President Joe Biden Drops Out of the Presidential Race
President Biden’s poor performance at the debate with former President Donald Trump on June 27 split the Democrat party on whether he should stay in or leave the race. Last Sunday, after more than three weeks of immense pressure from his own party, President Biden dropped out of the race, posting a letter on X that he would endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his stead.
In less than 48 hours, Vice President Harris secured enough intraparty support and agreements with enough Democratic delegates to be the presumptive nominee. At this point, she seems poised to become the official nominee next Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
This move is unprecedented in modern political history. No presumptive nominee has ever dropped out of the race after all the primaries are complete. For the first time in history, a major party will nominate a candidate without a single primary vote. Fourteen million Democrats voted for President Joe Biden’s nomination this spring. (Some have wondered what backlash and accusations of “destroying democracy” would have been flung if the shoe was on the other foot and Republicans had pulled off what they see as a coup against primary voters.)
Since then, all Democratic powerbrokers such as the Obamas and Clintons have endorsed Harris. The entertainment world and the media have fallen into line and begun what appears as a coordinated attempt to sanitize Harris’s record and image. For instance, on March 24, 2021, President Biden made Vice President Harris “Border Czar,” responsible for fixing the illegal immigration problem on the southern border. Vice President Harris didn’t even visit the border until more than three months later. Instead of recognizing her failed record as “Border Czar,” the media is now simply saying she never held this position, erasing references to it on Wikipedia, “fact-checking” it on television, and so on.
As another example, during the George Floyd riots of 2020, then-Senator Harris tweeted a link asking viewers to support the Minnesota Freedom Fund, created to help bail out violent rioters, and said of the rioters, “Everyone beware. They’re not going to let up, NOR SHOULD THEY.” Media outlets are now trying to say this never happened, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
Amid the media’s praise for Harris, the polls have begun to come in, portending a much tighter race than a Biden/Trump matchup.
Other News
⁃ Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Resigns: After a House Oversight hearing that frustrated lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Kimberly Cheatle has resigned as director of the Secret Service. Ms. Cheatle provided no answers and expressed little remorse for the actions or inactions of the Secret Service leading up to the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last week.
⁃ Biden Announces Push for Supreme Court Reform By End of His Term: In a televised Oval Office address Wednesday to address his withdrawal from the presidential race, President Biden called for Supreme Court reform. This could include term limits on justices, an “enforceable” ethics code and constitutional amendments to overturn recent rulings the President disagrees with.
⁃ U.S. Air Force Fighter Jets Scrambled to Intercept Russian and Chinese Bombers Flying Together Near Alaska: On Wednesday, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) intercepted and tracked two Russian bombers and two Chinese bombers flying together near Alaska. This was the first time Russian and Chinese bombers were intercepted in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) at the same time. This event is seen as a demonstration of the growing military cooperation between Russia and China, which has been increasing since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
⁃ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Speaks to U.S. Congress While Thousands Protest: During Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress, thousands of protestors gathered outside the Capitol, defacing the Christopher Columbus statue and the Freedom Bell. They tore down and burned the American flag outside Union Station across the street from the U.S. Capitol and replaced it with the Palestinian flag. In addition to the protests outside the Capitol, there were also demonstrations inside the Capitol building.
Also of Interest
⁃ The “Gwen” Fire in Idaho: The “Gwen” fire ignited the evening of July 24, due to a lightning strike near the town of Juliaetta, about twenty miles from our community in Deary. Despite major ground and air efforts, the fire has now reached 20,000 acres and burned multiple structures, forcing large evacuations. The whole town of Juliaetta has been evacuated. This comes on the heels of the “Texas” fire that started July 15th near Kendrick and moved up the Potlatch Canyon and along Texas Ridge. Over 1,500 acres were burned, including several homes and structures, before fire crews were able to contain it.
⁃ Pre-Assigned Seats Coming Soon to Southwest Airlines: Southwest Airlines said on Thursday that it would introduce assigned seats on its flights soon. The airline plans to reconfigure its plane cabins to create additional seats with extra legroom that will be sold at a premium. Some say this may signal a shift away by Southwest from the “no extra fees” policies that have differentiated them from the competition in the past.
