recently began touting the promise of a policy to end taxes on tips, hoping it would secure the working-class vote in states vital to a presidential victory.

Trump’s campaign has already begun using Harris as a foil for this particular policy. On Thursday, the campaign turned a candid video of Trump calling Harris “so f*cking bad,” which was obtained by The Daily Beast, into promotional material about the policy, because Trump happened to be tipping a caddy as he railed against Biden and Harris from the golf course.

Trump’s other angles of attack would be that she is liberal, inexperienced, weak on border security, and hostile to corporations, according to Axios. He’s already started making fun of her for her weird laughter during public appearances.

Trump and his allies have good reason to fear a potential Harris run. Harris, who is nearly two decades younger than Biden and Trump, would likely appeal to independent and Democratic voters who have expressed interest in a younger candidate. She could also potentially increase voter turnout among women, who tend to vote in greater numbers than men.

Harris, who has been a sharp critic of measures restricting abortion across the country, could help to recenter the overturning of Roe v. Wade as the key issue in the upcoming election. Abortion access was a winning policy point for Democrats during the 2022 elections and could ensure a renewed wave of enthusiasm and turnout in November.