A good read on VP Harris. The nonsensical call for Biden to step down while also ignoring and fearing VP Harris is exhausting and offensive. https://t.co/VF31CsbPGm

— President Kamala’s Hand (Again) (@myronjclifton) February 21, 2024

… Replacement theory — the concept that Western elites, sometimes manipulated by Jews, want to “replace” and disempower white Americans — is a prominent conspiracy among white conservatives, particularly MAGAs.

It is this panoply of racist theories and their historical foundational legacy that underpins so much political discourse in the U.S. It’s also, arguably, behind the ongoing demand among white male pundits and some Democratic strategists to get President Biden to step out of the 2024 campaign or at the very least, change vice presidents to a white man, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, or even a white woman, like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Headlines like “Democrats have a Kamala Harris problem” and “Democrats’ weird answers on Kamala Harris” and “The Kamala Harris Problem” and “The Case for Biden to Drop Kamala Harris” abound — unprecedented in recent American politics.

The anti-Kamala caucusing has only escalated since 2020 when Biden was vetting vice presidential candidates. White male Democrats — the smallest voting bloc in the Democratic “Big Tent” — have not voted majority Democratic in any national election since LBJ passed that legislation, which was widely perceived as making him a “race traitor.” Yet, they still feel entitled to speak over and through Black women, who are the largest Democratic voting bloc.

The last all-white, all-male ticket in the Democratic party was in 2004 with John Kerry and John Edwards. That is also the first time Democrats have lost the popular vote since 1988…

Regardless of what some white Democrats might think, Harris is both beloved and admired among the Democratic base — including among LGBTQ+ people — for her long history of support for historically marginalized people. For 20 years, Harris has been fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. She was marrying lesbian and gay couples in San Francisco as District Attorney in 2004, before same sex-marriage was legal. She even reconnected with a gay male couple, Bradley Witherspoon and Raymond Cabone, whom she married on Feb.13, 2004, a day before Valentine’s Day…

Should Biden decide now to withdraw, which is extremely unlikely, he would endorse Harris. Voters would vote for Biden-Harris on the ballot and Harris would accrue his delegates — and the nomination. Who other than Dean Phillips would challenge her? The die is cast.

It’s nearly all white male pundits and late-night comedians (also all white men) doing this hand-wringing over Biden’s age. The Black Caucus is strongly supportive of Biden. It’s implausible that Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg or Gretchen Whitmer would set themselves up as write-in candidates against Harris: even if they wanted to — that’s career suicide for any future candidacy in 2028 or 2032…

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who was close friends with Harris when they were in the Senate together, highlights Harris’s work on key issues of HBCU funding, police reform, expanding access to health care and LGBTQ rights. Booker told CNN, “I can’t think of a time that I’ve seen somebody have earned her chops but not get the credit where credit is due.”

Senate Pro Tempore Patty Murray was succinct, summing up the concern of many white pundits that Harris will be the next president — and expand the presidency beyond white men forever: “Everyone who says you can’t do something,” she said, “is afraid that you will.”