MILWAUKEE — Democrats remain in the midst of a destructive conflict over whether President Joe Biden should quit the 2024 race.
But steps outside the Republican National Convention’s security perimeter, Democratic Party leaders on Wednesday angled to frame the presidential election as a “binary choice” between Biden and Republican nominee Donald Trump. No more, no less.
“A binary choice,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) declared.
Democratic leaders uttered the “Biden-Harris” on numerous occasions.
Another oft-used phrase: “Now until November.”
Walz acknowledged that Democrats, at this moment, are not as unified behind their presidential candidate as Republicans are — quickly noting that a parade of one-time Trump critics such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz all lavished Trump with praise during Tuesday night’s Republican National Convention speeches.
The Democrats drew contrasts between Biden and Trump on abortion rights, personal freedoms and the choice of Trump’s selection of a white man as his vice presidential running mate versus Biden’s choice of a Black and Asian woman.
“Trump picked J.D. Vance because he would bend over backwards,” said Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, said of Trump's new running mate.
He added that despite the Trump campaign’s calls for “unity” this week, Republicans “are here to divide.”
Walz mused that Republicans “don’t have much division in their party” because “they bend the knee and grovel.” He described Vance not as an independent thinker but a “perfect Frankenstein monster created by the Heritage Foundation.”
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Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) further panned Republicans for supporting an immigration policy that aims to potentially deport millions of people living illegally in the United States, but offers few details on how such an undertaking would be done.
“It’s just one party that proposes solutions over and over again,” Escobar said of Democrats regarding immigration. “The alternative is very dark.”
Some prominent Democratic Party members continue to openly question whether Biden, 81, is physically and mentally fit to stand for reelection following a disastrous debate performance last month and underwhelming national interviews since then. Some — including elected members of Congress — have outrightly called for Biden to yield the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris, or to open the Democratic National Convention to other potential candidates.
Other Democrats remain steadfast in their support of Biden, and the Democratic National Committee is plowing forward toward Biden’s formal nomination.
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to conclude Thursday night with a nomination acceptance speech by Trump, who officially became the GOP nominee on Monday.
The Democratic National Convention is slated to take place a month from now in Chicago. But Democrats assembled in Milwaukee today only offered vague details about how a planned, pre-Democratic National Convention “virtual roll call” to nominate Biden and Harris will work in practice.
Walz said that this virtual roll call — as opposed to an in-person delegate vote roll call at the Democratic National Convention — would not take place before Aug. 1. The goal is to “get it done by the 15th of August,” he added.