By “the end” he apparently means up to November.
This comes per a participant in a campaign phone call with Zhou (I picked this up via Bonchie at Red State):
Elena Schneider @ec_schneider
President Biden on campaign call that just wrapped, per person on the call:
"Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running…no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.”
12:39 PM · Jul 3, 2024
Get in kid we're beating Medicare
Others are suggesting that he’s headed for Dead Man’s Curve, but if so he’s driving a bus or train, not a two seater. With lots of passangers.
Bonchie offers some succinct comments, most of which mirror what we’ve been saying here—getting rid of Zhou was never gonna be easy, for a whole variety of reasons. Kama Sutra in the wings, the campaign finance angle, the rigged primaries that gave the nomination to Zhou without a challenge, Doc Jill, etc.
As Bonchie pretty much concludes, there’s no reason to expect anything to get better for the Dems, and a lot of good reasons to believe things will get significantly worse—economically, politially, foreign policy wise, etc. It looks like Trump’s to lose:
As for Republicans, they are rejoicing at this news. Biden at least appears to be mortally wounded politically. He's not going to get better, and there's another debate lined up that could further sink his campaign. For once, the president's deranged ego and the blind ambition of his wife are playing into the hands of conservatives. Biden staying in the race is not only good for the GOP, but it's what should happen anyway. Democrats need to be made to face the consequences of what they've done. There are no easy outs, and that's a good thing.
It remains true that all this could change after the convention, but this is where things stand. As Bonchie says, the short timeline till the convention just doesn’t work in a complex situation like this, where Zhou is resisting. Something could change later, but the complications will remain—Kama Sutra and the campaign money being at the top of that list of complications.
I can only add that I wish this were benefiting a more deserving bunch. Yes, the Dems screwed the country over by putting Zhou in the Oval Office and in so many other ways, but they had plenty of help from the GOP—Ryan, McConnell, Bluto Barr, and lots more.
Now, as for the race being Trump’s to lose, there’s been a leaked Dem internal poll—presumably part of the—so far—futile effort to get Zhou to leave:
Brutal swing state numbers for Biden in this leaked polling from @PeterHamby
Poll here
I picked that up at AmCon
Leaked Democrat Internal Poll: Trump Leads Big
State of the Union: Two congressional Democrats also suggest that Trump will win.
The AmCon article contains a link to an op-ed written by one of the two Dem reps. It’s mildly interesting in that it makes clear that he believes the campaign will ultimately be about economic issues—which are more resistant to gaslighting than some other issues, because people get regular doses of reality every time they gas up or go to the grocery store. Which is to say, at least weekly.
Donald Trump is going to win the election and democracy will be just fine
After the first presidential debate, lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee. Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise. It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.
There are winners and losers in every election. Democrats’ post-debate hand-wringing is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political loss, but a unique threat to our democracy. I reject the premise. Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.
…
This election is about the economy, not democracy. And when it comes to our economy, our Congress matters far more than who occupies the White House.
Some of Congress’ best work in recent years has happened in spite of the president, not because of him. …
Follow the link for Dem talking points but, significantly, the article contains this line:
In 2025, I believe Trump is going to be in the White House. Maine’s representatives will need to work with him when it benefits Mainers, hold him accountable when it does not and work independently across the aisle no matter what.
It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), the idea of working with Trump probably comes from focus groups and polling surveys. That’s also bad news for the sort of campaign the Dems still are going to try to run. The DNC and the MSM are too plugged into their Orange Man Bad narrative to pivot to some other message now.
As for Trump, I presume he’s pretty much biding his time until the shape of the Dem campaign becomes crystal clear as well as pending breaking world news. That includes the VP pick, which could loom more importantly this time around.
We'll get a sign as to how much Trump means business by his VP pick. Mike Flynn, Kash Patel or Devin Nunes would mean he's completely serious. Ben Carson might be almost as much a sign of being serious. Some of the others, Rubio?! or Burghum?! would signal that he didn't learn a thing from having backstabbing GOPe Pence as his veep.
Joe's being abandoned hard.
I'm in DC and the panic is real.
Deconstruction is on the menu.
The "Entree" is the DOJ.