Why Won't the Republican Party Move to Replace Trump with Vance?

They should—nobody doubts that Vance would run a better campaign and be a much, much better president than Donald Trump. But they cannot get it together to act. They lack "assibayah"...

They should—nobody doubts that Vance would run a better campaign and be a much, much better president than Donald Trump. But they cannot get it together to act.

Imagine a world where political leaders put country before self, where parties prioritized competence over loyalty, and where the press held all candidates to the same standard.

Now snap back to reality.

Joe Biden has stepped aside for the good of his party and nation, while Donald Trump clings to power despite his obvious decline. The contrast couldn't be starker, could it?

So why won't Republicans replace Trump with the more electable, more capable J.D. Vance? The answer, it seems, lies in a virtue the GOP has lost along the way: assibayah: the willingness to bare one’s back while guarding another’s because you serve a cause and are on the same team…

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Joe Biden has declined the nomination to be the Democratic candidate for president. Joe Biden has declined the nomination even though he has been a very good president— “the best president of my lifetime”, says Noah Smith. And Noh Smith is right.

Joe Biden has declined the nomination even though virtually all Democrats had and have great confidence that he would still be a very good president for at least the next two years. Even Ezra Klein, who played a pivotal role in stirring the “it would be best for the country if Biden would retire”, did not say that the aging Biden would not do a very good job of being president in a second term. Klein said only that the aging Biden would have a very difficult time doing a god job at the different profession of campaigning for the office.

Joe Biden has declined the nomination because he has come to the conclusion that his vice president, Kamala Harris, has a good chance of being a good president and has a much better chance than Biden does of successfully campaigning for the office.

I could—and I hope I will—write a column about Joe Biden as a truly great president. But that is not this column.

This column will start by noting that there is somebody else.