Is Warren trying to push Biden aside?

Joe Biden remains the favorite to be the Democratic nominee, but today’s appearance on MSNBC when Biden spoke with Mika Brzezinski and unequivocally denied the sexual assault allegations made by Tara Reade, a former Biden aide, has raised the possibility that Biden will be dumped. Biden’s performance has been been panned by feminists and sexual assault advocates as well as many former Sanders voters. Biden’s unwillingness to open up his Senate records stored at the University of Delaware suggest that he may be hiding something. Later in the day, another allegation emerged of Biden making inappropriate sexually charged comments to a 14 year girl in 2008. Biden’s nomination is suddenly in jeopardy.

We still believe that it is probable that the DNC will rally around Biden, notwithstanding the latest allegations. We note that Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton have both gone out of their way to offer Biden unequivocal support. As Pelosi said yesterday, “Biden is Biden.” That said, we have been watching the behavior of Senator Elizabeth Warren. To us, she seems to be putting some distance between herself and Biden.

Warren endorsed Biden on April 15th. At the time, she was effusive in her praise of Biden and seemed to be angling for the VP position. Warren supporters have been pushing polls that suggest Warren is the preferred choice to unite the moderate and more progressive wings. However, more recently, we note that Warren has refrained from offering support for Biden. If you look at her twitter account, you will note that Warren has not mentioned Biden for days. She is a prolific tweeter, but she has gone silent on Biden now for more than a week as the Reade allegations have gained greater attention.

So what is Warren up to? We think she is angling to be a consensus replacement candidate should Biden’s nomination become untenable. Some commentators have speculated that Hillary Clinton could step in for Biden, but Clinton has antagonized many Democrats who remember 2016 with horror. Others may push for Governor Cuomo given his visibility during the coronavirus pandemic. However, we think if Biden is dumped over allegations of sexual impropriety that Democrats will want to pick a female candidate. We think Warren is angling to step in and replace Biden. It’s time to watch if Warren or any of her surrogates start to push Biden aside!