President Biden says that he isn’t going anywhere, even as polls show that 72 percent of voters want someone else at the top of the ticket this year. Democratic donors are furious about this decision, and they are now threatening to revolt. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: President Biden says that he isn’t going anywhere even as polls show that 72% of voters want someone else at the top of the ticket. That’s easy to understand. Democratic donors are furious about this decision, and they’re now threatening to revolt. I’ve got Farron Cousins with me today, by far, one of the best progressive commentators in the business. Do you think this means anything? I mean, isn’t this a ship that can’t, they just have no ability to switch directions? It’s the Democratic behemoth ship that cannot change directions. What’s your take?
Farron Cousins: Yeah. I don’t think it matters how much outside pressure there is, even the high profile voices, whether it’s with Hollywood, whether it’s with the strategist class or with the donors, the decision is a hundred percent up to Biden. And with him being adamant saying, I’m not going anywhere, that’s the way it’s gonna be. Right? I mean, he got the votes in the primary. He’s won the states. We’ve got the rule for the convention that says if you vote for somebody that didn’t win your state, your vote doesn’t count. So it is what it is.
Mike Papantonio: It’s a box.
Farron Cousins: Like, it’s stuck.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. It’s a box. Even though 70% of progressives say that there needs to be a new guy in charge, the numbers are absolutely startling. And you’ve got this small group of progressives that are never gonna change his mind. You could have this babbling, incoherent idiot, doesn’t make any difference what’s going on in that position. They’re such team players. They wear the blue hat. They’re the ones that send in comments with the little blue stars. I mean, the little blue hearts all over those. You can’t change their mind. So I guess, at this point, it’s just something that’s gonna go forward and we’re gonna see how it lands. Right?
Farron Cousins: Right. And they say, hey, you’re helping Trump by bringing attention to Biden. No, we’re actually trying to beat Trump by bringing in somebody capable of beating Trump. So don’t come at me with those arguments because that is absolutely the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard these people say.
Mike Papantonio: It’s childlike thinking, isn’t it?
Farron Cousins: Well, and that’s the thing, is the donors understand that. They say, listen, the most important thing is to beat Donald Trump. Do the polls show that Biden can beat Donald Trump? No, they don’t. They absolutely do not show him winning and didn’t show him winning even before the debate.
Mike Papantonio: That’s right. And we’re in July. Okay. The best polls for Biden, the closest ones are the national polls, not state centered, not on states that are gonna make a difference in the election. If you look at those, it should scare the bejesus out of the Democrats.
Farron Cousins: Trump wins, I think 303 electoral college votes.
Mike Papantonio: That’s correct. That’s correct. So, we can do what we do every week. We can tell the truth about what we’re seeing. But you’re always gonna have that faction that is absolutely incapable of critical thinking. They’ve lost the ability to critical think. They have. I mean, even though the politicians are saying, well, we gotta jump in line, Jeffries, we gotta jump in line. Schumer, we gotta jump in line. AOC, oh yeah, he’s our guy. That might be happening. But you have donors, listen to this. Abigail Disney, Disney, she is huge, huge donor for the Democrats. She says, either you do something about this or I’m not gonna give you your money. Now will that change? It might. But it’s not a good message. Gideon Stein says, we’re gonna hold back three and a half million dollars until something happens. I mean, this is a big list. The list goes on and on.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. Tens of millions of dollars in this final stretch of the election that is either not gonna be flowing or some of them have said, listen, if you’re not gonna listen to us on the presidential ticket, then you’re digging your own grave. So what we’ll do, we’re gonna go support the down ballot Democrats.
Mike Papantonio: That’s right.
Farron Cousins: Give them money directly. Because here’s the thing, these swing state polls, every one, every swing state Trump is winning. But in those senate races, in those House races, the Democrats are winning.
Mike Papantonio: Democrats can win the down ticket. That’s why we’re saying this. To me, that’s why we’re saying, pay attention to what really matters. Carville has gone as far as saying, when they call you, when the Democrats call you for money, don’t return their call. Hold your, you know, it’s being called the Dembargo, the Biden Dembargo. And what we’re gonna do is hold back money. And you have this issue going on to where now he has to figure out, what do I do about the division? It’s very clear what he’s gonna do. He’s gonna pit one side, the elites. Right. You’re hearing, well, the Democratic elites, they don’t have any say here. What he’s doing is making it look like the rich white guys are making all the decisions and the African Americans and Hispanics and working union members, they don’t have anything in common with the elite white guys. When you have to divide your party, you have to literally divide your party, that’s pretty serious. And the unions, I can tell you, the unions are not behind this guy like he, I mean, all you gotta do is look at one isolated union. Hell, we’re seeing the stories all the time. No, we’re not behind him. So there’s not this broad, broad union protection that he has. But his theory is divide the party, rich, white elites versus poor working people. That’s the new attack. What do you think about that?
Farron Cousins: Yeah, it’s basically going out there saying like, oh, well these one percenters, they want me gone, but I’m standing for you. And it is trying to capitalize on like, hey, let me sound like Bernie Sanders here for a few minutes.
Mike Papantonio: Right, exactly.
Farron Cousins: But it’s total BS. I mean, this.
Mike Papantonio: He’s always been the elite. He’s come up as the elite.
Farron Cousins: For 52 years in Washington.
Mike Papantonio: 52 years he’s been the elite. And now all of a sudden, I’m not the elite. You know, there’s another part to this. Why is this, what’s this reaction? It’s gotta have something to do with his history. Do you remember when Obama talked him out of running the first time? Okay. Put up Hillary Clinton. And so, he wanted to run, he was furious that Obama was pushing Hillary Clinton and he might have been right. Had he run, we might not be where we are right now. But the point is he feels he has that history that he has to play to. And by God, nobody’s pushing me out this time. That’s kinda the way I see it too.
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