The enshittification of politics

[EarlG]

153. I'm in no way suggesting that Democrats want to lose

I'm suggesting that they've been put in an impossible position because of America's completely broken and corrupt campaign finance system.

Due to the amount of money in politics, Democrats cannot compete without big money donors. This means that big money donors get to call the shots, and we normal voters get shut out of the process.

If you're in Democratic leadership, and you get told by a number of big donors that if you don't call for Biden to step down, they'll pull funding from 30 House races, what are you supposed to do?

There may well be elected Democrats who are completely unaffected by this dynamic -- they really believe that we have a better chance of beating Donald Trump by ditching Biden and selecting someone else. Personally I think that's political suicide, but they can have that opinion.

But it seems obvious that there's much more to it than that. Wavering Democrats demanded that Biden jump through a series of hoops -- do a press conference, do an interview, get back out on the campaign trail -- and he's done all that. Biden's bad debate is now ancient history in political terms. Yet not only are the calls for him to step down getting louder, it's more obviously apparent that this is all being driven by big donors, rather than rank and file Democrats.

July 4, 2024:

Major Democratic Donors Devise Plans to Pressure Biden to Step Aside

After several days of quiet griping and hoping that President Biden would abandon his re-election campaign on his own, many wealthy Democratic donors are trying to take matters into their own hands.

Wielding their fortunes as both carrot and stick, donors have undertaken a number of initiatives to pressure Mr. Biden to step down from the top of the ticket and help lay the groundwork for an alternate candidate.

The efforts — some coordinated, some conflicting and others still nascent — expose a remarkable and growing rift between the party’s contributor class and its standard-bearer that could have an impact on down-ballot races, whether or not the donors influence Mr. Biden’s decision.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/us/politics/biden-donors.html

July 17, 2024:

Megadonors Are Plotting How Best to Change Biden’s Mind

“If you don’t publicly call for Biden to step aside, you are not getting a dime from me,” said Tom Strickler, the founder of Hollywood talent agency WME, to New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich’s team last Thursday. Strickler said he had been planning to financially support seven of the most vulnerable Democratic senators, but would not be doing so because they still backed Biden’s candidacy.

“It’s a message that I’ve encouraged my friends to send as well,” Strickler said. “If you back Biden, you will lose our support. Over and out.”

https://newrepublic.com/post/183957/megadonors-plotting-change-biden-mind

July 20:

New ads push Biden to drop out of the race, funded by mysterious new super PAC

A mysterious new political action committee has spent $36,000 on ads urging President Joe Biden to leave the 2024 race, including in his home state, Delaware, during "Morning Joe," his favorite television program.

Pass the Torch PAC was created July 9, according to records from the Federal Election Commission, 12 days after Biden's disastrous debate against Donald Trump, during which the president appeared to lose his train of thought and failed to counter his opponent's statements.

Aaron Regunberg, a former Democratic state lawmaker from Rhode Island, told USA TODAY he is a co-founder of the group but declined to say who is financing it.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143275837

Meanwhile, July 21 (today):

Democratic Party chairs in 7 battleground states reaffirm support for Biden

Democratic Party chairs of seven critical battleground states Sunday reaffirmed their support for President Joe Biden, urging their fellow Democrats to focus on beating former President Donald Trump while many in the party are trying to push Biden to drop out.

In an open letter to Democrats obtained by USA TODAY, the party chairs argued Democrats have a unified message of "freedom, democracy, and an economy that works for working people" that can beat Trump's "MAGA threat of abortion bans, dictatorship, and giveaways to billionaires."

"But right now, many voters aren’t hearing that from our party. We understand the anxiety. But the best antidote to political anxiety is taking action," they wrote in the letter. "When we all lend our voices to contrasting the Democratic vision — from Biden-Harris straight down the ticket — with the MAGA nightmare, we win."

The letter is signed by state Democratic Party chairs Ben Wilker of Wisconsin, Lavora Barnes of Michigan, Sharif Street of Pennsylvania, Anderson Clayton of North Carolina, Nikema Williams of Georgia, Yolanda Bejarano of Arizona and Daniele Monroe-Moreno of Nevada. The seven states are likely to decide the outcome of the 2024 election.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143276269