Dissecting the Corpse
Here comes the DNC's "autopsy" on the 2024 debacle.
Dysfunction on Display
The New York Times
Breaking News: Democrats released a draft autopsy on Kamala Harris’s defeat in the 2024 election that partly blames Joe Biden’s political operation, and arguing that it failed to position her for success in the race after he dropped out.
Correcting the Times, the report is in “draft” form, despite promises to have released it a year ago. A “draft” submitted this far after the due date is, in actuality, the final edition.
I believe Democrats released a copy of their autopsy that is meant to look like a draft, to excuse giant gaps in the analysis.
You may read the full report HERE.
It’s overly-long (192 pp.), never mention U.S. funding Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and makes dozens of (noted in redline) unfounded assertions, which are used to draw conclusions. The Democrats’ autopsy was written by someone who understood mentioning U.S. support for Zionist expansionism would be politically-unpopular, and would open one up to public accusations of anti-Jewish sentiments.
It’s fan fiction.
Election Interference is an International Tradition
The Democrats’ autopsy mentions election interference one time, in 2016, but does not mention by whom. The FBI has reported that every presidential election since 2016 (when it became a focal point) has seen foreign entities employing various information channels in attempts to influence voting.
In 2020, search warrants from Trump aide Roger Stone’s obstruction/false statements/witness tampering criminal case revealed communications between him and Israeli officials, coordinating efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
From the article:
The explicit reference to Israel appears early in the text of a May 2018 affidavit by an FBI agent in support of an application for a search warrant, and relates to communication between Stone and Jerome Corsi, an American author, commentator and conspiracy theorist. “On August 20, 2016, CORSI told STONE that they needed to meet with [NAME REDACTED] to determine “what if anything Israel plans to do in Oct,” the affidavit states.
The explicit reference to Jerusalem appears later in the same document, in the context of communication between Stone and his unnamed contact in the Israeli capital. “On or about August 12, 2016, [NAME REDACTED] messaged STONE, “Roger, hello from Jerusalem. Any progress? He is going to be defeated unless we intervene. We have critical intell. The key is in your hands! Back in the US next week. How is your Pneumonia? Thank you. STONE replied, “I am well. Matters complicated. Pondering. R” The “he” is an apparent reference to Trump.
While much has been made about Russian interference in 2016 (from social media bots, to meeting with Trump’s family in person, in his house in NYC), Israel’s involvement had much less attention paid to it.
It turns out the Russians were not the only foreigners taking meetings in Trump Tower in the months leading up to the 2016 election:
An Israeli firm under investigation by the FBI was approached by a senior official from Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to use social media manipulation on Trump’s behalf and against his rivals, including by creating thousands of fake online identities, according to a report Monday.
Psy-Group created several secretive proposals for the Trump campaign at the behest of Rick Gates, who has since pleaded guilty and offered to cooperate with the FBI probe into foreign meddling in the US election, The New York Times reported.
According to the report, Psy-Group, which employed former Israeli intelligence officers before undergoing liquidation, offered to engineer campaigns in support of Trump using social media manipulation against both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and Republican Senator Ted Cruz, whom the campaign feared could attempt to push an insurgent nomination effort at the Republican Convention in Cleveland.
While Gates ultimately rejected the proposals, according to the Monday report, Psy-Group head Joel Zamel apparently outlined the idea to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. at a August 3, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
George Nader, a longtime close adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed of Abu Dhabi who was also at that meeting, paid Zamel $2 million after the election, according to the reports. Nader and Zamel have provided differing accounts for the reason behind the payment.
Did Israel make efforts to help Trump win in 2024, as they did in 2016? Prior actions (especially unaddressed transgressions) are likely to be repeated, when they have produced desired outcomes in the past.
The Problem was Biden, But Not as the Autopsy Says
Gerontocracy has become a problem in American politics due to the corporate capitalist political cartel, not the Constitution. There is nothing in the Constitution that confers greater political authority to a candidate, over time. Seniority is made meaningful through formal and informal party rules—and is achieved through demonstrating loyalty to the party. This becomes self-reinforcing: A large reason why well more than 90% of Congressional incumbents seeking re-election win is because the party insulates them from internal challengers.
When Bernie Sanders came in from outside the Democratic Party to show them there was a huge “progressive” voting bloc the Democrats had ignored for thirty years, the DNC conspired with lifetime insider Hillary Clinton, to give her exclusive support through the primaries. Protecting and promoting insiders helps preserve party power in Congress, and also makes for a median age of 57 for Representatives (32 years beyond minimum age) and 64 for Senators (34 years beyond minimum age).
These average ages for our Legislators are eight years and one year, before the traditional “retirement age” (unlike most Americans, their job carries a fat pension, and they can afford to retire at 65).
While one may make a case that a 65-year-old remains capable of performing in a life-role job (where one lives their occupation, 24/7), we are not being unfair to say that people in their 80’s will invariably have less stamina and will be outdone by those thirty or forty years younger. Until the Baby Boomers aged into their 70’s, this was widely understood to be the case for 70-year-olds as well—but they are a generation that refused to accept aging and forced this conceit upon the rest.
But back in 2019, when just the eldest Boomers were hitting 70+, there remained the recognition that 80 years of age is probably too old to handle the Presidency. While never saying so himself, Joe Biden’s aides floated the reasonable expectation that he would hold the office for one term and let his VP and cabinet vie for the 2024 nomination.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has reportedly indicated that he would only serve for one term if elected to the presidency.
Several sources within the Biden campaign told Politico that the 2020 Democratic candidate would not run for reelection in 2024, when he would be 82 years old.
“If Biden is elected, he’s going to be 82 years old in four years and he won’t be running for reelection,” a prominent adviser to the campaign told Politico.
A 2020 front-runner, Biden, has faced questions about his age and fitness to serve in the White House.
Campaign advisers argue that announcing his intention to only serve one term and signalling that he will choose a younger running mate and cabinet would increase Biden’s chances of being the Democratic nominee.
“This makes Biden a good transition figure,” the adviser said, while another said Biden wants to find a running mate that he “can turn things over to after four years.”
“He’s going into this thinking, ‘I want to find a running mate I can turn things over to after four years but if that’s not possible or doesn’t happen then I’ll run for re-election.’ But he’s not going to publicly make a one term pledge,” another adviser told Politico.
Asked in October if he would only serve one term if elected, the former vice president told the Associated Press that he wouldn’t make that promise but he wasn’t deeply committed to seeking a second term.
“I feel good and all I can say is, watch me, you’ll see,” Biden said. “It doesn’t mean I would run a second term. I’m not going to make that judgment at this moment.”
Biden, currently 77 years old, is among several candidates 70 and older. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is 78 years old and would be 79 upon taking office. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is months away from turning 78 and another front-runner, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is 70 years old.
In 2024, along with being one of the longest-serving Democrats in federal office, Joe Biden was the de facto leader of the Democratic party. Did he forget the sensible proposition his aides had floated, five years earlier, or was that its own form of cover for his advanced age at that time? Regardless, Joe and Barry (who was the leader in 2020 who got Pete and Amy to drop out the weekend before Super Tuesday, handing Biden his very first primary wins ever, and staving off another promising nomination bid by Bernie Sanders) decided that Joe was good for another go-round.
The beauty of Biden as a candidate, for Democrats, is that Trump could never call him out for his epochal failure to put one coup leader on trial. What was left of the Rule of Law, following Trump’s first term, was allowed to bleed out on the courthouse steps during Biden’s. That is why we are witness to today’s impunity for destroying federal property, taking emoluments worth billions, ordering war crimes, and most recently, open embezzlement from the Treasury with the help of Todd Blanche.
The Democrats lost in 2024 because they have been as dysfunctional as the Republicans since at least 2016, but unlike the Republicans the Democrats successfully fought off the most popular candidates willing to run under their banner. First by conspiring against Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020, and again—after Sanders acknowledged he is too old for the office—by discouraging candidates from running against Old Joe in 2024.
That’s why the Democratic candidate appeared enfeebled in the only Presidential debate he got to participate in, in the 2024 election cycle. Had there been a real primary, Biden would have been exposed far earlier, and the DNC would have had a much stronger, younger, and proven candidate to offer.
Would they have won, with the Biden/Harris policy positions? Not a chance, but then those would not have been the positions of the candidate that won the primaries and the nomination.
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