Trump loomed large over Biden, Menendez decision
By: Charles Still
Political Stile
USA Today Network
..... In the span of three days, tow of the Democratic Party's top leaders capitulated to reality.
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On Sunday, [07/21/2024] President Joe Biden, angry and stubborn and eventually resigned to reality, surrendered his role as the Democratic Party's standard-bearer. The president;s move is now suddenly celebrated for its selflessness - for putting the needs of the party and a frazzled nation ahead of his own ego.
..... On Tuesday, an embattled Sean tor Bob Menendez announced he was resigning from the U.S. Senate effective August 20, [2024] after being convicted for his utter selfishness, stuffing his home with gold bar bribes and ill-gotton piles of cash for being on the payroll of the Egyptian government.
.... Both cases are linked by one common denominator - the treat of former President Donald Trump.
..... Biden was facing pressure from Democratic elders to abandon his reelection quest as the evidence grew that he would face the humiliation of a Trump victory while dragging down down-ballot Democrats of the ticket. And the volatility following Biden's bungled debate performance on June 27 [2024] - followed by the assassination attempt on Trump - has ratcheted up anxiety within the Democratic Party, which is already facing an uphill battle to retain its razor-thin majority in the senate. The last thing the party needs is a soul-baring battle to expel Menendez. Now is the time to focus energy on keeping the White House out of the hands of Trump and his MAGA allies, armed with Project 2025 battle plans.
..... The treat of expulsion may have also weighed heavily on Mennedez, even though it would have required a two-thirds vote of the SE ante, which would have required Republican votes. Republicans had stayed on the sidelines of the Menendez scandal, believing it more beneficial to the party's interests to have a wounded, scandal-scarred Menendez staggering around the Senate as a symbol of Democratic Party rot. In fact, it's certain that, for New Jersey, Republicans, Menendez would have become a useful campaign issue for the GOP this fall. [2024]
..... "Let's him stay in the news, let him stay in the Senate," said New Jersey Republican Party Chairman Bob Hugin in a recent interview on WABC Radio 77 in Ne York. "Tye (Democrats) have to live with this crook with gold bars and $100 bills stuff in his pockets all throughout the campaign. Let's not let him off the hook."
..... But also looming on the horizon is a Senate ethics Committee review. Earlier this week, [07/24/2024] leaders of the panel notified Mennedez that it voted to begin an "adjudicatory review" of his alleged violations of Senate rules, which could set the stage for a possible vote to expel or censure Menendez. The letter suggested the committee is moving swiftly. A report that sternly recommends expulsion would make it harder for Republicans to walk away from their duty to cast a vote. And Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota said last week [07/17/2024] that the GOP was ready to expel Menendez if he didn't step down.
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Ross Baker, the Rutgers University political science professor and expert on congress, said the threat of expulsion left Menendez with no choice.
..... "It was inevitable that he would step down rather than face expulsion and join the ranks of traitor who defected to the Confederacy in 1861," baker said. "For Menendez being in the company of traitors would add to the burden of his guilt for betraying the trust of the people of New Jersey and tarnishing the already-dimming luster of the U.S. Senate."
..... He added: "An expulsion form the Senate is a gesture of contempt from colleagues with whom you have worked for more than a decade. And while tow-thirds of the members must vote for expulsion, he very likely faced the approval of all 100."
..... Menedez has filed petitions to allow him to run as an independent in November, which could create some headaches for the Democratic ticket. But his resignation makes that seem less likely - with $3.1 million in his account, it;s likely that a large chunk of those funds will pay down his bills incurred over his nine-month legal battle. Menendez has also vowed to appeal his conviction.
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The task of finding a caretaker to complete Menendez's term that ends in January [2025] now goes to Governor Phil Murphy, who only reaffirmed his duty on Tuesday [07/23/2024] without revealing who might be on his short list. he could install the Democratic nominee for Senator, representative Andy Kim, which would give him a head start New Jersey in the long run - and provide and boost his chances against Republican nominee Curtis Bashaw, a hotelier form cape May. Kim has said he would take the job if appointed by Murphy.
..... It comes as no surprise that Bashaw, as well as former Governor Thomas Kean and former Governor Chris Christie, are calling on Murphy not to take that step. In a statement Tuesday, [07/23/2024] Bashaw also said it would be "beyond hypocritical that Andy Kim - who railed against backroom deals as the focus of his primary campaign - is now asking Governor Murphy for a backroom deal to be appointed to this senate seat, on top of supporting a backroom deal to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris."
..... A Kim appointment seems unlikely. For one thing, installing Kim would look like Murphy was putting his thumb on the scale for Kim at a time when the voters are concerned about the credibility of the election process. The move could also leave open Kim's congressional seat in South Jersey for an extended time, which would only strengthen the hands of national Republicans. And Murphy has made it clear that he has no real political relationship with Kim following his bruising primary battle last spring [2024] with first lady Tammy Murphy who withdrew from the contest in May. [2024] The governor never endorsed Kim.
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The Menendez vacancy also gives Murphy a chance to appoint the first female U.S. Senator from New Jersey. among the names that have been bandied about in the speculation are Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way; Patricia Campos-Medina, a labor actives and Latina who also ran in the Senate primary; the U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, whose son who shot to death and her husband was wounded by a gunman at their North Brunswick home in 2020.
..... One person who took herself out of the running is Tammy Murphy. In a post on X. Murphy said she remains commuted to "boosting infant and maternal health and combating climate change."
..... She added, "I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and help Kamala Harris become our next president."
..... Trump is clearly living in the heads of every democrat. He is a once he fear factor and the source of Democratic Party unity.