Democrats Only Have Themselves to Blame for Their Joe Biden Mess

posted by Josh Hammer at Townhall 

It has been two weeks since palpably senile President Joe Biden delivered the single worst performance ever given in a presidential debate, and the fallout continues to tear the Democratic Party asunder.

For two weeks, most of the left-wing corporate media, joined by a small but growing number of elected Democratic officials, have desperately been trying to convince Uncle Joe and Jill "Lady Macbeth" Biden to stand down. They have done so to no avail. Although some senior Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have wobbled, and a number of party backbenchers have publicly called for Biden to bow out of the race, most of the Democratic Party establishment remains behind their octogenarian presumptive nominee. Perhaps that is why Biden himself, in a Monday letter to Capitol Hill Democrats, forcefully declared his intention to stay in.

With each new headline about the dam breaking, including Hollywood star George Clooney's blistering New York Times op-ed this week calling for Biden to drop out, the president's stubborn inner circle only further digs in its heels. As each additional day passes, it seems clearer that Biden will indeed be the Democrats' standard-bearer this November.

Democrats certainly cannot -- and by all indications, affirmatively do not -- feel confident or inspired by that seeming inevitability. On Tuesday, the highly regarded nonpartisan political handicapper Cook Political Report shifted six jurisdictions -- Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Nebraska's 2nd congressional district -- in a Republican direction (the first three now "lean Republican," and the latter three now only "lean Democrat"). Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin remain "toss-up" territory for Cook, but Trump leads all three states in the polling averages. The Democratic panic has even reached bright-blue New York state, with Democratic Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine shockingly conceding that he "truly believe(s)" New York is now "a battleground state."

But Democrats truly have no better option. Cackler-in-chief Kamala Harris, the only even remotely plausible alternative due to her vice presidential perch, is about as politically popular as venereal disease. And given the massive logistical issues that even switching to her at this late stage would bring, in terms of both federal campaign finance law and state-level election law, why take the risk?

Democrats need to take a long, hard look in the mirror because it is they themselves, their media enablers and their closest allies who are entirely to blame for their current predicament.

Begin with the Democratic National Committee itself. The DNC could easily have recognized the same warning signs the rest of the country saw -- namely, the president's obvious physical and mental decline -- and encouraged a competitive and robust presidential primary process. But the DNC did no such thing. On the contrary, the DNC highly discouraged -- to the point of virtually freezing out -- competing primary campaigns. U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) became the sole Democrat to mount a challenge -- in which he laudably focused on Biden's clear deterioration and unsuitability to serve an additional four years -- and he received no backing whatsoever from the party, prominent Democratic officials or major Democratic donors.

The corporate media that serves as a modern-day Pravda for the Regime Party (Democrats) also bears a tremendous portion of the collective blame. For years, the press told us not to believe our lying eyes or our deceitful ears -- the president is totally fine, and you are a MAGA Nazi kook if you believe otherwise! The media served as Biden's Praetorian Guard, shielding their precious from prying scrutiny at all costs. They have completely reversed themselves since the presidential debate only out of a sense of desperation and because they now realize the jig is up. But don't be fooled: These miscreants have no sense of shame or even the slightest morsel of self-awareness.

Finally, Biden's tightknit inner circle -- led above all by "Dr." Jill Biden and former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain -- deserves a tremendous amount of blame not merely for their party's misfortune but for the current danger posed to the republic as a whole. Why exactly have these cynical monsters around Uncle Joe engaged in such a coverup of this astounding magnitude? What is it that they have sought to gain? The answer seems to be straightforward enough: power -- pure, unadulterated power, which fallible human beings have coveted ever since they first instituted governments among their fellow men. The contemptible harridan "Dr." Jill is perhaps singularly responsible. She clearly does not care for her party or for her country. But is she really not human enough to spare her husband this humiliation and indignity before the whole world?

Democrats and their media boosters find themselves in a no-win situation. And the culprit is not the nefarious "orange man" or his "deplorable" minions but their very own hubris and myopia.

PRESS CONFERENCE TRAINWRECK!

X22, And we Know, and more- July 12

 

The Three Phases of the Ukrainian War

posted by Alexander G. Markovsky at American Thinker 

NATO’s war against Russia is progressing through three distinct phases: euphoria, apprehension, and despair.

Phase I. Euphoria

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, caused a sense of euphoria in Washington and at NATO headquarters. The tactic of escalating Moscow’s anxiety about Ukraine’s impending NATO membership had proven successful. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a European Parliament joint committee meeting: “So he (Putin) went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders….”

Stoltenberg inadvertently unveiled the truth. The conflict did not begin because Putin sought to resurrect the Soviet Union or out of fear of Ukrainian democracy. Stoltenberg and the leadership of NATO were fully aware that Russia would eventually be compelled to act according to its security imperatives and invade Ukraine to alleviate the NATO threat at its borders.

The cunning aspect of this plan was a deception. NATO never had any intention of granting membership to Ukraine. Therefore, even the most fervent supporters of NATO cannot deny that it was NATO’s deliberate provocation that ignited the war.

The next steps appeared pretty straightforward.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, informed lawmakers during closed-door briefings before the invasion on February 2 and 3, 2022, that an anticipated full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine might lead to Kyiv’s capture in just 72 hours.

The strategy entailed deliberately allowing Ukraine to collapse, which would prompt the West to impose devastating economic sanctions. The objectives were the destruction of the Russian economy, the resignation of Putin, and, ultimately, the elimination of Russia as a European power

After Russia’s unsuccessful attempt to capture Kiev, there was a surge of wild optimism within NATO circles. There was a prevailing notion that Russia’s military strength was not as formidable as previously believed. Thus, NATO saw an opportunity not only to destroy the Russian economy but also to defeat Russia militarily.

The US and its NATO allies decided to set aside any pretenses and fully engage in the conflict, providing Ukraine with modern weaponry, intelligence, training, financing, and all necessary resources to bolster NATO’s chances of prevailing, all while upholding a facade of plausible deniability. Ukraine was supposed to bear the brunt of battle and pay the cost in blood and destruction.

The plan held considerable plausibility, and the data supported it. In 2022, NATO’s defense budget exceeded Russia’s by 13-fold (NATO’s one trillion dollars versus Russia’s $75 billion). The combined GDP of all 31 members amounted to a staggering $46 trillion. In comparison, Russia’s GDP was a mere two trillion dollars. The population of NATO countries was 1.2 billion, while Russia had 145 million. Judging by the numbers, Russia appeared to be an easy target.

Phase II. Apprehension

Despite the numbers, the multibillion-dollar investment, the massive supply of modern weaponry, the hundreds of thousands dead and wounded, and the massive destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure, none of the NATO objectives have been achieved two and a half years later. Putin’s grip on power remains unshaken, and the sanctions have failed to significantly affect the Russian economy. Moreover, Russia is successfully building a formidable military-industrial complex, engineering and producing weapons that often surpass Western designs in capability and innovation.

This sobering reality forced NATO to reshape the conflict and develop a new strategy. The new approach revolved around a protracted war of attrition aimed at debilitating Russia both economically and militarily.

It is becoming exceedingly evident that America and its Western allies became a hostage of sanctions and found themselves trapped between the continuation of war and economic and military realities. From this untenable situation, they could see no exit and continued doing the same things, expecting different results. The European Union has now enforced its 14th set of sanctions, prompting one to question what this latest round can achieve that the previous 13 could not. Meanwhile, NATO is in the process of organizing the provision of F-16s and other advanced weaponry to Ukraine.

Phase III. Despair

The conflict has now escalated to its most critical stage when desperate people do desperate things. As the tables turned in favor of Russia, NATO is running out of options. The situation led to a series of reckless and incendiary remarks from Western officials and NATO leaders advocating for a significant escalation of the conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders by launching attacks on Russia territory using long-range missiles supplied by NATO countries.

The US and its NATO partners are delusional and fail to realize that they are facing an unwinnable situation. It is the immutable fact that a nuclear-armed state cannot be defeated. If Ukraine loses, it will be perceived as NATO’s defeat. Conversely, if Russia falters, it will inevitably result in a nuclear war. Two and half years ago, NATO leaders provoked the Russian invasion, leading to a tragic outcome. Now, as to validate their lack of sanity, they are frantically escalating the conflict, which may lead to a catastrophe. Clearly, regardless of how we analyze the situation, it is becoming increasingly dire for the US and its allies militarily and geopolitically.

During the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe on December 5, 1994, Russia’s president, Boris Yeltsin, vehemently accused Clinton of “trying to split [the] continent again through NATO’s eastward expansion.” President Biden has taken it a step further; he is, by inciting conflict with Russia, on a mission to split the world.

The conflict has facilitated the creation of a formidable anti-Western coalition currently consisting of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Other countries will likely join it in the future as the war continues. And it will, as NATO has been better at starting wars than at knowing how to finish them. If the coalition evolves into an alliance, it will surpass NATO in terms of human and natural resources, economic power, and military capabilities. Ultimately, it might be America’s most critical geopolitical blunder ever, as this rival may weaken America’s dominance and diminish its influence.

In his essay “Perpetual Peace,” philosopher Immanuel Kant argued three centuries ago that humanity’s path to universal peace would be through human insight or catastrophic conflict.

Regretfully, as long as we are led by untutored people who lack moral and strategic foresight and fail to grasp the perilous nature of the policies they promote, and as long as we have a military alliance that, after fulfilling its original purpose, seeks out new adversaries to justify its existence, peace by way of human insight appears increasingly remote.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

Welcome to 

The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

Here’s a place to share cartoons, jokes, music, art, nature, 

man-made wonders, and whatever else you can think of. 

No politics or divisive posts on this thread. 

This feature will appear every day at 1pm mountain time. 

Debunking the Remaining Myth: Biden Has Never Been a 'Decent Man'

Jim Thompson reporting for RedState 

The last embedded myth about Joe Biden is that he’s a decent man. Like the rest of his life’s story, his “decency” is a made-up contrivance.  

Biden has a habit of abusing the dead to his own end. Biden’s first wife Neilia and infant daughter died in a car crash. Neilia Biden was holding their daughter while driving. The accident was entirely her fault. She had a stop sign that she either blew through or didn’t check left and right before proceeding. The Biden car was broadsided by a truck driven by Curtis Dunn. It didn’t take long for Joe to blame Dunn, who was immediately determined to be blameless.  

But Joe has never needed facts or evidence to back up his myths. Joe is infamous for puffing his résumé and his life’s history. Without a shred of evidence, Joe claimed Dunn was drunk when Neilia drove into Dunn’s right-of-way.  

“To the loved ones of the victims, there is nothing really we can say to erase this tragedy. And, those of you who think it's presumptuous of me to say that ... in a different circumstance, I got one of those phone calls ... I got a phone call saying, "Your wife's dead; your daughter's dead." And I've only said that three times in public before. But, I say it here because it's so important for you to understand. I got one of those phone calls. It was an errant driver who stopped to drink instead of drive and hit a tractor-trailer, hit my children and my wife and killed them.  

Whenever he thought blaming a blameless man would advance his credibility, he would repeat that lie. “Dead men tell no tales,” and for Biden, it became a convenient lie because the only people who could correct that myth were dead. (Dunn passed away in 1999.) 

His eldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer. Tragic, yes. Did he die as a result of military service? No. Biden has repeated that lie ad nauseam, and cravenly in front of troops in uniform.  

“Just imagine, I mean it sincerely, I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the conspicuous service medal, and lost his life in Iraq. Imagine the courage, the daring, and the genuine sacrifice they all made.”

Beau was a JAG stationed in Iraq. Beau spent his time reading after-action reports and writing reports in his air-conditioned office. He wasn’t infantry, but you would never know that when you listen to Joe Biden talk. His desk wasn’t next to the Camp Victory burn pit. His Bronze Star was handed to him because he was Joe Biden’s son. 

William McGurn, a speechwriter for Bush 43, penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal castigating Biden for his constant misuse of Beau's service. “Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV.” Yet Biden has used and abused his dead son as a prop whenever he can. I suspect that Beau would be embarrassed to be used as a prop for Joe’s fables.  

Biden is the original Borker. When Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Biden was the chair of the Judicial Committee. Bork was far and away the most qualified person to be nominated to the Supreme Court, yet Biden treated Bork with abject cruelty. Biden smiled after each comment, but Biden's toothy smile was like a serial killer’s about to plunge the knife in. Even the Washington Post found his methods repugnant.  

While claiming that Judge Bork will have a full and fair hearing, Senator Joseph Biden this week has pledged to civil rights groups that he will lead the opposition to the confirmation. As the Queen of Hearts said to Alice, “Sentence first—Verdict Afterward.”

Biden's phoniness was just warming up. Everything about Biden was phony from his smile to his hairplugged head. Biden used his assassination of Bork’s character to propel himself into a run for president. It was with his run for the presidency that Biden’s myth-weaving went into overdrive.  

He claimed he went to law school on “a full academic scholarship.” No, he didn’t. He claimed he had three degrees from college. No, he didn’t. He claimed he was in the “top half” of his law school class. No, he wasn’t — in fact, he was in the bottom third.  

Biden also pilfered part of Neil Kinnock’s life story by stealing one of his speeches, almost word for word. 

Back in the 1980s, there seemed to be journalists willing to point out his résumé lies. Biden dropped out of the run for the presidency. But he didn’t own up to his lies – he just admitted to unintentional errors and slinked back to the Senate. 

We've since learned that Biden attended Black churches growing up, was raised by Puerto Ricans, was arrested trying to see Nelson Mandela, and was arrested for protesting for civil rights. His house nearly burned down. He’s claimed he taught Con Law and drove a semi-truck. He’s claimed that he was a football star and hit a line drive 368 feet off the center field wall during the second Congressional Baseball Game. None of those things actually happened.

Four years ago, my buddy Sister Todjah wrote about this remaining myth — the myth of his "decency." People like Maria Shriver swooned over Biden and his "decency" myth. No surprise, considering that Shriver grew up in a family of Camelot myth-weavers. 

Although Biden’s press secretary and chief gaslighter might now claim that the dozens of videos showing Biden grabbing young girls and sniffing hair are all “cheap fakes,” we have all seen Biden doing those things — touching women and women recoiling. Women have credibly accused Biden of sexual harassment. Biden’s own daughter wrote about “daddy” showering with her. 

Biden has insulted constituents who have questioned him. He claimed to be a uniter, then stood in front of cameras at Independence Hall bathed in blood-red lighting and delivered a hateful rant insulting half the country.  

Until he was shamed into admitting to the existence of his seventh grandchild, a little girl named Navy, she didn’t exist for "decent man" Joe Biden. No Christmas stocking for Navy.  

Biden has a well-earned reputation as a nitwit. He was the only person in the room to object to the Bin Laden raid. His boss, Barack, famously said we shouldn't underestimate Joe's ability to “f*** things up."  

Biden’s celebrity chums now admit that Biden is a cognitive mess, a wreck of epic proportions, but at his core, they claim, Joe's a “decent man.”   

No, he is not a decent man. He’s never been a decent man. Before Joe Biden drifted into complete incoherence, he was a nasty, vindictive "Queen of Hearts" who fell upwards his entire career. And he’s lied all the way while doing it. He’s abused the truth like a wife-beating drunk beats his mate. He’s always been a miserable human being, but now he’s a cognitive mess who can’t be prosecuted because he’s a befuddled old coot.  

Sorry, not sorry, libs. Joe Biden has never been a decent man.   

In Calling For Biden To Cancel His Campaign, Democrats Show Their Moral Bankruptcy

It is not Trump who represents a threat to our country but those who seek to supplant the choice of the people and the Constitution. 

posted by Margot Cleveland at The Federalist

Since Joe Biden’s disastrous debate two weeks ago, the country has witnessed a crazed spectacle as the Biden administration, the left, and the press scrambled to control the narrative. For the first time in at least a decade, however, there was no agreed-upon solution to the problem of Biden.

There was nonetheless one unified message: Donald Trump is an existential threat to our democracy. Yet the fallout from Biden’s dementia-laced performance reveals that the true existential threat to America comes from Trump’s enemies, not the former president.

Anti-Democracy Democrats

Consider, for instance, the calls for Joe Biden to step down as the Democrat candidate for president, which began even before the first lady helped her husband down the steps of the CNN stage in Atlanta. Those urging the president to abandon his reelection campaign frame the issue at hand as Biden’s inability to effectively campaign and defeat Trump in November. They raise no concerns over Biden’s continued service as commander-in-chief, however.

To replace Biden on the November ballot would require the DNC to disregard its primary voters who selected the president as their candidate of choice, and that is after the party purposefully kept Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off the primary ballot. It would be one thing to put aside the outcome of the primary because the party concluded Biden can’t serve as commander-in-chief. But no Democrats seem to be taking that position. All they care about is beating Trump. 

That theme remained paramount even two weeks into the scandal. Frankly, it is quite shocking to see a stream of Democrats parading before the cameras and calling for Biden to quit the race, yet hypocritically ignoring his inability to continue serving as president. 

Wednesday offered a perfect illustration of this bizarre juxtaposition when longtime DNC booster George Clooney proclaimed the party should replace Biden on the ticket. Significantly, Clooney said that “the president he saw at a fundraiser in June ‘was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.’”

And what we all witnessed at the debate was a man incapable of executing the duties of the president of the United States! Yet Clooney made no call for Biden to step down as president. 

Every member of the Biden administration saw often and in close quarters the reality Clooney witnessed last month. Yet rather than use the procedures provided for in the 25th Amendment, they opt to run the presidency for Biden — another gross attack on America’s constitutional republic.

Biden backers are no better, for they too recognize the incapacity of the president and justify retaining him at the top of the ticket merely because they believe he represents their best chance to defeat Trump in the general election. But if elected, Biden will be nothing but a figurehead, with the unknown permanent political class running the executive branch in his stead.

Corrupt Media

The press’s response to Biden’s crumbling on the Atlanta stage is equally appalling — not because they ignored what every American saw but because they pretended the president and his handlers deceived them about Biden’s condition. And make no mistake: The media haven’t found journalism. Rather, the legacy press’s current harsh coverage of Biden serves only to force Democrats to replace him on the ticket before it is too late.

Two weeks before the debate, the media had no qualms about lying to Americans about Biden’s mental capacity, peddling the narrative that evidence of his cognitive condition was a cheap fake. Only after an abysmal 90-minute exhibition by the president — which made it impossible for the press to continue to hide the truth — did coverage change. Even then, the legacy press refused to provide balanced coverage of the debate, which would have presented Biden as both incompetent and a liar. Instead, the corporate media framed Biden as a cognitively challenged truth-teller, while branding even pure puffery by Trump as lies.

Watching the legacy media finally challenge Democrats over Biden’s condition provides a stark reminder that the press hasn’t been doing its job of truth-telling for a long time. On the contrary, over the last eight years, the corrupt media have interfered in our elections and the governance of our elected officials, from pushing the Russia hoax to framing the Hunter Biden laptop as disinformation, and everything in between. The free press of generations past has become a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party, and self-government is suffering as a result.

Bad Bureaucrats

Democrats are not the only ones partnering with the press to obstruct the will of the American people: The hordes of bureaucrats controlling the three branches of government are equally complicit.

In New York, we saw a conflicted state court judge enter ruling upon ruling against Donald Trump, leading to his conviction on trumped-up criminal charges — charges that allow Democrats to now brand the Republican as a convicted felon. And that is only one of the many cases targeting the former president to keep him out of the White House. Prosecuting political enemies is the stuff of banana republics, not our great republic.

Before that and during his time in office, the FBI and intelligence agencies sought to oust Trump, with another bureaucrat launching the first impeachment canard based on a call between the commander-in-chief and Ukraine. Those opposing the duly elected 45th president took such pride in their attacks on the man Americans choose to lead our country that they self-identified as “the resistance.”

Other bureaucrats conspired with social media companies to silence Trump and his supporters. And current and former members of intelligence agencies conspired with the Biden campaign to deceive the American public the month before the 2020 election that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.

It is not Trump who represents an existential threat to our country but those who seek to supplant the choice of the people and the Constitution and rule the country according to their own predilections. In other words, it’s Democrats, the corrupt media, and the vast bureaucratic apparatus controlling our elections. 

Why Biden's NATO Presser Likely Frustrated the Dem Dump Biden Crowd

Matt Vespa reporting for Townhall 

Joe Biden was two hours late to his “big boy” presser at the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., likely because he was rehearsing the answers for all the questions from the pre-approved reporter list. It was all part of the guardrails set up at this event, including the president reading poorly from a teleprompter.

He called Trump his vice president out of the gate, which probably gave everyone in the Democratic Party agita. For those tasked with transcribing this presser, please say a prayer for them—it will be a long night. Yet, while choppy, fraught with lies, and awkward moments—Biden resurrected creepy whispering again—it was good enough to give the president another few days of oxygen.

This presser was very much received like the ABC News interview, which was also a trainwreck but not seen as disqualifying or a true killshot to the Biden candidacy. With the president’s schedule over the next few days being leaked beforehand, it was clear that he would not announce his departure from the office, though that was true pie-in-the-sky speculation; Biden is supposed to sit down with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday. 

Folks, I’m not saying that Biden had a great night. It was terrible, but not a Chernobyl-style meltdown that would have given ‘dump Biden’ Democrats the magic bullet they needed to end this presidency. Like he did with George Stephanopoulos, Biden did well enough to keep the wolves within the Democratic Party at bay but didn’t knock it out of the park to the point where voters’ attitudes have changed regarding his mental health (via Politico):

“Unreal,” said one House Democrat watching the appearance, responding to the flub, who ultimately reviewed it as: "Mixed. Obviously much better second half." Another Democrat, who was following Biden’s remarks from a plane Biden’s remarks from a plane, texted about the Trump moment: “Ouch." 

"Overall he sounded coherent but calling Z — President Putin and Harris — VP Trump overshadows the rest of his time," that lawmaker added. Democrats were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their reactions to the press conference. 

Still, it wasn’t as bad as some Democrats feared. Biden flexed his foreign policy chops — including his role in expanding NATO — and defended his record of legislative accomplishments. Those moments, as well as a jab at Trump’s golf game, drew positive reviews from Democrats watching.

“Holy shit — he’s on fire,” texted one aide as Biden lit into Trump’s record. 

[…] 

The whole thing could put Democrats in an even more awkward position than before. Despite deep discontent with their nominee, the performance wasn't bad enough to trigger party-wide movement toward Harris or others. While at least a half-dozen Democrats had prepared statements to come out against Biden if he had tanked in the press conference, it remained unclear, as of Thursday night, whether it had met their bar.

Three-fourths of the country thinks he’s too old to be effective. You cannot win with those numbers. The Democrats are also stuck on both fronts: they can’t boot Biden, nor is Kamala a better alternative. The former president is beating both. It also helps when the media doesn't ask tough questions; I'll get more into that later. 

It's political purgatory, and the Democrats have not found a roadmap out of it, with time rapidly running out. It might have already, to be honest. 

Will Biden Cling To Power In 2024 The Way Democrats Predicted Trump Would In 2020?

The greatest threat to a peaceful transition of power comes from the incumbent and his administration.

posted by Chuck DeVore at the Federalist

In 2020, a group of leftist academics, politicians, and journalists, augmented by Republicans afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome, came together under the name the “Transition Integrity Project” (TIP-2020) to produce a report. Notable participants included John Podesta, former Bill Clinton White House chief of staff; Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor and former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy and former governor of Michigan.

TIP-2020 was an extended brainstorming session where a hopelessly mirror-imaging left fantasized about scenarios where President Trump would never admit defeat and use extraordinary, unconstitutional, and violent means to remain in office.

What happened, of course, was a disorganized mob descending on a Capitol that was virtually undefended, thanks to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s concern for optics — hardly the stuff of a successful coup.

Revealingly, the TIP-2020 team themselves admitted to the likelihood of violence on the left aimed at influencing the election, with page 9 of their report noting, “Team Biden almost always called for and relied on mass protests…”

But one thing that TIP-2020 got right is that an incumbent president poses the greatest threat to an orderly transition of power after an election. What TIP-2020 was blinded to is that the left is more inclined by ideology to see elections in existential terms — hence, “defending democracy” requires opposition to former President Trump by any means necessary.

This has resulted in a series of unprecedented legal cases against Trump. Lawfare has replaced campaigning as the preferred method of prevailing in an election.

With this concern, Professor Adam Ellwanger approached the Heritage Foundation’s Mike Howell in the spring with the idea that conservatives should assemble their own Transition Integrity Project. Ellwanger understood that, unlike Trump, Biden’s team was far more likely to get serious about employing extraconstitutional means to maintain Biden’s hold on power.

Identifying Likely Post-Election Threats

As it happened, Mike Howell was a veteran of the Coming Border Crisis simulation I designed and led in December 2020 — an effort that predicted with great accuracy the chaos on the border unleashed by Biden’s policies. Howell contacted me and asked me to assemble an academic exercise that would apply the rigor of military war gaming to the problem of anticipating how the 2024 election might feature unprecedented efforts to reverse an election loss.

The result was an effort that ran for 10 days and was completed on June 21. It brought together 50 experts, including a former Democratic U.S. senator, former high-ranking federal officials, retired military and law enforcement officers, attorneys, journalists, and academics in the Transition Integrity Project 2024 (TIP-2024).

TIP-2024 ran two simultaneous academic exercises to look at the what-ifs arising from the coming campaign season through the post-election certification period.

The primary takeaway from the effort is stark and clear: The greatest threat to a peaceful and routine transition of presidential power always comes from the incumbent president.

We conducted these exercises to educate the public about possible disruptions and threats to the upcoming presidential election. The team role-played various scenarios set against a backdrop of significant domestic and international issues, including inflation, mass illegal immigration, ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, escalating tensions from a bellicose China, and more.

TIP-2024’s simulations revealed four main threats to a free and fair election and a peaceful transition of power:

Lawfare: The use of the U.S. Department of Justice to claim civil rights and voting rights violations at the state level, potentially intervening in state certification of election results.

Terrorism: Deployment of organized domestic violence to intimidate state and local officials from following election law.

Information Shaping: Legacy and social media conducting information operations to ensure the public sees the official version of reality.

Federal Law Enforcement: Federal law enforcement used to arrest opponents of the regime.

These scenarios underscored that the incumbent administration has significant means to disrupt the election process. The Biden administration, like any other incumbent administration, is well-positioned to leverage governmental power to influence the election outcome. This includes using federal agencies and law enforcement to suppress opposition and manipulate the information landscape.

An Administration Willing to Defy the Constitution

The Biden administration has shown a consistent willingness to defy constitutional limits and norms, from border policies to routine court rulings. This raises concerns about their potential to use executive power to maintain control, particularly as they claim that the opposition is an existential threat to democracy.

Recent polling shows a majority of Americans believe Trump is more trustworthy to protect self-government than Biden. This distrust in the current administration’s intentions further highlights the need for vigilance and preparation for potential election disruptions.

TIP-2024’s exercises provide a roadmap for understanding and anticipating these threats. They emphasize the importance of securing the election process and ensuring a peaceful transition of power. TIP-2024 key recommendations are:

Maintain vigilance against lawfare: It is crucial to recognize politically motivated legal actions as a form of election interference and to challenge them vigorously in courts.

Promote transparency in federal agencies: Intelligence and law enforcement decisions should be transparent and free from ideological bias to maintain public trust.

Secure the electoral process: States must enforce existing election laws and precedents, ensuring that voter eligibility and identification laws are strictly followed. 

Prepare for public demonstrations: Peaceful demonstrations defending constitutional governance and lawful elections should be organized to counteract procedural abuses.

Expect and counter disinformation: Efforts by foreign adversaries to interfere in the election should be anticipated and countered with public awareness and accurate information dissemination.

The lessons from TIP-2024’s exercises are clear. The greatest threat to a peaceful transition of power comes from the incumbent and his administration.

As we approach the 2024 election, it is imperative to remain vigilant, uphold the rule of law, and ensure that the voice of the American people is heard and respected.