Statistician and writer Nate Silver now says he “crossed the Rubicon” in November about Joe Biden running for reelection, suggesting that the besieged president should “stand down” if he’s incapable of running a normal reelection campaign. Meaning, he says, activities like conducting a Super Bowl interview.
Needless to say, that ship sailed long ago.
In a Silver Bulletin on Monday, titled “It’s Time for the White House to Put Up or Shut Up,” Silver said the first time his “internal needle” began to shift was in late summer when “Biden’s approval numbers remained poor even as the economy was improving.” At the time, Silver blamed Biden’s advanced age.
Biden turned 81 in November (Trump is 77) — an enormous problem for voters and one that Democrats weren’t going to be able to spin away. Still, as of late September [2023], I thought that it had become too late for a full-fledged primary challenge to Biden, and Biden voluntarily announcing that he wouldn’t run for a second term was a close call but probably failed a cost-benefit test for Democrats.
Silver then said what we all know: “Since then, Biden’s situation has become considerably worse.” He then dropped one of several truth bombs on the White House and the Democrat Party:
If you’re someone who would rather not see Trump re-elected again or who cares about the election for other reasons, it’s time to face the facts. You need to adjust to the new reality and not be mired in anchoring bias by your previous impression of the race.
That’s good advice — for both sides of the aisle.
Silver listed three issues that have considerably worsened for Biden, writing in part:
Cover up is ILLEGAL !!!!
Not if you don’t get caught.