Beltway Insider: Biden Drops Bid, Unites Party, Harris Quickly Gains, VP Choices, Secret Service Fallout, Israel/Gaza Escalates, Olympics

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 28 July 2024 10:42; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden spoke to the nation this week about the decision to drop his bid for a second term while presenting his record of achievements he explained that "the defense of democracy is greater than one man."

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending July 28, 2024, increased by 0.3% to 38.8% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.6% to 55.6% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Biden Bows to Pressure

Since the June 27, 2024, Presidential debate Biden, 81, has confronted, daily, calls for him to step down, from major party donors as well as leaders within the Senate and House of Representatives, the effort, which many believed was for the good of the party, and to secure a victory in November still seemed tinged with agism and bullying.

No one can rest on their laurels, and while Biden's record of achievements would guarantee a spryer leader a second term, the ravages of age, poor debate skills and timing, aesthetic value, and the accepted belief that there is no other time in a presidential election that a convicted felon would be the nominated by one of the two designated parties, all came together creating a pivotal crossroads.

The decision to stand down, which many believed was a settled matter, came during his recent quarantine after contracting COVID-19.

Unites Party

Biden's announcement read like an obituary for many media outlets, as war-font headlines relayed the historic decision on websites. With over fifty years of service, he joined a growing number of politicians on both sides of the aisle, who are "passing the torch to a new generation of leaders."

"The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all," said Biden, who joined remotely from Rehoboth Beach, where he has been recovering from a case of covid. "We still need to save this democracy. Trump is still a danger to the community. He's a danger to the nation," reported The Washington Post.

For the Democrats who had been concerned, Biden's decision, of self-sacrifice, resuscitated their spirits, and donors, who had grown increasingly concerned in the weeks following the June 27, debate opened their wallets pouring in a record $250 million in campaign contributions in the first week since Biden's announcement.

Kamala Harris Earns Delegates

Biden's decision to remove himself from the ticket to unite the party also included an endorsement for Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has in the short week since the announcement become the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee.

"Prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly lined up behind Harris in the day after Biden's exit from the race and her campaign set a new 24-hour record for presidential donations on Monday," APnews.com reported.

Harris has secured the endorsement of nearly all prominent democratic leaders, and more importantly, after Monday, Democratic State leaders met to determine if the delegates were transferable. By Monday night, Harris had secured 3,359 delegates with 39 delegates undecided. To secure the nomination for President, a candidate must receive 1,976 delegates.

Even though the candidate is not officially the party's choice until after the convention, it appears that Kamala Harris is the democratic party's presumptive nominee for the 2024 Presidential election.

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VP Possible List Narrows

With the Democratic National Convention set to open in Chicago on August 19, Vice-President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is tasked with choosing a Vice-presidential candidate to join the ticket.

Less than 18 hours after Biden announced his decision to stand down, major media outlets began to circulate possible candidates. As the week progressed three names, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear became clear frontrunners.

As voters need to see themselves represented on the ticket, a Southern voice should be chosen which would assuage voters who may have apprehensions over the shift in the ticket's leadership. The VP choice must be someone who represents the values, traditions, and ideals that many in the South believe are different from those in other parts of the nation. If the Harris ticket can win North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia which represents 48 electoral votes, and Georgia, for another 16 electoral votes, the Democrats can win the election. Depending on Pennsylvania and leaving the South up for grabs doesn't win the election.

Other names circulated are California Governor Gavin Newsom, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitman. While each of these politicians are qualified, they don't have the cross-state appeal to galvanize voters from multiple regions.

It is also critical for Harris to focus on winning this race, before thinking about winning a second term and setting up the ticket with a potential democratic follow-up.

Secret Service Director Resigns

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her position this week, after hearings into the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, at an open-air rally in Pennsylvania in which the president was grazed by a bullet that killed a local fire chief.

The attempted assassination drew instant calls from both sides to lower the temperature, which included a constant barrage of media-fueled hate rhetoric, and in a rare, unified appeal, Congressional leaders from the Senate and House agreed to subpoena authority and immediate investigation into the clear breach in security protocol.

"Officials investigating the matter, including lawmakers in hearings this week, have repeatedly questioned why the building from which the gunman eventually fired was excluded from the Secret Service's security perimeter and why no law enforcement officer was placed on the building's roof for the rally," The New York Times reported.

In the two weeks since the attempted assassination, several facts have emerged including the shooter had a red flag online search history including references to the November 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and that he was considered a potential threat.

The gross breach in security protocol allowed the former president to be vulnerable to potential catastrophic injury or even death. After a week of vacillating between holding outdoor rallies or not, the former president has refused to adhere to security measures that will decrease the possibility of violence and has vowed to continue to hold outdoor rallies.

Former President Donald J. Trump Found Guilty on All Counts

Coronavirus Totals

The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

For the seven days ending July 28, 2024, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization increased by 8,284 confirmed cases totaling 775,686,716. The total worldwide death toll increased by 191 to 7,054,093 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated July 14, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

Netanyahu Speak to Congress

Both presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week in Washington. During his visit, which included a passionate speech to the congressional body, he attempted to explain the continued assault on Palestine.

"Netanyahu railed against Hamas and Iran in his Wednesday address, and he said Israel would not settle for anything less than "total victory" in its offensive in Gaza, which he said "could end tomorrow if Hamas surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages." If they didn't, he said, "Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas' military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home'" NBCnews.com reported.

At least 5,000 pro-Palestinian supporters gathered to protest Israel's continued occupation of Gaza and the killing of innocent Palestinians and up to 26 were arrested. It has been reported that maggots, crickets, worms, and other bugs, were released at The Watergate Hotel, where the prime minister was staying.

Israel/Gaza Escalates

Hezbollah/Hamas replied to the Prime Minister's fiery speech by assailing the Golan Heights with a barrage of missiles striking a soccer field, where a match was underway, killing 12 and injuring dozens more. Israel has vowed revenge. Lebanon has denied they were behind the attack.

As Iran provides the funding and weapons to both Hamas and Hezbollah, it is possible the attack came from Lebanon, to stretch Israel's resources, duplicate the main objective, and create conflict drift, which has been a concern since the October 7, 2023, coordinated attack on Israel.

"For months, the well-armed Hezbollah has fired thousands of missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with Hamas, leading tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate their homes. Israel has retaliated in Lebanon, devastating towns near the border, prompting more than 90,000 to flee north and killing more than 460 people, mostly militants," The New York Times reported.

The possibility of an all-out war in the Middle East has become closer to reality.

Hollywood Week: Olympics Opening Ceremony, UA Relaunches, Venice Film Festival

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics

The XXXIII Summer Olympic Games are underway in Paris, France. The opening ceremony, which featured performances from Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, French sensation Aya Nakamura, heavy metal band, Gojira, French rapper Rim'K, Juliette Armanet, and even Illumination's Minon's had a featured spot heralding the Olympic games. An uninvited featured performer was the rain, a continuous drenching downpour, that took centerstage, attempting to wrestle the world into a loss.

However, even the unending showers couldn't dampen the spirits of the flotilla of more than 6000 athletes from 204 nations and interviews with Snoop Dogg, LeBron James, Coco Gauff, Stephen Curry, and many others.

The XXXIII 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony had the largest televised audience since the 2012 London Summer Olympics with more than 28 million tuning in on various mediums to watch.

The 2024 Summer Olympics run on NBC until Sunday, August 24, 2024.

For more information on President Joe Biden: Whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.