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| PentecostalTheology.com
Top Democrats are convinced President Biden is likely to step aside as early as this weekend to make way for another Democratic presidential nominee.
Why it matters: If he does, Democrats will be forced to make a swift decision that would determine the fate — and the future — of the party for 2024 and beyond.
The big picture: There’s a movement underway among some Democratic officials and operatives to bypass Vice President Harris as Biden’s successor — or at least make the nomination a contest rather than a coronation.
- They’re floating names like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, or California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Reality check: There are at least five reasons the mission to bypass Harris is unlikely to succeed.
1. Money: The Biden campaign’s war chest — $91 million as of the last filing in June — could easily be transferred to Harris but not to any other candidate.
- The roughly $150 million held by other Biden-aligned entities could hypothetically move to another Democrat, and there may be other ways to repurpose that $91 million. But it’s all much simpler if Harris is nominated.
2. History: As a Black and Asian American woman, Harris is already a history-making VP. She could be the first woman president.
- She’s also already first in the line of succession, meaning a party that relies on Black women as the core of its support would have to pass over a Black woman to nominate someone else.
- Party elders including former DNC Chair Donna Brazile have warned that would cause an “uproar.” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told Axios’ Hans Nichols it could “be the kiss of death for the party.”
3. Expected endorsements: Party heavyweights including Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) have already said they’ll back Harris if Biden drops.
- The Obamas and Clintons would likely throw their weight behind Harris too, particularly if Biden endorses her first, Axios’ Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei reported.
4. Party unity: Senior Democrats have moved very cautiously in their mission to convince Biden to go. Many aren’t ready to plunge into the unknown by letting multiple candidates fight it out one month before the convention.
- A convention fight could get ugly, fast. Some Democrats and liberal columnists have warned it could even cause a lasting schism.
- The DNC is moving to finalize a virtual roll call for the party’s nominee by early August — a move originally intended to lock in Biden that could instead end up neutralizing any effort to unseat Harris at the convention in Chicago.
5. Legitimacy: The Biden-Harris ticket won 14 million votes and swept the (largely uncontested) primaries.
- She’s the only potential candidate who can claim to have won her party’s backing at the ballot box, rather than in a backroom or on a convention floor.
State of play: Harris-skeptic Democrats cite polls that show her hardly faring better than Biden against former President Trump, and there’s general skepticism that she’s the best candidate to carry the Midwest battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
- Harris’ backers argue her recent campaign and media appearances show she’d be a formidable nominee.
The bottom line: Either way, she’s got the inside track. If Biden drops out, even Democrats concerned about her electability will likely fall in line.
William Branham was very certain that he had seen a vision of a female president ruling the United States shortly before the End of Days. He was just uncertain whether this “female” was actually “female”, whether he had seen the vision correctly, the date of the vision, or other unforgettable details.
When he saw President Kennedy elected as President, however, everything became very clear. Branham was certain that United States President John F. Kennedy was the fulfillment of his 1933 prophecies and that the world was soon to end. … until it didn’t.
During the process of this prophecy failing, it was changed significantly. Why do leaders in William Branham’s cult of personality continue to proclaim the original version of this “prophecy”, and disagree with William Branham that it had been fulfilled in the early 1960s?
John F. Kennedy: https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/john_f._kennedy
Female President Prophecy: https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/female_president
Wilkinson, Michael. (2018). The Transformation of Religion and the Self in the Age of Authenticity. Pneuma. 40. 91-108. 10.1163/15700747-04001032. This article examines Charles Taylor’s argument that since the 1960s a culture of authenticity has come to define the late modern period. The “age of authenticity” thesis is based on a philosophical and historical approach that follows the development of Romanticism, culminating in the expressive individualism of late modernity. Taylor focuses on the lived experience of secularity and the development of a particular identity that revolves around choice, emotion, and an eclectic approach to religion. Further analysis of Taylor’s work is examined with sociological research on the sacred self and consumption, evangelical and pentecostal appropriation of authenticity, no religion as an option in the age of authenticity, and questions about the search for meaning and purpose.
