https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13581223/biden-replace-resign-debate-newsom-obama.html

Democrats are now gagging to replace Biden. This is how they could do it... but, warns DAN MCLAUGHLIN, after leaving it so late, they may only have one disastrous option By Dan Mclaughlin For Dailymail.Com The left-wing media's 11th hour panic over President Joe Biden is laughable. 'God Help Us' read the headline of a New York Times article surveying the opinions of 12 columnists and contributors following Biden's catastrophic debate performance Thursday night. The least morbidly pessimistic remark of the bunch: 'This was a disaster.' After months of refusing to acknowledge reality, the thundering drumbeat now coming from liberal America – from the fainting 'Gray Lady' to the most deluded redoubts of Biden defenders at MSNBC – is that weak and confused old Joe must resign from the race or Dems are doomed. Well, I'm here to say: Sorry, Democrats. It's now too late to swap out for another candidate. You've saddled yourselves to this dead horse. You'll have to ride him to the losing line. And there are plenty of reasons why that's the cold hard truth. The last time a major party got rid of an incumbent president campaigning for re-election was 1856. Sorry, Democrats. It's now too late to swap out for another candidate. Democrats dumped President Franklin Pierce at their party convention in favor of James Buchanan, who went on to win the presidency. But back then, presidential nominees were picked by power brokers in smoke-filled backrooms where favors were traded and fortunes were made. More than 150 years later, America's leaders are picked by voters. And that makes things much more complicated. The only way – in modern political history – that a major party candidate has been replaced is if they have voluntarily stepped aside. President Harry Truman declined to run for re-election in 1952, amidst the Korean War. His wife, Bess, wanted a return to the quiet life. President Lyndon Johnson bowed out of the 1968 race, as the Vietnam War raged, after similarly being prodded to quit by Lady Bird Johnson who was concerned over her ailing husband's health. Could Joe Biden choose to step aside? Perhaps more crucially, would Dr. Jill Biden encourage him to do so? All signs point to no. Joe's been chasing the presidency for so long that when he endorsed Jimmy Carter in 1976 it was only because he wasn't old enough to run himself. And run he did in 1988… then again in 2008… 2020… and now, 2024. Plus, Dr. Jill may like being First Lady as much as Joe likes being President. And without the First Family's agreement, they'd be nearly impossible to replace. In 1974, Republican party elders staged an intervention to convince besieged President Richard Nixon, who was threatened with impeachment over the Watergate scandal, to resign. But with Jill and a couple of old Delaware hands – all of them having no future without 'the Big Guy' – tightly controlling access to Joe, could the party's grand poobah's even get a meeting? And who would Joe listen to? The Senate colleagues he once respected are all long dead. The Clintons? The Obamas? There are tensions with both camps. Michelle Obama reportedly refuses to campaign for Joe because of how the Biden family treated Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, Michelle's close friend, during her bitter divorce from the First Son. No, Joe won't go. And there's no way to make him do it. In today's Democratic primary system, voters elect state delegates to represent them at the national party convention. The contender with the most state delegates supporting him wins the nomination. And in the 2024 primaries, Biden won 99% of the available delegates. That aside, perhaps bigger hurdle to replacing Joe is the difficulty of organizing a movement to unite the party behind a single alternative. Democrats blew that opportunity by chasing all viable contenders for the nomination out of the race – leaving only party dissidents, like Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, to mount hopeless, thankless and, ultimately, doomed outsider campaigns. And who would Joe listen to? The Senate colleagues he once respected are all long dead. The Clintons? The Obamas? And who would Joe listen to? The Senate colleagues he once respected are all long dead. The Clintons? The Obamas? Michelle Obama reportedly refuses to campaign for Joe because of how the Biden family treated Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle (above, center), Michelle's close friend, during her bitter divorce from the First Son. The natural choice for Joe's replacement would be his vice president – but, for the past four years, Kamala Harris has been consistently more unpopular than Biden himself. And picking anyone but Harris to replace Biden would raise a painful debate among liberals about why a black woman is being passed over. Surely, only Michelle Obama could pull off a replacement seamlessly, but she's never shown interest in being a candidate herself. Democratic activists may have a wish list of dream candidates topped by governors such as California's Gavin Newsom, Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro. But none of them are likely to concede to another and pass up on their one best chance at the White House. After the Democratic National Convention in late August, the window to select a new party standard bearer will only shrink further. Wisconsin and Nevada have strict election law rules barring the replacement of a nominee for anything short of death or institutionalization. Democrats may risk not being able to list their candidate on the ballots if they change horses mid-stream. So, do you want to bad news or the bad news, Dems? Joe Biden is your nominee. And he's your only hope.