Could it happen? Could the Democrats manage to land Kamala Harris in the White House, and not just for a few weeks?
National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson sees a way for them to do that - but it would be an act of pure desperation.
A video of Biden on Tuesday went viral online after the president appeared to wander off a designated path following his speech on climate issues in the Amazon rainforest. On “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” the senior fellow noted how Harris had flip-flopped on left-wing policies she had advocated for prior to 2020, claiming she was now returning to her “left-wing self” following her loss to President-elect Donald Trump.
“But my point about all of this is twofold. He is the president. He told everybody what he wanted to do. He was criticized severely in the campaign for being too provocative, but the point is that was unlike Kamala Harris,” Hanson said. “She said everything that she said emphatically as a leftist. Fracking? ‘Of course I’m gonna ban it.’ She went out in demonstrations, no deportation, no deportation. Guns? She didn’t just say I want to, ‘I want to buy back guns. I’ll go into their house and get them,’ she said. Then she flipped.”
That's a fair point; nobody with enough brains to pound sand believed any of Kamala Harris's suddenly moderated views on, well, anything. But Dr. Hanson goes on to describe a process by which the Democrats could preclude Trump:
Hanson went on to state how he believes Democrats would attempt to jail Trump through one of his indictments and have Biden step down from his seat in order to hand it over to Harris.
“I said that they would probably try to put Trump in jail and Joe Biden was deteriorating at a geometric rate, would probably be la-la land, and then there would be calls to make her president. Then she would be acculturated for 60 days and then the Left would, that would give the left time enough,” Hanson said.
“Like this crazy representative Raskin or somebody, ‘Wow, the 14th Amendment, He’s like an extra. He’s just like a Confederate general. He tried to start a civil war, so he can’t hold a federal office. We’re gonna go to court and we’ll get a judge and we’ll stay,'” Hanson added. “I really believe they’re gonna do that. I say there’s a 30% chance that Joe will be, he might not be able to finish his term the next two months.”
Look, I admire and respect Dr. Hanson as I do few people. He's one of the smartest people on the planet, he's forgotten more classical history than most people will ever know. He literally is a national treasure, and his word on anything should be taken seriously.
But while he's right about Jamie Raskin (D-MD) being an unhinged nut, I think he overestimates the Democrat's inclinations to do this. While I wouldn't put it past Raskin to claim that Donald Trump "tried to start a civil war" - he didn't - even for today's Democratic Party, he's on the loony fringe. There appears to be little enthusiasm among Democrats in Congress or in what's left of the Biden administration to attempt something that is this obviously desperate.
Even so, Dr. Hanson may well be right on the second part of that. Joe Biden's deterioration appears to be accelerating at a logarithmic rate. It's a matter of national security at this point and, candidly, has been so for some time, and there is a very real danger that someone who wishes the United States ill may well try something while the National Command Authority is in the hands of a doddering old fool who is and has been non compos mentis for some time. Joe Biden should have resigned some time ago, even if that means putting Kamala Harris in the driver's seat for a few weeks.
Even if that happens, even if she gets to make the historic claim of being the first Madam President, she will still vacate the Oval Office on January 20th - and Donald Trump will then be the 48th President of the United States.