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I don’t think I have seen these points made anywhere else.
1. On paper, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the prohibitive favorites to be their respective parties’ nominees for president in 2024.
2. Both men are said to be considering formally announcing their candidacies on highly accelerated timetables (Trump before the midterms, and Biden right after) – both much more out of weakness than out of strength.
3. In fact, every day that goes by (with Biden having lost a step or two and with his record on the economy, the border, etc., and with the continued revelations about Trump and the 2020 election, as well as with…everything else ), the data more and more makes a compelling case that neither man should be either the standard bearer or president again.
4. Polls consistently show that Americans overwhelmingly don’t want to see either man make an encore run for the White House– and yet they both seem determined to barrel ahead, with eyes on deterring intra-party rivals and on each other. Basically, almost nobody (among elites) wants them but nobody can make them stop running -- and nobody can easily challenge them either with reason or a rival campaign.
5. This is an incredibly f’ed up situation.
The story of the day in this regard is a New York Times essential read:
Republicans are bracing for Donald J. Trump to announce an unusually early bid for the White House, a move designed in part to shield the former president from a stream of damaging revelations emerging from investigations into his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election….
The timing of a formal announcement from Mr. Trump remains uncertain. But he recently surprised some advisers by saying he might declare his candidacy on social media without warning even his own team, and aides are scrambling to build out basic campaign infrastructure in time for an announcement as early as this month.
There is nothing hugely new in this piece for anyone who has been following the “Trump plans to announce pre-November” storyline, but this is the most leaned-in version of the tale so far.
As for the incumbent, let me belatedly point you to this NBC News piece:
At fundraisers and on the sidelines of events in recent weeks, Joe Biden has been selling Democrats — on Joe Biden for 2024.
It’s an unusual sales pitch reflecting an unusual political moment: the nation’s oldest sitting president, with a weakened political standing, grappling with questions in his own party about whether he will, or even should, run for another term, shaped by the prospect of a rematch against Donald Trump.
People who have spoken with the president described to NBC News what’s become a familiar exercise. Biden will argue he’s the only one who can beat Trump, sometimes ticking through the names of potential Democratic candidates if he stepped aside — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, even Vice President Kamala Harris. Then rhetorically asks: Can any of them beat his 2020 rival?
NBC News also reports, regarding, in part, Biden ’24:
President Joe Biden is likely to deliver a speech on the Jan. 6 committee's findings once the House panel wraps up its investigation, according to a senior administration official and a Democrat familiar with the planning.
While Cleveland.com, regarding, in part, Biden ’24, reports:
President Joe Biden will visit Cleveland Wednesday to deliver remarks on his economic agenda and “building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” the White House said Friday.
I can tell you this: If Donald Trump does run in 2024, he will put the Biden record on the economy, energy, and wishy-washy/gloomy-doomy front and center, as in:
The Biden administration plans to block new offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, while allowing limited expansion in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast.
The proposal released by the Interior Department on Friday evening would allow as many as 11 oil lease sales for offshore drilling over the course of five years.
But the plan is still being developed, and gives the administration several options—including one that would forgo new lease sales entirely, according to the Interior Department. Ultimately a final decision is months away.
Environmental groups blasted the plan and said they would push for the option with no new leasing. Some voiced concern the administration was backing away from President Biden’s pledge as a candidate to block new drilling on federal territory….
Some oil advocates, meanwhile, said the plan didn’t go far enough to ensure future supplies of domestic oil to counter rising energy prices globally.
“Our allies across the free world are in desperate need of American oil and gas,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), a swing vote for Mr. Biden’s agenda in the 50-50 Senate, said in a statement. “I am disappointed to see that ‘zero’ lease sales is even an option on the table….”
White House officials have wrestled with the plan for weeks without making a decision as environmental groups made it clear they believed Mr. Biden wasn’t moving his climate agenda quickly enough. (Wall Street Journal)
*
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Friday that setbacks for President Joe Biden’s climate efforts at home have “slowed the pace” of some of the commitments from other countries to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuels, but he insisted the U.S. would still achieve its own ambitious climate goals in time….
“I wouldn’t be a gloomy-doomy over this,” he said. “I just say we got to work harder and fight harder.” (Associated Press)
Until the 2024 presidential fields of both parties are resolved, starting with the intentions and fates of the frontrunners, Wide World of News is like a bug in amber.
A curious, striving, reporting, seeking, pondering bug, to be sure.
But still in amber.
****
ESSENTIAL READING/SCROLLING
In the first week after the Supreme Court stripped away a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion, Democrats and aligned groups raised more than $80 million, a tangible early sign that the ruling may energize voters….
The massive $80 million fundraising haul was recorded by ActBlue, the Democrats’ online fundraising platform, which has a ticker that shows in real time the money passing through the organization. ActBlue took in over $20 million in the first 24 hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that determined abortion was a constitutional right. By Tuesday, the group had processed more than $51 million in donations, and by Friday, the total had reached $80 million.
In fact, all major Democratic campaign committees reported a surge in contributions after the ruling, including those working on state-level as well as federal races. Planned Parenthood, too. But few have been willing to release hard numbers….
* Seriously, is the Dominant Media going to join the New York Post in covering the White House’s historic denial of press access to the president on behalf of the American people – and in letting the public know the obvious reason(s) for this denial?
Because, to circle back to the start of this edition, as we have said before here, the best/worst way for the Dominant Media to help Donald Trump to four more years is to behave the way it did in 2016.