Until former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear, the popular parlor game among the national media was listing the Democratic congressional types who were urging President Joe Biden to pass the torch to ... well, anybody else.
On that list was U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, a freshman from Grand Rapids who smoked a Trump acolyte by 13 points two years ago.
Like other Democrats who could lose their seats if the top of the ticket tanks, Scholten fears the worst. Biden sticks it out. His implosion continues. Democrats and independents don’t vote.
She loses amid a depressed turnout.
Now that Trump was shot, he’s a survivor of political violence. The tailwind of an energetic Republican convention is at his back. Emboldened GOP delegates are pissed.
Candidates in lean Democratic seats like Scholten should be concerned, and many of them are.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., told national media last week that he saw a poll recently that Biden was losing his district. Biden won his district with 62% in 2020. He’s with Scholten in urging against a Biden coronation at next month’s convention.
If Biden is serious about endangering his legacy by stubbornly pushing forward with a campaign that has no juice, he risks taking down a lot of Democrats with him.
Before you boo the media like Biden supporters in Detroit last week for reporting such things, look at what other Democratic candidates are doing.
Don’t listen to us. Watch Democrats actually running for a job this fall in hotly contested seats.
Was Democratic Senate frontrunner Elissa Slotkin in Detroit speaking in support of Biden last week? I’ll answer that for you.
No.
After the August primary, she will be in a nip-and-tuck race with former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.
At some point last week, she told donors that the only reason she’s in the Senate race is U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow was “doing the radical thing and passing the torch.”
How about 7th District Democratic candidate Curtis Hertel Jr? Or the Democratic front-runner in the 8th District, state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet?
No, and No.
They’re not saying anything about Biden one way or the other. We’ve asked.
Instead, those Democrats who are “riding with Biden” to the cliff’s edge are:
Whether Biden wins or loses, they’ll still have their jobs. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
Being an outspoken defector of the highest-ranking person within the Democratic Party doesn’t help their political calculus.
During his NATO press conference, Biden said he backed away from being a “bridge” candidate to a younger candidate because “I’ve got to finish this job because there’s so much at stake.”
He claims the campaign hasn’t really started … the polls are wrong … his polls are right … Nobody says he can’t win, etc. Blah, blah, blah.
Let’s use some critical thinking skills here.
Envision the enthusiasm coming out of the Republican convention this week led by the guy who defiantly held up his fist in the direction of his almost-assassin.
Envision the enthusiasm coming out of the Democratic convention in August led by an old man struggling to complete sentences without using a teleprompter.
Do we honestly think these polls, which have remained unchanged since last Christmas, will benefit Biden?
What’s at stake is self-preservation. For him, being the captain of a losing team is more critical than being an enthusiastic supporter of a winning team.
For Democratic politicians like Scholten, Hertel, McDonald Rivet, Slotkin and more than a dozen members of the state House, it’s about self-preservation, too.
They need a captain who’s going to lead a winning team.
(Email Kyle Melinn of the Capitol news service MIRS at melinnky@gmail.com.)
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