Democrats
had been covertly plotting regarding the previous President
Joe Biden
to
step down from the presidential contest
Or even ‘pass away while in office,’ according to a scathing new book published as far back as 2023.

Senior party leaders, spearheaded by the ex-Vice President,
Kamala Harris
Communications Director Jamal Simmons drafted backup strategies for numerous scenarios ahead of the 2024 election.

One possibility mentioned was “Biden could pass away during his term,” as stated by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.
forthcoming book “Fight: The Most Turbulent Contest for the White House”

The book states, ‘They aimed to ensure the party was prepared for all potential scenarios should Biden initiate his campaign and subsequently withdraw before the primaries began; or alternatively, if he secured numerous primary victories but became unable to proceed afterward.’
according to The Guardian.

‘If he secured enough delegates for winning the nomination, but dropped out before winning a floor vote at the convention and if he left a vacancy at the top of the ticket after taking the nomination.’

The ‘hush-hush’ meetings focused on what the party rules said would happen in any of these circumstances ‘and how [those rules] might need to be changed, if the president no longer had the desire, or the ability to run.’

Among the plans they drew up was a ‘death-pool roster’ of judges who could swear Harris into office if the then 81-year-old president passed away, the book claims, citing two unidentified sources.

Simmons did not inform the Vice President about the death-pool roster prior to departing her camp in January 2023. However, she recommended to her peers that they should alert him right away if anything occurred to Biden, as she had developed a comprehensive communication plan for such scenarios, according to the book.

He subsequently handed over the spreadsheet to another assistant working with Harris.

One official participating in confidential discussions emphasized the concern that Biden might not arrive.
election
As the party’s nominee, he demonstrated how we prepared for the unprecedented situation of having an octogenarian candidate,’ Allen and Parnes noted.

Nevertheless, Biden stayed committed to pursuing a second term, supported strongly by his spouse, the former First Lady Jill Biden — despite this challenge.
went through a number of public blunders and mistakes.

But when Biden
came face-to-face with Republican nominee Donald Trump
During the summertime debate, the president’s diminishing mental sharpness became impossible to ignore.

Later, ex-President Barack Obama and various dignitaries such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
moved forward with an attempt to persuade Biden to resign.

Simultaneously, they started viewing Harris as their sole option.

One seasoned agent encapsulated the sentiment of Democrats who were concerned about potentially ending up with Harris but simultaneously wished for Biden to step down: ‘At least she’s alive,’”Allen and Parnes write in their upcoming book set to be released next week.

On July 21, Biden ultimately declared that he was withdrawing from re-election contention and threw his support behind Harris to become the party’s candidate for president.

Nevertheless, he continued to demand unwavering loyalty from his vice president, as stated in the book.

It
states that on the day of Harris’ initial debate with Trump, Biden phoned the vice president for encouragement.

Nevertheless, it ended up being mostly about safeguarding Biden’s legacy, accompanied by a succinct three-word caution.

“No daylight, kid,” Biden supposedly told the then 59-year-old Harris.

The former president would

frequently used that phrase to link John McCain with George W. Bush before the 2008 election when he was running alongside him.

Obama

.

Ultimately, Allen and Parnes proposed that regardless of whether Harris triumphed or faltered in her contest against Trump, she would damage his standing by openly separating herself from him. Meanwhile, Biden’s team stayed loyal to her campaign.

At some point, according to the authors, Sean Clegg—a consultant from the Harris team whom the Biden staff did not trust—was assisting the vice president in preparing for an event alongside his running mate, Tim Walz. During this preparation, she began enumerating various achievements they had both made together.

According to the book, Clegg promptly halted her.

“Wait, wait, hold on! Let’s not do this. Let’s avoid revisiting old times,” Clegg stated, as mentioned in an earlier publication extract.
The Hill
.

As reported, Clegg was allegedly barred from attending future media preparation sessions by veteran Democratic communication strategist Stephanie Cutter.

Harris aides have also claimed that the Biden team was deliberately not working with them as a result of the president being forced to drop out.

Previously, Biden was blamed by senior Harris advisor David Plouffe for her loss because he refused to drop out of the race sooner.

He asserted that no Democrat could have triumphed without an appropriate primary process—a mistake he referred to as ‘the cardinal sin’ of this contest.

He mentioned being surprised by the internal poll results once he ultimately became part of the team.
Biden
left with fewer than four months remaining, a circumstance he termed “disastrous.”

“When I entered, it was the first time I witnessed the real figures behind the scenes. These numbers were quite disturbing,” he shared with The Atlantic.

Ultimately, Harris and Walz
failed to win any of the battleground states against Trump
resulting in a decisive victory within the Electoral College.

This was the first time since 2004 that a Democratic ticket lost the popular vote, marking only the second occurrence since 1988.

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