Erick-Woods Erickson
Senior Democrats have concluded two things. First, Joe Biden must step aside in favor of Kamala Harris. Second, Joe Biden will not, so they will attempt to have George Stephanopoulos euthanize Joe Biden’s campaign later this week.
Back in 2009, Politico revealed that Stephanopoulos, James Carville, and Paul Begala had regular phone calls with Rahm Emanuel and, occasionally, Democrat pollster Stan Greenberg. The first three have been friends and compatriots since the Clinton campaign in 1992 and are still regularly in touch.
Since the Democratic debate, Carville has been on television repeatedly saying that there is no way Biden can continue and that he needs to get out of the race. Begala has been more measured but has also made clear his views on television. Likewise, internal Democratic polling is so bad that if the election were held tomorrow, Trump would win in a landslide with over 300 electoral college votes and a majority popular vote.
The polling for Biden, conducted by OpenLabs, a highly respected and secretive polling outfit, shows Trump winning every swing state, plus New Hampshire, Virginia, and New Mexico.
That brings me to George Stephanopoulos. He has been complicit in covering up Joe Biden’s decline. When confronted by Nikki Haley on television, bringing up Biden’s cognitive decline, Stephanopoulos pushed back hard. With it now abundantly evident to everyone, Stephanopoulos has to try to protect his reputation and do an “I can’t believe he was like this, and I had no idea” turn.
So, when Stephanopoulos interviews Biden later this week, his job will be to euthanize the Biden campaign. Biden likes Morning Joe and George Stephanopoulos. Morning Joe has tuned protective. Stephanopoulos must draw blood for the Democrats. His friends have warned Democrats all week about what it will mean if Biden stays in.
If Stephanopoulos can damage Biden through a tough interview, the countdown will be on for Biden.
In the run-up to the interview, Biden White House staffers began to throw each other and the Biden family under the bus.
But by many accounts, as evidenced by video footage, observation and interviews, Mr. Biden is not the same today as he was even when he took office 3½ years ago. The White House regularly releases corrected transcripts of his remarks, in which he frequently mixes up places, people or dates. The administration did so in the days after the debate, when Mr. Biden mixed up the countries of France and Italy when talking about war veterans at an East Hampton fund-raiser.
Last week’s debate prompted some around him to express concern that the decline had accelerated lately. Several advisers and current and former administration officials who see Mr. Biden regularly but not every day or week said they were stunned by his debate performance because it was the worst they had ever seen him.
Democrats want to beat Donald Trump. They have concluded that Joe Biden is too weak to mount an effective campaign against Trump. However, they concluded that Biden believes he could take on Trump. They have also concluded that the Biden family is a problem and impediment to getting Biden out.
They need media friends who are protective of Joe Biden to turn on Biden to wake up the Biden family. They need George Stephanopoulos to euthanize the Biden campaign on national television. And don’t think Stephanopoulos won’t give it the ol’ college try. He knows what is at stake, and he wants to stop Trump. To do that, he must stop Biden on Friday. The Democrats hope he will.
