So there are now four US sitting senators calling for
Biden to step aside.
That list now includes Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.
And you also see a Senator Jon Tester of Montana.
Those two in the toughest 2 Senate races in the
country.
It's notable they don't want Biden on the ticket for
those races.
But Democratic Congresswoman Sidney Kamlager Dub of Los Angeles, who's
in a very safe seat expressing her support via X.
She says this 14 million people voted for Joe Bill
Biden, overwhelmingly earning him the nomination for president and Kamala
Harris for VP.
The most undemocratic thing to do is to invalidate those
votes because you don't like the Black woman on a
ticket.
It's a they.
It's not a him.
As for Vice President Harris, she was in an ice
cream shop in Washington, DC today with Tyra Banks.
She also spoke with donors to the campaign.
She is expected here in Wisconsin to campaign next week.
Joining us now with more is someone who knows a
thing or two about Wisconsin and knows a thing or
two about politics.
Dan Schnur teaches politics at USC, at Pepperdine and also
at UC Berkeley.
He joins us now live.
Dan, you are back home and I'm in your home
of Wisconsin.
Alex, how are you enjoying the cheese heads?
I, I love the cheese heads.
I just haven't had enough time to have cheese because
we've been working so hard this week.
But let's start with the big story right now, which
isn't what's happening here, but what's happening in Washington.
Where are we at with President Biden?
Read between the lines of what's happening for us.
Well, that's the remarkable thing about this week, Alex.
And you did touch on it, which is Donald Trump,
former president of the United States, gives his acceptance speech
to his convention on Thursday night.
And it's not the most important news story, political news
story of the week by a long shot because it
does appear that the forces to try to pressure the
current president, Joe Biden, from the Democratic ticket are growing.
You put up that list of four Democratic senators.
There are now almost three dozen Democratic House members who
have called for him to step aside.
It's looking less and less likely that Biden will be
able to withstand this kind of pressure.
But so far, as we heard from his campaign chairman,
so far, he's still holding firm.
And in terms of Nancy Pelosi's role in all of
this, it seems like from all the reporting that she
wants Joe Biden out and not only wants him out,
she wants an open process where there isn't just a
coronation of Vice President Harris, somebody she didn't initially really
want to be on the ticket in the 1st place.
Today, one of her allies, Joe Lofgren, who is a
congresswoman from Northern California, making a similar argument on MSNBC.
Here's that.
Well, I think should he make that decision, there will
have to be quick steps.
I don't think we can do a coronation, but obviously
the vice president would be the leading candidate.
I think kind of a mini primary, maybe a vetting
hosted by former presidents, including Obama and Clinton, would be
helpful and help focus the attention.
And whoever emerges, including Kamala Harris, would be a stronger
candidate.
So do you read that as Nancy Pelosi is not
confident with Kamala Harris as the head of the ticket?
And do you also think that this idea of a
mini primary is realistic given the time we have?
Well, I think the the last question is the most
important one, Alex.
It's worth noting that the debate that's triggered all this
took place more than three weeks ago.
And the Democrats really haven't progressed very far beyond that.
Right now, there's about a month left before the start
of the Democratic National Convention.
And if there are going to be a series of
debates or many primaries, they're going to need to get
started on that the next several days.
Frankly, if Biden is still a candidate by early next
month, I don't know how they pull that process off.
Real quick, though, your point about Pelosi is critically important
because from the very beginning, she's orchestrated this masterfully.
Two of the first House members to call for Biden
to step aside were part of the California delegation.
Then Jared Huffman from the Bay Area began to circulate
a petition to delay Biden's nomination.
Then where this really all exploded was just 48 hours
ago on Wednesday when Adam Schiff, one of Pelosi's closest
allies in Congress, called for Biden to step down now.
So Lofgren talking today, it's very clear that Pelosi wants
to see Biden step aside, wants to preserve Joe Biden's
dignity.
But the harder he digs in his heels, the stronger
she's going to keep pushing.
And if can you give us a, a 2030 second
review of the Republican National Convention and, and Donald Trump's
speech last night?
Well, 3 1/2 days of the Republican convention went almost
as perfectly as the party could have hoped.
It was well scripted.
It was well produced.
We saw any number of regular everyday Americans making very
compelling cases on Trump's behalf and against Biden.
And then in 92 minutes last night, Trump blew most
of it up by giving a speech that was initially
a very personal, unifying speech, and then after that, spending
more than an hour giving a very typical confrontational, combative
Trump stump speech.
I don't think it hurt Donald Trump, but he could
have helped himself to a much greater degree.
Let's write this one off as a missed opportunity for
the former president.
Yeah, if he would have stopped about 1/2 hour in,
we would be having a very different conversation right now.
Dan Schnur, I guess the lesson is quit while you're
ahead.
We appreciate you being here.
So we'll end this interview while we're ahead.
Have a great weekend.
Thanks for being with us.
Thank you, Alex.
I appreciate it.