You're viewing a single thread.
I don’t believe that he relinquished his campaign out of utter beneficence. I skimmed the transcript but never managed to find it, does he touch on what in particular compelled him to pass the torch?
It’s hard to believe that he’d just wake up one morning after six months of campaigning and say “yeah, it’s about time I hang up my suit.” Especially with only a few months remaining for Harris to campaign. There had to have been a coming to Jesus moment for the spontaneity of this about face.
The people spoke loudly about what they wanted. I’m glad he listened
They’ve been saying the same thing for 3 years. This doesn’t make sense without some sort of realization or external pressure.
Maype he watched a recording of the debate and realized everyone on stage was too old to be running for president?
Maybe? Selfishly, I still wish he’d offered complete candor to sate my curiosity. Maybe in his memoirs.
Even if he had, you still wouldn't know if he had.
Yeah, he won't openly say how his entire inner circle kept yelling at him "FOR FUCKS SAKE JOE STEP DOWN WE'RE FUCKING LOSING THIS!" before the election.
The story behind it is that he was finally shown how terrible his numbers really were in swing states. Apparently, they looked very bad and were trending even further down.
The story also goes that the reality of the situation had largely been hidden from him by his closest confidants up to that point. Add in all the party and public pressure, and it really doesn’t seem too far fetched that he was finally forced to face up to the bleak outlook of his chances going forward.
...you haven't felt anything change in the past month? They absolutely haven't been saying these things for 3 years.
If by “they” you mean the news, then I’ve noticed a change. Insofar as actual human people and their opinions in my city, they’ve been static. Progressives sighing and regressives screeching. How have the human people in your city changed their opinions?
The people with money decided they didn't like him. That's what changed.
I don’t know how people don’t get this. It’s utterly transparent, they didn’t make any secret of it. Their megadonors pulled donations, pelosi went and had a secret chat that was probably along the lines of “i have spoken to the oligarchs that fund us, if you insist on running your war chest will be paltry and the rest of the party will suffer in kind. Congressional races, local elections, etc will all be vastly underfunded because you decided to stay in the race. They are holding the bag and they want you out.” and then a few days later he announces he’s out after they coordinate things. Maybe he had a day or two where he had a pipe dream moment thinking he could grassroots fund it like Bernie and someone shot him back down to earth
The specifics of their conversation are secret so that’s conjecture of course but the fact that the dnc’s large donors pulled their donations until he dropped out and that pelosi spoke to him about that fact are not. And then she gets spun as some “boss dealmaker” when really she’s just the mouthpiece of the elite ruling class, sending a message that their money dries up if they don’t get their way. Some deal making that is
From the reporting I've read, there have been a lot of meetings between him and leading Democrats urging him to step down; starting with his debate performance and continuing from there.
He's probably been considering it for a while. However, in his position, as soon as you acknowledge that you are considering withdrawing from the race your campaign is over, so he needed to look committed until he was ready to pull the trigger and drop out.
I mean, he said that he might do it for health reasons and then it was announced a day or two later that he had tested positive for covid again.
It's probably just a fig leaf for him to bow to pressure from the party without losing too much face, but it's also possible that he's honestly realizing that staying in a job that keeps exposing you to covid and any other epi/pandemic that comes along isn't a good idea at his age..
You know, in recent weeks it’s become clear to me that I needed to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, and that includes personal ambition.
So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation. I know there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life, but there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices, and that time and place is now.
He’s given the description of something with fins and teeth, but that could be any number of animals. Typically, a gargantuan decision like this isn’t made unless there’s a similarly massive realization. Did advisors say his polls were unfavorable? Were donors pulling out? Did he come to terms with his age? Was his party begging for his retirement?
I’m not looking for souls lore and feelings in abstract, I’m asking for events.