I’ve seen a number of posts making the same point: why are the press and democratic elites telling Biden to drop out when no one is telling Trump to do so. Trump committed CRIMES. Obviously anyone on this site agrees in substance that Trump should never become president again. But that is not the point and is not why people are piling on Biden now. For well or ill, it’s about electability.
The difference is that Biden is already behind in the polls nationally and in worse shape in the battleground states. Trump was ahead, got convicted of crimes, and was still ahead (although his lead narrowed a bit). If Trump was behind, got convicted, and fell even further behind, you can bet the media would point out that maybe that wasn’t a winning proposition. Maybe not Fox, but credible news sources. Sure, Republicans would stand by their man (because they are morons). They would get trounced, and we would all laugh at them.
Unfortunately, Trump isn’t behind, Biden is. The question for us is (1) whether the age issue is too much of a drag to overcome in light of the polling deficit and (2) whether Joe still has full set of political skills necessary to make a comeback. Unfortunately, a lot of us believe the answer to both questions is no. Can Biden hold steady well enough to maintain the status quo? Probably, but we can’t live with the status quo. We need a shakeup.
For what it’s worth, a Harris/Whitmer ticket would shake things up A LOT. Just imagine for a moment not only two women but two prosecutors running against Trump? The contrast would be stark. I get that Harris will get tied to some of the “bad” from the Biden administration like inflation, but that’s true of any Democrat (it was true of McCain when he followed Bush). She’d get at least a month of free airtime to promote a positive vision for the country given the media’s obsession with change and novelty. We could run for something, not just against Trump. And then we can pile on...