At the end of a truly stunning and historic day, I wanted to share some thoughts about what we owe Pres. Biden, how we got here, and where we’re going. As difficult as it was to hear that Pres. Biden is stepping down (and, perhaps, the reason he is), we needed certainty. I know Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy is not a done deal, but I believe the party will unite behind. Now that we are one very large step closer to that, we can fight.
[See video transcript below.]
I strongly recommend you listen to the emergency episode of the Nerd Avengers from this afternoon. It was a fascinating conversation that ultimately filled me with hope.
[Transcript for Substack video]
Hi, everybody.
I wanted to come here tonight and give you some brief thoughts about what is clearly an historic day in which we learned that President Joe Biden is not running for reelection and has endorsed, strongly endorsed, his vice president, Kamala Harris.
We spoke at length on an emergency episode of the Nerd Avengers this afternoon about what it means for President Biden to have stepped down and to have endorsed Vice President Harris, where the Democratic Party goes from here, what we can expect, what we hope for, how we got here, and of course, what it means for the future of the election and the future of this country.
I strongly suggest you watch the whole episode. It was fascinating to get everybody's perspective. And in real time, as we were on the show, news continued to unfold.
We saw Donald's response, which was as vile as you would have anticipated it would be. We heard that many, many elected Democrats, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Latino Caucus, are endorsing Vice President Harris, which I believe is as it should be.
But we have a way to go. First of all, I wanted to say that I am extraordinarily grateful to President Biden. I did not think that he should step down. But now that he has, we have a degree of certainty that's been lacking over the last three and a half weeks. And we need that certainty. We need to know who our candidate is and what to do.
I don't know, obviously, the circumstances under which President Biden is not seeking reelection, but, clearly he made the calculation that it was necessary for him to step aside and make way for whom I believe will be our candidate, Vice President Harris.
It's hard to remember for some of us, although I remember it like it was yesterday, that this country was on fire in the fall of 2020. President Biden stepped up, got the Democratic nomination, and did what perhaps nobody else could have done under the circumstances. I confess in 2020 in the primary, he was not my first choice. I don't even think he was my fifth choice, to be honest with you. Of course, as soon as he became the nominee, I supported him wholeheartedly and without reservation.
And what he did was extraordinary. He saved this country from a global pandemic that was raging out of control when he took office. He brought us back from the brink of economic collapse. And he saved democracy from the jaws of autocracy.
I believe he could have done it again, but there were way too many obstacles in his way, far too many things were lined up against him, including an extraordinarily inept—well, maybe that's too kind a word, but I would say irresponsible corporate media, and a Republican party that has absolutely no sense of fairness or decency, that cares not at all what is best for the future of this country.
Also, unfortunately, he was being attacked by a bunch of weak-willed Democrats and many in the donor class who believe that their opinions matter more than everybody else's. That's done now. But I will always be grateful to President Biden, who was without question the best president in my lifetime.
I have extremely high hopes for for Vice President Harris's campaign. I do believe she will be the nominee. And upon reflection, I believe she will be the nominee in an orderly process that does not cause the Democratic Party to burn itself to the ground.
As we said during the show today, many people are stepping forward and endorsing her already. Not just elected officials, but other people whose opinions actually carry a lot of weight, like former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I believe that that will create a permission structure for other people to endorse her.
Also, and this is something I hadn't thought about, most people who would be viable competition to Vice President Harris probably understand that challenging her would not be good for their political futures. I do not see Gretchen Whitmer, who by the way has said she will not challenge Kamala Harris; I do not see Gavin Newsom thinking that it is the best thing for their political futures to challenge the sitting Vice President of the United States.
So yes, there may be some people who end up challenging Vice President Harris and attempt to force an open convention. Some people perhaps like Marianne Williamson or some guy named Dean. But these are not challengers. And I believe that by the time we get to the convention, it will be pretty much a done deal.
For anybody saying that that is unacceptable, that it’s a coronation and we need to let the voters decide—the voters have decided. When we vote for the president, we also vote for the vice president, which is to say we're voting for the person who is one heartbeat away from the presidency. You vote for the person you would find acceptable as a substitute for the president if an emergency circumstance emerges, as one did today. It would be to go against the will of the Democratic Party base not to have the sitting vice president replace President Biden on the Democratic ticket.
So much will be happening in the days and weeks to come. I will do my best to keep you up to date here. We will do our best over at Mary Trump media to bring you content that you will find helpful and enlightening.
I also want to make clear that we're in for a rough ride—not from the Democrats, because again, I do have hope that the Democrats are going to do the right thing and pull together behind the woman I believe is their strongest chance of keeping the White House, and that is Vice President Kamala Harris. We cannot, however, kid ourselves about what the response from Donald and other Republicans will be. They have had their entire election strategy ripped out of their hands.
They were prepared and only prepared to run against President Biden. Many, many, many of their tactics must be thrown out the window. Right now, Donald Trump is the oldest person ever to seek the presidency. Kamala Harris is young and energetic, extremely intelligent and extremely capable. None of those descriptions applies to the Republican candidate.
They will stop at nothing to tear her down.
They will use racist attacks.
They will use misogynistic attacks.
Nothing is beneath these people. So, we need to be prepared for that. We need to be prepared to fight back.
I know we can do this. We can do this together. And we'll be together every step of the way.
Thank you.
Again, I would definitely check out the whole Nerd Avengers episode today. It was quite fascinating. When the episode started, I was feeling a little stressed, shall we say. This news really is seismic and hard to process. But by the end of the show, I felt heartened and I felt optimistic, which is, I have to say, something I haven't felt in quite some time.
So. thank you. I wanted to put this up tonight. Apologies for two emails in one day, but it was important to me that I reach out and just let you know what I'm thinking about.
And I will keep you posted on everything that happens next.
Thank you so much.
Thoughts on an Historic Day