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RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Biden said only the Lord Almighty could stop him standing. So was it divine intervention that gave him Covid? It's the beginning of the end…
Joe Biden said recently that only the ‘Lord Almighty’ could persuade him not to stand for re-election.
Divine intervention duly arrived on Wednesday night when it was revealed that the President had tested positive for Covid. He has now ‘paused’ his campaign, the beginning of the end.
Americans switched on their nightly television news to see Biden stumbling uncertainly on the steps of Air Force One. It was painful to watch. He looked like a man who might not last another five minutes, let alone the next four years.
After he flew back from a campaign stop in Las Vegas to his home in Delaware, he had to be helped into his official limo by bodyguards. No one would have been surprised if they’d strapped him into a child’s car seat.
Biden stumbling uncertainly on the steps of Air Force One was painful to watch, writes Richard Littlejohn
Biden is isolating at home, where he spent most of the last election campaign during the pandemic hunkered down in his basement. Few now doubt that America is witnessing the end of his Presidency.
Former allies at the top of the Democratic Party have already pulled the plug. Barack Obama has said Joe should ‘seriously consider his viability’. The Dems’ Queen Bee Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer have both told Joe it’s time to go.
Pelosi dispatched her personal hitman Adam Shiff to deliver the message publicly. ‘While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,’ he said.
It’s only a question of time and the Doomsday clock is ticking. Biden still has the opportunity to stand down gracefully, even though graceful is not something he’s ever done.
Perhaps his convenient positive Covid test may give him the excuse he needs. First Lady Jill Biden might finally choose to put her husband’s health before his — and her — determination to stay on in the White House.
Democrats are in a blind panic, especially since Donald Trump’s miraculous escape from Saturday’s assassination attempt has practically guaranteed he beats Biden in November.
They fear that Trump won’t only secure a return to the White House, but the Republicans will romp home in both houses of Congress. A Ronald Reagan-style landslide is on the cards. The polls agree. Two-thirds of registered Democratic voters no longer believe Biden has the mental or physical acuity to carry on as President. He’s toast.
Since he survived Saturday’s shooting, Trump’s popularity has soared. His defiance captured the mood of the nation and he has bounced back by attending every day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
He was due to deliver his keynote address last night and was guaranteed a rapturous reception.
It may seem strange to those of us who live in Britain’s secular, post-Christian society, but the majority of Americans really do believe in divine intervention. Most people are convinced that the hand of God saved Trump’s life.
So it’s entirely possible that even the stubborn Joe Biden might see his catching Covid as a message from above and throw in the towel.
Few believe Biden could recover and beat Trump, especially after the extraordinary events of this week. And whatever you think of Biden’s politics, it’s uncomfortable on a human level to see the leader of the free world struggling to put one foot in front of the other.
But, whisper it gently, the assassination attempt has taken its toll on Trump, too. How could it not? Watching the convention on TV, the Donald appears diminished, though that isn’t to say he won’t make a full recovery.
It's entirely possible that even the stubborn Joe Biden might see his catching Covid as a message from above and throw in the towel.
Trump’s masterstroke has been to appoint the virile 39-year-old ex-Marine J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance is now the heir apparent and will be the man to beat in 2028.
After his confident, impressive speech to the convention, Vance’s first campaign event was at a prayer breakfast in Milwaukee. That plays well in Middle America, especially in the religious Rust Belt states from where Vance hails.
Biden could be gone this weekend, or at least could have declared his intention not to stand.
But who and what comes next for the Democrats? Most can’t see beyond Vice President Kamala Harris. Dumping the first black, female Veep would plunge the party into turmoil, especially with African-American voters.
Names such as California’s opportunist governor Gavin Newsome and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer are being bandied about, but would they want, as Shiff says, to grasp the torch?
In November, whoever stands against Trump and Vance is on a hiding to nothing. A change of leader changes nothing. It’ll take more than divine intervention to beat the Trump/Vance ticket.
As the former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen said yesterday, changing leaders didn’t do the Tories any favours in Britain.
Even if Biden stands down, he said, who wants to be America’s Rishi Sunak?