Zhou Status Report

Can Zhou and the people who have a stake in continuing their rule of America through him tough it out, maintain his candidacy—and, perhaps more to the point, his “presidency”? For us on the outside we all have our opinions, but it’s still hard to say. There’s no question about the political damage—the Zhou campaign is imploding. The drumbeat of criticism and, now, outright ridicule from erstwhile defenders keeps increasing. Is this really all about pardons? Let’s do a bit of a roundup.

When a Dem loses Jake Tapper:

REPORTER: In response to those comments from George Clooney, Jake, a campaign official who attended that Los Angeles fundraiser tells me that George Clooney left three hours before the president. So clearly, the gloves are off, Jake.

TAPPER: But what does that mean, that George Clooney left three hours, what's the point?

REPORTER: The point of that is to suggest that Biden's stamina is better than Clooney's and Clooney didn't have eyes on the entire event. That's the response to the Clooney op-ed.

TAPPER: Okay (Laughs)

Dems in Congress want him gone. Wait. Non-CBC Dems in Congress really want him gone:

MSNBC - 7/10/2024 - Rep. Adam Smith [D-WA]

"Joe Biden was not picked in 2020 because he was the only person that could beat Donald Trump. He was picked because he was the only person that could beat @BernieSanders"

Big donors have closed their wallets.

Biden Twists in the Wind as Big Donors Close Wallets, Party Criticism Persists Despite Clampdown, and Pelosi Questions His Decision to Continue

Biden’s future or potential lack thereof continues to dominate the news, as lead stories in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times confirm. A key sign came with Nancy Pelosi’s appearance on Morning Joe yesterday, where she looked to be engaging in an over-caffeinated version of damning with faint praise. As you can see below, she gave an over-the-top review of Biden’s record and his performance at the current NATO summit, while insisting that Biden needed to decide what to do about his candidacy…and stuck to her guns as the hosts pressed her that Biden had already decided. 

A long quote from the article, mostly the FT:

From Democratic donors warn of campaign funds ‘drying up’ as Joe Biden holds on:

Democratic donors have warned that funding for the November election effort is “drying up” because of Joe Biden’s refusal to step aside, threatening to undermine the party’s effort to defeat Donald Trump….

Their increasing willingness to walk away from the campaign, mentioned in interviews with donors from Wall Street to Hollywood, poses a new existential risk to Biden’s re-election if he stays in a White House race expected to be the most expensive in US history.

“As of today, it would be very difficult to raise major donor money for the president,” said one New York-based Democratic donor. “It is so quickly unravelling that it is going to be extraordinarily difficult for him to stay in the race.”

Another donor involved in the party for decades said the money was “in the process of drying up”. The donor added: “Nine to one when I talk to other donors, they’re not planning on contributing . . . because they’re concerned about losing.”…

But much of the White House’s political operation over the past week has focused on wavering Democratic officeholders, particularly on Capitol Hill — although Biden also held calls with governors and mayors in a bid to reassure them….

But donors have been less constrained, with several high-profile Biden supporters — including Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, hotel mogul Stewart Bainum Jr and actor George Clooney — explicitly citing the president’s mental acuity in their calls for him to drop out.

Confirming the Financial Times account on donors pulling back, CNN reported Wednesday evening that a Chicago fundraiser was just cancelled:

Meanwhile, organizers for at least one Chicago fundraiser scheduled during the Democratic National Convention have decided to not to proceed with the mid-August event, a source with knowledge of the discussions told CNN….

The event, designed as a lunch for a few dozen wealthy Windy City denizens, was expected to rally support among the party’s loyal and well-heeled locals in a show of support for the big event in their backyard.

Can’t hold a fundraiser in the major city that’s hosting the Dem convention? Not a good look.

Where are the GOPers in all this? Two very sensible things:

• They’re preparing to litigate on behalf of Zhou’s candidacy—or, more precisely, they’re preparing to litigate to prevent any other Dem from replacing Zhou on ballots in some states.

• They’re also hammering at the obvious nail in Zhou’s political coffin: Zhou is not now fit to be president. Resigning from the campaign is not a sufficient remedy for the nation—America needs a remedy to this hoax presidency now. That leads to a major campaign issue no matter who is on the Dem ticket: The nation has been subjected to a dangerous hoax administration.

Republicans Prepare for a Biden Ouster

The GOP faces an uncertain contest in November.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told The American Conservative that, since returning to Washington, the Senate GOP conference has spent a considerable amount of time speculating “about who would replace him and how Dems could elbow out Kamala.”

Johnson says he’s bought into Biden replacement theory for quite some time. “I’ve been saying I doubt Biden will be their nominee since Summer 2023,” Johnson told TAC. 

Johnson isn’t alone. “Democrats are belatedly admitting what Americans have seen for years: Joe Biden is not fit to be president, and his sadly confused state is an embarrassment to the nation,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told TAC.

Just north of the Capitol complex, the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project also had early premonitions that Democrats would attempt to ditch Biden. Four months ago, Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell and his team began researching how state statutes limited Democrats’ ability to replace Biden as the nominee. 

“If the Biden family decides that President Biden will not run for re-election, the mechanisms for replacing him on ballots vary by state,” read an Oversight Project memo circulated prior to the debate obtained by NOTUS. “There is the potential for pre-election litigation in some states that would make the process difficult and perhaps unsuccessful.”

Howell told NOTUS that statutes in major swing states would make replacing Biden “extraordinarily difficult” for Democrats. Ironically, if Democrats follow through, it might be conservative organizations going to bat for Biden’s candidacy. In the Oversight Project memo, Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin are listed as states where legal challenges might force Biden to remain atop the Democratic ticket. “We’ve zeroed in on a few states that we think are the best case,” Howell told NOTUS, though he refused to go further into detail.

For now, Republicans are in a holding pattern, unsure of who will square off against former President Donald Trump come November. They are preparing for several scenarios and candidates.

“If Biden has declined too much to run, win, and serve another term, he is unfit to protect America now—if he steps down from the Democrat ticket, he should also resign for the good of the country,” Lee told TAC. “I would not hold my breath waiting for him to do the right thing, however.”