Biden’s fading campaign is creating a Democrat nightmare

                                                                        

If you are a Trump-hating Democrat, you are probably having trouble separating your nightmares from reality.

After all, the Republicans just had a wildly successful convention while your party is forming circular firing squads.

Worst of all, Joe Biden has picked a terrible time to throw a hissy fit, making it impossible to know who will be your party’s presidential nominee.

Consider two reports circulating Friday: One says Biden is “in it to win it” and sees a path to victory, the other insists he and his family are discussing his imminent withdrawal.

At this point, it’s not clear which is true or even which would be better for Dems.

One thing is certain: the confusion perfectly captures the helter-skelter mess Biden has created. His misbegotten presidency amounts to a long list of major failures and he should have had the sense a year ago to pass the torch.

But he and the people around him grew fat with arrogance and, cosseted by a cheerleading media, came to believe their own lies about his “accomplishments.” The comeuppance is harsh, with even his exit a disaster.

Make no mistake — it will be an exit from the race. He’s running out of time and options, and his attacks on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton demonstrate that he’s mad enough to blow up the party on his way out the door.

Feeling betrayed by people he thought were friends and allies, he’s hitting back by making the most incendiary charge one Dem can make against others: blaming them for Trump’s 2016 election.

A Biden source tells NBC: “Can we all just remember for a minute that these same people who are trying to push Joe Biden out are the same people who literally gave us Donald Trump? In 2015, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer pushed Biden aside in favor of Hillary; they were wrong then, and they are wrong now.”

The source went on to denounce polls as “BS” and added: “maybe, just maybe, Joe Biden is more in touch with actual Americans than Obama-Pelosi-Schumer?”

If that’s Biden’s view, it’s especially bizarre coming from a man who has spent 50 years in Washington, where “actual Americans,” as in ordinary people, are as scarce as the proverbial hen’s teeth.

His denial about the polls is also strange given that they have been consistent for months in showing that two-thirds of Democrats believe he should withdraw.

A poll here or there might be off, but it’s a fool’s errand to argue with a clear consensus. Perhaps Biden doesn’t even remember the debate debacle on June 27, but it sealed his fate.

I said then he was toast and predicted he would be gone from the race within a month, so his exit is on schedule.

There’s another reason why Biden can’t be saved: when a Dem incumbent has lost the leftist media, there is no hope. Without the propaganda arm to cover up his stumbles and attack Trump, Biden is forced to articulate his own case, a job beyond his cognitive capacity.

The New York Times, which has turned on Biden with a vengeance, recounted Saturday in painful detail how he fumbled every effort to save himself.

The Gray Lady is finally getting the picture: the president is a bumbling incompetent, and always has been.

With allies like these . . .

In fact, Biden and his few remaining allies have given up arguing he has done a good job as president, focusing entirely on how bad they claim Trump would be.

That the president told donors “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye” shortly before the assassination attempt on the former president is an omen that Biden’s luck has run out.

Finally, in a move that recalls the way vultures circle over a soon-to-be corpse, Vice President Kamala Harris picked Friday to visit an ice-cream store. There’s nothing subtle about stealing your boss’ favorite photo-op!

Although there’s talk among party pooh-bahs of holding a mini-primary before or during the August convention, they’ll need Biden’s cooperation because the vast majority of delegates are pledged to him on the first ballot.

And any move that doesn’t result in Harris being the nominee could split the party along racial lines. That would be rough justice given how Dems have racialized politics for decades.

Meanwhile, the GOP convention was the party’s most enthusiastic in years and showcased several key developments.

Among them are that Republicans are firmly united behind Trump and his goal of transforming the party into a populist force for working and middle-class Americans.

Those forgotten voters provided his winning edge in 2016 and he is going back to the well with reinforcements. He is also broadening the base by making extra efforts to attract black and Latino workers.

The roster of speakers included an incredibly diverse line-up, and even featured the president of the Teamsters Union.

If there were any doubts about Trump’s focus on workers, they ended with his selection of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate. His announcement said the author of “Hillbilly Elegy” will be “strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond . . .”

It’s no secret the upper Midwest states hold the keys to victory, and Trump’s commitment to winning them is underscored by the way he assigned them to Vance.

Indeed, that was a clarifying moment about why he chose Vance.

During his conversations about his veep options, Trump always cited two general criteria: Someone who could help him win and someone who could succeed him.

GOP ticket’s promise

Among the contenders, Vance scored highest on both tests. He is half Trump’s age, a clear working-class populist, a big fundraiser and whip-smart.

There are, it is true, differences between their economic and tax ideas, but that won’t be a problem unless Vance is foolish enough to undercut Trump.

It’s more likely he will quickly realize there is no Republican future in pursuing policies that please Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders.

As for Trump himself, his acceptance speech managed to be both inspiring and disappointing. His calls for national unity and his riveting description of the effort to kill him made the speech a must-see historic event.

Unfortunately, he talked too long — 1 hour and 32 minutes — and lapsed into a rally ramble full of non sequiturs that diluted the initial impact. Less would have been more.

In fairness, he had been through an extraordinary week and my interview with him the day after the shooting left me convinced he really does want to unite America and reduce the nasty rhetoric.

He partially succeeded Thursday, but still has work to do to persuade fence-sitting voters he realizes the gravity of the nation’s polarization.

If he can do that, it won’t matter whether Biden or somebody else is the Dem nominee. Building on his successful policies, a kinder, gentler Trump would win in a landslide.

by Michael Goodwin