OPINION:
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So let’s get real, folks: President Biden isn’t going to run in 2024. It’s that simple.
On Tuesday, Axios penned a story that the big brains in the White House are trying to figure out how to make it so the president doesn’t fall down as much. The solution: Mr. Biden now wears tennis shoes more, and he takes the shorter back stairs onto Air Force One.
How’d that work out? Hours later, the 80-year-old president slipped and nearly tumbled down the 14-step staircase to AF1. He couldn’t handle 14 stairs. The guy’s done. A vast majority of Democrats don’t even want him to run again. He won’t.
Over to former President Donald Trump. Stick a fork in him. Just as Americans get ready to cast ballots in the presidential primaries, the Don will be headed to court — again and again and again.
He’s got three trials that’ll be coming up next year. Say whatever you want about his teflonability. This time, it’s gonna stick.
He’s been getting away with financial murder for years, but that string is ending. The same day Mr. Biden was trying not to fall down the stairs, a judge ruled that the 77-year-old former president committed fraud for years while building the vast real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and into the White House.
The judge found that Mr. Trump and his company deceived banks and insurers by greatly overvaluing assets and exaggerating Mr. Trump’s net worth on paper used in making deals and securing financing. By repeatedly lying about his assets on his annual financial statements, Mr. Trump and his company reaped favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums, the judge ruled.
And that’s just the beginning. The whole mess is going to unravel through 2024. It’s going to be bad. Mr. Trump is finished. Even his loyal MAGA minions (at least the ones who sport more than two brain cells) will bail on him.
So that leaves that other guy. What’s his name again? Florida governor, busy battling Disney over … what was it again? Right, Ron DeSantis. Done. Finished. Kaput.
Mr. DeSantis was all the rage heading into the 2024 cycle. Now, he’s an also-ran. His big-money donors are bailing as he continues to make missteps and reveal that he is — well, not that bright. Sure, that could change, but right now, his campaign is in the dumper, and his cache is negligible.
“You don’t get the assumption they are measuring drapes anymore — they are waiting for him to drop out,” one longtime Republican consultant told Politico last week. Billionaire Ken Griffin, who dumped $10 million on Mr. DeSantis’ 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial races, summed it up best as he announced he’s sitting out so far: He doesn’t understand who Mr. DeSantis is trying to appeal to.
Mr. Griffin is right, of course. America has some very serious problems, the least of which is Disney doing … I don’t even know. No one cares. Mr. DeSantis doesn’t seem to have a plan, and that’s an even more serious problem.
So who’s in? California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Compared with Mr. Biden, he’s Adonis incarnate. Young, handsome, viral, articulate, doesn’t occasionally spout racist stuff or fall down — perfect. And Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, also young and handsome, who avoided being tied to the MAGA Trump world in his last campaign via his political savvy.
Mr. Youngkin says he’s focused on Virginia. He isn’t. He’ll run. And I think Mr. Biden has already told Mr. Newsom he’ll bless his campaign. Mr. Biden sure doesn’t want Vice President Kamala Harris running. Remember, he (not so) secretly hates her.
Earlier this year, Mr. Youngkin, 56, posted a slick video on social media.
“We can usher in a new era of American values,” Mr. Youngkin said. “The stakes are high, and the consequences couldn’t be greater.”
Sounds like a presidential campaign ad, doesn’t it?
Mr. Youngkin is rolling in dough; he’s worth $500 million. Over the summer, he hobnobbed with donors in the Hamptons and on Nantucket. He knows that if he goes in ’24, the big-money donors — many the same ones who are abandoning Mr. DeSantis — will have his back.
Meanwhile, Mr. Newsom, 55, is set to debate Mr. DeSantis, 45. I’ve been covering politics for 35 years, and that seems odd. A governor debating a presidential candidate? That’s never happened. Ever.
Let’s get real, folks. It might be Biden vs. Trump come November 2024. Those 35 years don’t mean diddly. But my guess is there’s a sea change coming.
“Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange,” William Shakespeare wrote.
Rich and strange indeed. That’s 2024 in a nutshell.
• Joseph Curl is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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