Axios: Biden May Stay Because the Person Who His Staying Will Make President Is Unelectable

At Axios, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write that:

The only way President Biden steps aside, despite his debate debacle, is if the same small group of lifelong loyalists who enabled his run suddenly — and shockingly — decides it’s time for him to call it quits.

They then suggest that:

If Biden stays in, it’s for the same reason he decided to run again: He and the oligarchy believe he has a much better chance of beating former President Trump than Vice President Harris does.

Which is a problem because:

Biden allies have played out the scenarios and see little chance of anyone besides Harris winning the nomination if he stepped aside.

Okay. But that’s the same Vice President Harris who would have to take over for Biden in a second term, is it not? In effect, the argument here is that Biden should probably step aside because he’s too old, but that he can’t step aside until after the election because the person who would succeed him is unelectable, so he should stay in the race until November and then hand over the keys to that person, who would not be voted in under her own steam.

Ethically, that sounds kinda . . . fraudulent. There’s a big, big difference between a VP taking over because something unexpected happens to the president, and what Axios is implying here — which is that the Democrats are going to put aside their fears that the president is unfit for office right now so that the person they think is a worse electoral option than the staggeringly unpopular and almost-certainly-senile incumbent can be smuggled in and inevitably — yes, inevitably; that’s the inference to be drawn — take over the country before 2029.