US Election 2024: Grumpy Old Men

[Zaune]

Apparently they're locking information down pretty tight: My only source for this is a screenshot on someone's blog but allegedly any and all campaign staff are under strict orders not to disclose anytghing to the media on pain of termination.

Whether that means anything I don't know, but I can't imagine the results of the neurological assessment Trump presumably went through at some point would be terribly flattering even if he did get away without any appreciable head trauma.

Hah. Would we even be able to tell the difference if he did suffer a TBI?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Perhaps the US Left should start their own version of the Birther thing.

"You say you're really healthy and smart, prove it, release your medical reports."

Could be kinda fun.

[Solauren]

Perhaps the US Left should start their own version of the Birther thing.

"You say you're really healthy and smart, prove it, release your medical reports."

Could be kinda fun.

Problem; Someone like Trump would have their 'personal' doctor release records that make them look like Superman.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Perhaps the US Left should start their own version of the Birther thing.

"You say you're really healthy and smart, prove it, release your medical reports."

Could be kinda fun.

Problem; Someone like Trump would have their 'personal' doctor release records that make them look like Superman.

Then you insist on independently verified reports. Just recycle every Birther statement about Obama from way back when.

[Elfdart]

Perhaps the US Left should start their own version of the Birther thing.

"You say you're really healthy and smart, prove it, release your medical reports."

Could be kinda fun.

Then demand to see the Long Form medical records.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

And he's gone:
Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race after mounting in-party pressure

Joe Biden has announced he will withdraw from the 2024 US presidential race.

Following heavy pressure from within his own party to quit, amid questions about his mental capacity, the 81 year old confirmed his resignation on X.

“I believe it in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down,” he said.

The 81-year-old president confirmed he would remain president until the end of his term, which ends on January 20, 2025, but did not indicate who he would like to succeed him as the Democrat nominee.

Biden, who remains at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with Covid-19 last week, said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision.

Unlike a president’s resignation, which automatically promotes the vice president, Biden dropping out of the race does not mean that VP Kamala Harris will take over his role.

His to not explicitly endorse Harris appears to set the stage for a leadership battle, with the vice president likely to face competition from other Democrats.

The Democratic National Convention, where his nomination would have been formally confirmed and where his successor will likely be decided, is scheduled for August 19-22.

Biden's announcement comes after he faced mounting pressure to stand down due to his health and age.

The criticism started when he faced Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump in a much-criticised head-to-head TV debate.

Calls for his withdrawal from the presidential race have only grown in the wake of a series of gaffes, including at this month's Nato conference in which he introduced Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin".

Former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are both reported to have expressed concerns in recent days about the likelihood of Biden securing a second term in the White House.

Biden’s granddaughter said she is “proud” of how her grandfather served “our country”.

In a post to X, Naomi Biden, wrote: “I’m nothing but proud today of my Pop, our President, Joe Biden, who has served our country with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction.

“Not only has he been — and will continue to be — the most effective president of our lifetime, but he has likely already cemented himself as the most effective and impactful public servant in our nation’s history."

It comes as Trump this week accepted the Republican Party's nomination, days after a failed assassination attempt on his life.

Biden ousted Trump from the White House during the 2020 presidential election - a result which led to the deadly January 6 riot in 2021.

It is unclear who the Democrats will put forward as Biden's potential successor.

This is going to make things interesting

[Crazedwraith]

Wow. I still can't believe they were stupid enough to do this. Now Trump has all the momentum and the dems are scrabbling and starting from scratch.

Feels even more likely they'll lose now.

[Ralin]

Wow. I still can't believe they were stupid enough to do this. Now Trump has all the momentum and the dems are scrabbling and starting from scratch.

Feels even more likely they'll lose now.

Bullshit. Either Harris is going to be anointed as the new candidate or they'll hold an unprecedent round two last minute primary. Which sounds like a GREAT way to get people fired up and motivated.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Wow. I still can't believe they were stupid enough to do this. Now Trump has all the momentum and the dems are scrabbling and starting from scratch.

Feels even more likely they'll lose now.

Bullshit. Either Harris is going to be anointed as the new candidate or they'll hold an unprecedent round two last minute primary. Which sounds like a GREAT way to get people fired up and motivated.

The Dems had to do it, no question. Biden was clearly struggling and in no shape to win re-election, never mind another four years.

There's another angle to this- much of the Republican ammo has been based on Biden's age. Trump is only 3 years younger than Biden, now he's the candidate that's too old to be president given whoever the Democrats choose will be considerably younger.

[Tribble]

Wow. I still can't believe they were stupid enough to do this. Now Trump has all the momentum and the dems are scrabbling and starting from scratch.

Feels even more likely they'll lose now.

Bullshit. Either Harris is going to be anointed as the new candidate or they'll hold an unprecedent round two last minute primary. Which sounds like a GREAT way to get people fired up and motivated.

The Dems had to do it, no question. Biden was clearly struggling and in no shape to win re-election, never mind another four years.

There's another angle to this- much of the Republican ammo has been based on Biden's age. Trump is only 3 years younger than Biden, now he's the candidate that's too old to be president given whoever the Democrats choose will be considerably younger.

Honestly, I didn’t think Biden would do it, but I guess even he realized that his chances were now deader than Trump’s would be assassin. Better to go quietly into the sunset.

As I’ve said before, IMO the big difference is that Trump’s incoherent angry ramblings are a feature, not a bug. His base very much wants an angry mad man to take over and turn America into a white Christian-fascist state, so I doubt his polls will change much no matter which Democrat ends up running.

[Mr Bean]

Wow. I still can't believe they were stupid enough to do this. Now Trump has all the momentum and the dems are scrabbling and starting from scratch.

Feels even more likely they'll lose now.

Bullshit. Either Harris is going to be anointed as the new candidate or they'll hold an unprecedent round two last minute primary. Which sounds like a GREAT way to get people fired up and motivated.

The Dems had to do it, no question. Biden was clearly struggling and in no shape to win re-election, never mind another four years.

There's another angle to this- much of the Republican ammo has been based on Biden's age. Trump is only 3 years younger than Biden, now he's the candidate that's too old to be president given whoever the Democrats choose will be considerably younger.

And we can all trace this as a through line from the Debate, when Biden went from an older President to an old man running for President.

[Crazedwraith]

There's another angle to this- much of the Republican ammo has been based on Biden's age. Trump is only 3 years younger than Biden, now he's the candidate that's too old to be president given whoever the Democrats choose will be considerably younger.

You reckon his support cares about the hypocrisy this time compared the other hundreds of times they've been hypocritical about things?

[Juubi Karakuchi]

Some news opinion from the UK.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 82815.html

Panic and repositioning: What Biden dropping out of the 2024 race means for the Trump campaign
The Trump campaign built their strategy around a very specific foe — and Biden dropping out is their worst nightmare come true. Ahmed Baba reports

After a relentless pressure campaign by Democratic lawmakers, operatives, and donors, President Joe Biden has announced he is dropping out of the 2024 race. From being one of the youngest senators to becoming the oldest sitting president in US history, Biden’s remarkable political career has come to an abrupt end.

This move will exhilarate those in the Democratic Party who have been calling for a younger candidate, but it will also dishearten those who see this as a disenfranchisement of their primary vote.

When it comes to the Trump campaign, however, they might have the most panicked reaction out of everyone.

The most definitive depiction of this fear comes from The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, who was embedded with the Trump campaign for six months. The “campaign is all but praying Joe Biden doesn’t drop out,” Alberta wrote, on July 10. Now their nightmares have come true.

In a conversation with Ezra Klein of The New York Times, Alberta said he saw firsthand the Trump campaign’s anxiety about Biden being replaced. “The Trump campaign, from day one, has been built not to run against a generic Democrat,” Alberta said. “It’s been built to run a very specific race against a very specific opponent in Joe Biden.”

Alberta detailed how Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, the advisers who have been co-managing Trump’s campaign, have tailored their operation — from their micro-targeting ad strategies to their broader messaging — to Biden. A change of the Democratic nominee throws that entire plan into disarray.

In the simplest of terms, Trump’s campaign was all about depicting their nominee as “strong” and Joe Biden as “weak.” They’ve been spreading clips of Biden that emphasize his age and seek to denigrate his mental acuity for months. Imagery of the aging Biden has been used as a visual representation of their claims that the president isn’t just physically weak, but is weak on the border, crime, and the economy.

In reality, border crossings are decreasing (in spite of Trump tanking the bipartisan border bill), crime is seeing historic declines, and the economy is, by most metrics, stronger than it has been in years. Trump has waged a fear-mongering campaign to try and depict Biden as too weak to contain an American chaos that doesn’t exist. But none of this matters. What matters is that, according to a lot of polls, it was working.

With Biden now out of the race and the issue of his age no longer a factor, Republicans will find it much more difficult to double down on weakness as the central Democratic flaw — especially considering Biden followed his announcement by quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris is was the obvious frontrunner but she’s also a shrewd choice in this particular race: After all, who better to make the case against a convicted felon Republican nominee than a former prosecutor?

The Trump campaign will try to use incumbency against her and tie her to Biden’s record. But Harris will be going into the election with a running mate who is relatively untouched by this problem, and that will be a huge advantage. The new veep pick will be able to strategically distance themselves from controversial parts of Biden’s record — like his handling of the Israel-Hamas war — while embracing his remarkably successful domestic legislative and foreign policy accomplishments, like expanding NATO.

The excitement around a younger Democrat and the historic nature of the ticket with Kamala Harris at the top could also blunt many of the attacks from the Trump campaign. And it’s likely to bolster support among Black voters and young voters, which the Trump campaign has sought to pick off recently. For those hungry for change — which polling indicates is the majority of Americans — suddenly, the Democratic ticket is going to start to look very appealing. Trump’s supposedly revolutionary ticket, in contrast, now looks like a vote to return to the past.

The Trump campaign is in for a totally different race than they bargained for now. A younger Democrat who forcefully communicates a positive vision for the future while also effectively contrasting their approach with Trump’s extremist plans for his second term will change the dynamics entirely.

The push for President Biden to drop out of the race was a risky maneuver. It could be the masterstroke that cements his legacy and paves the way for a new nominee’s victory — or it could spectacularly backfire. Only time will tell.

However, history has taught us that authoritarians win when their opposition is divided. If Democrats are smart, they will now quickly unite around Harris and her chosen running mate so that they can shift the focus to Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda.

Contrary to popular belief — and a lot of open pessimism on the left — the Trump campaign is beatable and easy to message against. Project 2025 has made Trump and Vance especially vulnerable: those detailed plans to reshape the federal government into a tool of the far-right are public for everyone to see.

The next few weeks ahead of the August Democratic convention will be marked by a flurry of activity as Democrats forcefully make the case for Harris. It will also be marked by panic within the Trump campaign as they grapple with the fact their entire campaign strategy has to be revamped.

Emphasis mine, for the key point.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Any idea who her running mate might be?

[Gandalf]

Time to dust off the old content about Harris' time as AG.

Any idea who her running mate might be?

Odds are they'll need a white man to offset Harris, so Buttegieg or Shapiro maybe.

[muse]

Handshake of death is real.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well in that case, let him shake hands with Putin!

[muse]

Well in that case, let him shake hands with Putin!

He's not that dumb. Fortunately, Trudeau is!

[Ralin]

I gotta be honest, I'm genuinely grateful to Biden for doing the right thing. Harris has an alarming history of transphobia but not having to decide whether to vote for Joe Genocide is a huge relief. There seems to be genuine enthusiasm building for her already. I don't think Trump is going to win.

[bilateralrope]

Kamala Harris earns enough delegate support to become Democratic nominee

Support of California delegation puts vice-president over threshold needed when party meets at Chicago convention

Lauren Gambino and agencies
Tue 23 Jul 2024 03.31 BST

Kamala Harris has said she is looking forward to “formally accepting the [presidential] nomination” of the Democratic party after she earned enough support from delegates including hundreds from her native California.

“When I announced my campaign for President, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination,” she said in a statement late Monday.

“Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top. I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.”

Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi made the motion to endorse Harris for president at a virtual meeting of California’s DNC delegation on Monday evening, a spokesperson confirmed.

Pelosi, who represents San Francisco in Congress, announced that with the endorsement of California’s delegation, Harris had earned enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president in August.

Earlier on Monday, top Democrats rallied to support Harris in their bid to defeat Republican Donald Trump.

Harris was headed to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday as her campaign for the White House kicks into high gear. The event in Milwaukee will be her first full-fledged campaign event since announcing her candidacy.

She offered a sense of how she plans to attack Trump in a speech to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware earlier on Monday, referring to her past of pursuing “predators” and “fraudsters” as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

“So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said of her rival, a convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault in civil court. Other courts have found fraud was committed in his business, charitable foundation and private university.

She also cast herself as a defender of economic opportunity and abortion access. “Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedoms,” she said. “The baton is in our hands.”

Biden, who is recovering from Covid-19 at his house in Rehoboth, spoke by phone to the staff first, saying he would be out on the campaign trail for Harris and adding: “I’ll be doing whatever Kamala Harris wants me or needs me to do.”

When Harris took the microphone to address staff, Biden said to her: “I love you, kid.” Harris put her hands on her heart and said: “I love you, Joe.”

Joe Biden’s departure freed his delegates to vote for whomever they choose at next month’s convention. And Harris, whom Biden backed after ending his candidacy, worked quickly to secure support from a majority.

Big-name endorsements on Monday, including from governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, left a vanishing list of potential rivals.

According to an Associated Press tally, Harris had 2,668 delegates, well beyond the simple majority of 1,976 needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot.

The survey is unofficial, the AP said, as Democratic delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice when the party formally chooses its candidate. Delegates could still change their minds before 7 August but nobody else received any votes in the AP survey, and 57 delegates said they were undecided.

Pelosi, who had been one of the notable holdouts, initially encouraging a primary to strengthen the eventual nominee, said she was lending her “enthusiastic support” to Harris’s effort to lead the party.

Pelosi said: “Politically, make no mistake: Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute – and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November.”

A tweet late on Monday night announced that Pelosi’s office had confirmed Harris’s endorsement.

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison vowed that the party would deliver a presidential nominee by 7 August. A virtual nominating process before the national convention in Chicago, beginning on 19 August, is still needed.

“I want to assure you that we are committed to an open and fair nominating process,” Harrison said on a conference call.

The DNC had said earlier that a virtual vote would take place between 1 and 5 August, in order to have the nomination process completed by 7 August, the date by which Ohio law had required a nominee to be in place to make the state’s ballot.

Ohio lawmakers subsequently pushed back the deadline to 1 September, but party officials said they hoped to beat the 7 August deadline to avoid any legal risk in the state.

Winning the nomination is only the first item on a staggering political to-do list for Harris after Biden’s decision to exit the race, which she learned about on a Sunday morning call with the president.

She must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation to boost her candidacy instead of Biden’s with just over 100 days until election day.

But Harris has also been raking in campaign contributions. Her campaign said on Monday she had raised $81m since Biden stepped aside on Sunday, nearly equalling the $95m that the Biden campaign had in the bank at the end of June.

Hollywood donors ended their “Dembargo” on political donations, as fundraisers and celebrities from rapper Cardi B to Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and TV producer Shonda Rhimes endorsed Harris.

Wisconsin, where Harris will campaign on Tuesday, is among a trio of Rust-Belt states that include Michigan and Pennsylvania widely considered as must-wins for any candidate, and where Biden was lagging Trump.

“There are independents and young people who did not like their choices, and Harris has a chance to win them,” said Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising, which does routine polling in the battleground states where voting preferences can swing either way.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

That was quick. Looks like the people calling for some vague process to choose between candidates didn't have as much say as they seemed.

[Gandalf]

It's somewhat telling that the Republicans can't seem to put together a really coherent argument against Harris. They're even trying the classic conservative wank of "she doesn't have children, therefore apparently bad." This of course ignores the existence of her stepchildren, and that this isn't their business anyway.

It looks like Trump 2024 was little more than an anti-Biden campaign, which certainly explains Vance. Run against a president who clearly isn't aging well and has about half a century of baggage, and just keep hammering on that to get a narrow EC victory.

Now it's just a matter of seeing if Harris 2024 can keep up the good momentum. My wife and I will be in the US on election day, so we'll need to line up a good place to watch it all.

[Ralin]

Also the Supreme Court recently ruled that Biden can send death squads to execute the Supreme Court without legal consequences and the man has to be very short of fucks left to give at this point, so the prospect of him straight up threatening them if they decide to intervene in the election results is seeming less and less like a joke. Which shuts down another avenue to victory for Trump.

[bilateralrope]

House GOP leaders urge members: Stop making race comments about Harris

Leadership warned lawmakers during a closed-door meeting to focus on the vice president’s record, not her race.

By OLIVIA BEAVERS and JORDAIN CARNEY
07/23/2024 04:38 PM EDT

House Republican leaders told lawmakers to focus on criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ record without reference to her race and gender, following caustic remarks from some Republicans attacking her on the basis of identity.

During a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning, chair of the House GOP campaign arm Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and others issued the warning after a series of comments by their members that focused on Harris’ race as well as claims she is a “DEI” pick, according to two people in the room.

In the 48 hours since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Republican leaders have tried to train their criticism of the presumptive Democratic nominee on her handling of the border and her plan to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress.

But several Republicans immediately took the criticism in a different direction. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Monday that Harris was a “DEI vice president” and Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) over the weekend questioned if Democrats are sticking by her “because of her ethnic background.” If nominated, Harris would be the first Black and South Asian woman to be a major party nominee.

“This should not be about personalities. It should be about policy. And we have a record to compare,” Speaker Mike Johnson told POLITICO as he left the Tuesday meeting, saying Harris would have to answer for Biden’s record. “This has nothing to do with race. It has to do with the competence of the person running for president, the relative strength of the two candidates and what ideas they have on how to solve America’s problems. And I think in that comparison, we’ll win in a landslide.”

The remarks about Harris’ race have privately infuriated some Republicans, who feel it shifts the spotlight back on the GOP instead of Democrats’ missteps.

One House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Republicans who made comments about Harris being a DEI pick, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, needed to stop.

“We have everything going our way and you just can’t handle that?” this member added. “We’ll give you a cheat sheet if you don’t know what else to talk about.”

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), who chairs the governing-minded Main Street Caucus, said Republicans “should run this campaign based on the fact that she hasn’t done a very good job” rather than “make allegations.”

And the right flank is facing additional pushback from their Republican colleagues beyond the race comments. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a second impeachment resolution against Harris on Tuesday, according to a copy of the measure obtained by POLITICO, an effort some of his colleagues have already panned. His first attempt to impeach Harris last year stalled in the Judiciary Committee.

Additionally, conservatives have argued the House GOP should investigate Harris and pressure Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Biden. Most Republicans have brushed off those pushes as well, instead gearing up to hammer Harris on the border and other policies.

“I see no more reason for investigations to start in the House if they’re going to be politically weaponized. I believe that her record is his record, and we should focus on that,” said Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), a former aide in Donald Trump’s administration.

Republicans are also more openly admitting that their long-stalled endeavor to impeach Biden is likely dead. Miller said it’s time to move on.

“I think that we can redirect our resources elsewhere into something that will be more fruitful. If we had anything to level against him, it already would have been exposed and we would have impeached him. That obviously hasn’t happened,” he added.

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who has led the Biden impeachment push, told POLITICO that while he is probing questions about Biden’s mental health — focusing on the White House physician and three White House staffers — that he has no plans to subpoena Harris or ask her to appear in front of his panel.

“No,” Comer said when asked whether there is a potential probe into Harris.

He added that his part of the impeachment inquiry into Biden, which has largely focused on the business deals of his family members, is over. And that he is done drafting his part of an impeachment report that his panel is working on with the Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees.

“I feel like we’ve done our job. … Our part of the report has been finished for a long time. They can publish it or not — I guess things change if he’s not running again,” Comer said.

The sentiment that it’s time to move on from impeachment was echoed across many corners of the conference. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who filed articles of impeachment against Biden, agreed that push should be on the backburner given his decision to drop out.

“I think Republicans’ best strategy is introducing Kamala Harris to the world,” she said, essentially backing GOP leaders’ messaging plan.

Dusty Johnson, asked about impeaching or investigating Harris, responded that “we’ve got appropriations we need to take care of.” Republicans appear poised to leave town as soon as Wednesday with much of that work unfinished, meaning they’ll return from August recess without much done on government spending ahead of a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.

Not everyone is fully on board the plan to focus on Harris and legislative needs, however. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the Freedom Caucus, and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) have introduced separate resolutions that call on Harris to invoke her 25th Amendment powers and essentially have the Cabinet declare Biden unfit to be president. Those resolutions have three and zero co-sponsors, respectively, and likely don’t have the support required to pass the House.

Asked about invoking a resolution backing the 25th Amendment, centrist Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said that “it’s not going to pass” and added of impeaching Biden “there’s not the support to do it — that’s just reality.” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) added that resolutions to push the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment are “not an effective path right now.”

House GOP leaders are instead considering a border-related resolution led by Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), which aims to condemn Harris’ efforts to address the record surge of border crossings under the Biden administration. That vote could occur as early as Wednesday, and is expected to draw more support than the 25th Amendment approach, particularly in the GOP’s paper-thin majority.

House GOP leadership, during a press conference after their closed-door meeting, repeatedly linked Harris to Biden, in a likely preview of the next few months.

“She’s still the sitting vice president, but she’s also been the architect of many of President Biden’s worst failures,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters.

Those criticisms extend not only to the border, but also to the Israel-Hamas war. Republicans are particularly critical of Harris over her decision to skip Netanyahu’s joint address because of plans her office said she had on the books before the speech was scheduled.

“To not attend is very disrespectful to our ally and will alienate many Americans. It is a grave mistake to not attend,” said Bacon, a vulnerable member who pointed to Israeli hostages who still remain in captivity.

“Not attending is a slap in the face to all these families,” he added.

Infighting within the Republicans over how much racism they should show. They are still talking about trying to remove Biden, even when impeachment will be blocked by the Senate, the 25th amendment route requires Biden's cabinet to go along with it.

All with a looming deadline for a government shutdown.

[Rogue 9]

There is so much to unpack there. "Things change if he's not running again?" If Comer had Biden on criminal activity he wouldn't care about whether or not he's running.

[Solauren]

There is so much to unpack there. "Things change if he's not running again?" If Comer had Biden on criminal activity he wouldn't care about whether or not he's running.

Especially since that would deflect from Donald Trump begin convicted and appealing.