While many — including our Mark Alexander — stated early on that Joe Biden would not be the 2024 Democrat nominee for president, the way he pulled himself out of the race was surprising and more than a bit suspicious. A simple tweet with a letter on his personal stationery was the extent of it, with a second missive minutes later endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the party’s nominee. He promised a more formal address to the nation this week, but none has yet been scheduled.

With Biden now out of the race and general agreement that his mental faculties are failing, Republicans are beginning to state publicly that he should do more than merely drop out of the race. They seek Joe’s resignation because, as Donald Trump says, “If he can’t run for office, he can’t run our Country!!!”

Representative Richard Hudson, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, was even more blunt: “If the president is mentally unfit to campaign, he is mentally unfit to have the nuclear codes.”

On the other hand, defensive Democrats like Senator Richard Blumenthal claim, “When an American leader like Joe Biden makes a courageous and selfless decision for the sake of the nation, some of these Republicans just race to the bottom.” Americans might disagree with that assessment, though, when they reconsider the point regarding nuclear codes.

Yet even without the demands of a campaign, Biden has a heavy schedule. This week he was supposed to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss a Gaza ceasefire, and in the coming weeks he must address the fiscal year budget and America’s part in the ongoing war in Ukraine. One defiant Democrat put it this way: “There’s no f***ing chance that Joe Biden is planning to resign.” But Biden himself was adamant about staying in the race as late as last Saturday, so plans change.

It was the bad news of polling that changed his mind about continuing his campaign, according to Politico:

When the campaign commissioned new battleground polling over the last week, it was the first time they had done surveys in some key states in more than two months, according to two people familiar with the surveys. And the numbers were grim, showing Biden not just trailing in all six critical swing states but collapsing in places like Virginia and New Mexico where Democrats had not planned on needing to spend massive resources to win.

Losing the White House would be bad enough for Democrats, but they couldn’t stomach the thought of a Trump landslide rebuilding the GOP majority in the House and allowing Republicans to regain the Senate.

So Biden becomes the lamest of ducks, withdrawing despite being the presumptive nominee. It’s a period that’s fraught with danger, particularly when there’s a change in the party in charge.

And there’s also the sense we’re not done yet, given all that’s happened this month. It’s on the verge of unthinkable, but the possibility of Joe Biden being too ill to continue in office is far from zero. It’s been thought that Donald Trump would be both the 45th and 47th president, but it’s conceivable that Kamala Harris could beat Trump to it. (If she does replace Biden under the 25th Amendment, Harris could still run for two more full terms under the 22nd Amendment.)

But first there’s the probability of a “remote” pre-convention roll call by the Democrats, thanks to the early deadline in Ohio, and while many Democrats have dutifully fallen in line with Biden’s wish to be succeeded by Kamala Harris, some — particularly in the Obama camp — aren’t enamored of the vice president, leaving the possibility of a convention full of upheaval. Yet if Harris takes the presidential oath of office, the suspense of her nomination would be eliminated.

There’s also the race to replace her slot on the erstwhile Biden-Harris ticket, with some of the names mentioned for veep being prominent governors like Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, and Maryland’s Wes Moore. All but Beshear and Moore represent swing states, but some tickets would be historic: a Harris/Whitmer ticket would be the first all-female major party ticket at a time when Democrats are making abortion their primary issue. Or they could try to regain their sagging fortunes in the black community with a Harris/Moore ticket being the first one exclusively with people of color. The Senate may not allow for a choice this close to the election, but if one is made, that person has a leg up for making the gig permanent.

So while it seems like the Democrats had settled their thorniest issue by forcing Joe Biden out of the race, the Pandora’s box it opens may have unforeseen and lasting effects on our republic. We always urge our readers to pray for our nation, but that advice is needed now more than ever.