Mark my words: Joe Biden will drop out of the 2024 presidential election. Whether he wants to admit it or not.
His pleas to congressional Democrats for support will not unite the party behind him. Biden says he is staying in the race, but it is only a matter of time before pressure from Democrats and public and private polls lead him to drop out of the race. The game is over, and the sooner Biden and Democratic leaders accept that, the better. We must look forward.
But we cannot do that by nominating Vice President Kamala Harris or anyone else as the likely Democratic nominee. We must do it openly – which is the exact opposite of what Donald Trump wants us to do.
For the first time in his life, Trump is praying. To win the White House and increase his chances of avoiding an orange jumpsuit, he needs to make the Democrats’ wrong moves in the coming days – namely, make them look like they are rigging the nomination of a flagging president or the sitting vice president or some other designated successor. He needs to be able to write posts in ALL CAPS about how power brokers and big donors rigged the election. In other words, he needs the Democrats to screw it up.
We will not do that.
We will select the new slate of candidates in a highly democratic and innovative way, and not in the back rooms of Washington, DC or Chicago.
We have reached a point where we need constructive ideas on how to proceed.
I want the Democratic Party to hold four historic town hall meetings between now and the Democratic National Convention in August – one each in the South, the Northeast, the Midwest and the West. We can enlist the two most obvious and qualified people in the world to facilitate substantive discussions: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. They may not represent every faction in our party’s big tent. But they know what it means to be president, and they know how to win.
Town halls – high-profile interviews for the toughest job in the world – would surely attract television and cable partners and generate record viewership. Think of the Super Bowl with Taylor Swift in the stands. Young and old and everyone in between will tune in to watch history being made in real time.
I believe the Vice President would be a formidable opponent for Trump. She has spent the last four years traveling the country and the globe serving the American people. She has an incredible story – one that more people should know. She has stood up for ordinary Americans against the big banks. She has locked up sex offenders. Do you want the prosecutor or the criminal? Not the worst question to ask the American public this November.
To be clear, we have many more than eight Democrats who can beat Trump to the ground. But if we don’t keep the town hall meetings to a manageable number of people, we’re going to get just headlines and no substance.
I’m not worried about our delegates. They want to win.
I’m not worried about our talent. We have an incredibly talented new generation of leaders.
I’m not worried about the money. Americans will be excited about this open process, and many are already eager to defeat Trump.
I’m not worried about time. We have the excitement and momentum on our side.
And our opponent?
I’m not worried about him either.
James Carville is a veteran of Democratic presidential campaigns, including Bill Clinton’s in 1992, and contributes to The New York Times.
