Biden vs Trump (Edit3)

Days after US President Joe Biden’s abysmal performance at the first presidential debate of the year, calls have been increasing to replace him as the party’s nominee. While such a move is not without precedent, it would still be highly unusual, especially since Biden has won almost 99% of votes cast in party primaries. However, he never had any real competition — party bigwigs apparently warned all serious challengers to sit this one out if they wanted their support in 2026. Now, instead of Democratic voters getting their preferred candidate, any replacement would be the party establishment’s choice who will likely fail to enthuse so-called independent voters, and will instead be reliant on anti-Trump sentiment, rather than their own appeal. It is also worth noting that Biden would have to withdraw himself for any change to be made, and he recently ruled this out.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favour of former president Donald Trump in a case regarding the extent of presidential immunity to the point where essentially, all official business is immune, and the president gets to decide what is official. The court is openly biased towards Trump. Remember six of the nine judges are Republican appointees, three of whom were put on the bench by Trump, and the wives of two others were revealed to support efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Not one of these five judges even considered recusing themselves. On the other hand, in her dissenting opinion, Obama-appointee Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority decision “invents immunity through brute force”, with “disastrous consequences for the Presidency and for our democracy” because it will “in effect, completely insulate Presidents from criminal liability”. Sotomayor noted that the ruling may also give presidents the right to overthrow elections and assassinate political rivals without consequence, and “because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.”

After decades of overthrowing democracies around the world, Biden and the Supreme Court are laying the path for Trump to overthrow its own.