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Yesterday, I wrote that if President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race, he should also resign. It was definitely a provocative idea, and for some it felt like a stretch since there were so many uncertainties (those people were not afraid to tell me so on social media), including whether Biden would ever actually withdraw.
Today, Biden withdrew. The case for him resigning is clearer than ever. Here is the original argument that ran yesterday, slightly updated for what we know now:
Former President Donald Trump is an existential threat to America. He has menaced us with a promise to be a dictator on day one of a second term, using the same just-kidding-but-maybe-not tone with which he suggested nuking hurricanes and injecting disinfectants to treat Covid infections. His tenure in office—and previous life of imperious lawbreaking—are testaments to how much he means it. Not to mention that his team has written a plan to do it.
The crushing urgency of defeating that threat is why senior Democrats were so desperate for Biden to withdraw from the race. Public polling showed him trailing by 3 to 10 points in the swing states and even putting solid blue states like Virginia at risk. Private polling almost certainly looked even worse: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw it and decided not only that Biden couldn't win, but also that his presence on the ballot risked a down-ballot wipeout. And Donald Trump holding in his hands a governing majority in both chambers of Congress, a Supreme Court ruling that presidents can act with almost total impunity, and a party faithful that chants "Fight! Fight! Fight!" with one arm raised (in a gruesome historical echo) when they are trying to be at their most conciliatory is terrifying indeed.
Until recently, it seemed that if Biden were to withdraw, the best thing would still be neither to anoint a successor nor to leave decisions to an open convention. Rather, it would have been best for Democrats to follow a disciplined, strategic plan for nominating the strongest possible replacement and setting them on a winning path. I even wrote the outline of such a plan and laid out why it would work.
But that was two weeks ago. Precious time evaporated. And Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. It is now virtually certain that Harris will be the Democrats' nominee.
Hence, we can take the argument to its logical conclusion. If Trump represents an extinction level event for the country, and the objective is to get the strongest possible Democratic ticket in order to defeat him, and if that ticket is going to be led by Kamala Harris, wouldn't a President Harris be a more formidable candidate than Vice President Harris?
The answer is an obvious yes.
Until now, Harris has suffered the curse of all vice presidents: responsibility without power. She has to own everything that's unpopular about the presidential term—inflation, immigration, and crime being at the top of the list this year—without the real authority to do anything about it.
By resigning and bequeathing the country-saving mission to a now-President Harris, Biden could give her a huge turbo boost of momentum. The remaining months before the election would leave enough time and opportunity for presidential action to recast Harris' image for those voters paying attention, and introduce her for the first time to the critical but aggressively tuned out bloc of voters who will likely decide the outcome.
A President Harris could carve out breathing space on inflation by announcing actions on her own economic agenda. She could tweak Biden's rent price cap proposal, announce new initiatives to control the cost of medicines, even take a turn at the usual White House popularity trick of releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices.
A President Harris could (with tacit acceptance from now-former Biden, who would have to take the long view of how much better his tenure would be remembered if it did not get erased by a second Trump term) throw Biden under the bus on border policy, demonstrating through executive orders that she would take a more stringent course on immigration.
A President Harris could lean into her bio as a tough-on-crime prosecutor and demand legislation from Congress to strengthen policing.
She could give Oval Office addresses and Rose Garden speeches, do photo ops with world leaders, and give media interviews from the Resolute desk. She could exercise her powers as commander-in-chief. She could be presidential.
Don't undersell the psychological value of that last point. People have a hard time picturing new and different things. Kamala Harris would be aiming to be the first woman, and second person of color, to occupy the oval office. Overcoming inherent biases is hard enough. It would be a lot easier after voters had seen Harris in charge. That's why car dealers are so eager for potential buyers to take a test drive.
Is this scenario unrealistic? Possibly, but don't dismiss it either. A month ago, the notion of President Biden withdrawing from the race would have read like West Wing fan fiction. Plus, it's hard to know what a patriot who has spent five decades in the highest levels of public service to America may decide, especially with history's judgement on the line.
And would there be risks? Of course. The brighter spotlight on a President Kamala Harris is not necessarily what Democrats want, given that their best hope is to keep the focus on the dangers of Trump. But there's no avoiding the bright lights of a campaign. So, what if they're a little brighter? And a few readers yesterday pointed out that resigning would put Mike Johnson a heartbeat away from the presidency for the next six months until the current presidential term ends. That is scary. But the prospect of a renewed Trump presidency is even scarier. The tradeoff is worth it.
Everything is at stake, so, everything within the law should be on the table. If Biden is going to withdraw, and if he's going to anoint Harris as his successor, then he should go all the way with it. Resign, make Harris president, and give us the best chance to save the country.
Matt Robison is a writer, podcast host, and former congressional staffer.
The views in this article are the writer's own.
This article has been updated to reflect the news of President Biden's decision not to continue his reelection bid.
