There’s been lots of speculation, even in The Spectator, about the direction of the Republican party after Trump. But less attention has been paid to the other big question: what happens to the Democratic party if Joe Biden loses?
The consequences could be very ugly. A good blueprint for the Democrats blowing everything up would be the fallout of the GOP after the 2012 election defeat. Biden himself is a Romney-esque type candidate — the guy whose turn in line it was, hoping to put across a message of good character and soul of the nation. Romney, like Biden, ran on a message of optimism in divided times.
More so than Romney, Biden is today desperately attempting to hold off the radical barbarians at the gate of his party. He captured the nomination by resisting the extremist and way-too-online elements of his party on the far left, while deftly reaching out to those who control the left’s messaging, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
But should Biden fall to Trump, there’s a good chance that all goes out the window. What then? Bernie Sanders would be a spry 83-year-old in 2024. Warren would still be younger than Biden is now, but it’s clear that she would come with some major red flags and baggage. You would think Kamala Harris, Biden’s choice for vice president, would become an instant frontrunner, much in the same way as Sarah Palin was talked about. But Harris would be an odd choice, if she had just failed to win as a veep nominee having folded her own presidential campaign before the first primary in Iowa. Maybe Pete Buttigeig might reemerge, but he himself is loathed by the far-left Chapo wing of the party that would most likely hold all the momentum in choosing a candidate and a message.
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In fact there’s a good chance that not a single Democrat we saw on the stage in 2020 will be up there again in 2024. After Mitt Romney’s loss, an urge to blow up the entire party ravaged the right. Romney, like Jeb Bush and Joe Biden were the establishment choices, and the far left that has been kept at bay for two election cycles would likely find themselves energized as never before.
Enter Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who would be 34 but turn 35 before the election, making her constitutionally eligible to run for President. It might be her best chance. The country would have just endured eight years of a Republican president. The question is, would voters on the left actually go for someone who would still be considered a political novice and ultimately a glamorous media darling? There’s no question that AOC has the savvy and understanding to bend the media to her will. By 2024, she could well be occupying Chuck Schumer’s seat. Maybe she’d even be Senate Minority or Majority Leader.
The other option would be the left tacks does what did in 2016. In this scenario, no politician would prove acceptable, and only a true outsider, a Democratic answer to Donald Trump, can satisfy the more far-left voices of the party and media. It would have to be someone known for their hostility toward media, and famous enough to interest the mainstream. In which case, say hello to President Sean Penn. I’m not entirely joking.
