Why Biden Will Never Drop Out

If he won’t get rid of his violent dog, he won’t move out of the White House

Joe Biden isn’t looking so good. A man with multiple indictments is beating him in the polls. Embarrassing gaffes define his public comments. The Democratic rank-and-file aren’t thrilled with his re-election bid. And the majority of voters think he’s too old to run for president.

Yet, he’s still expected to be the Democratic nominee as long as he stays in. Many pundits speculate that Biden may step aside and allow new blood to take his place. This idea assumes that Biden will feel he’s too old to continue as president and, for the good of the country and his party, he will cancel his re-election bid.

That’s not going to happen. Biden will never willingly drop out. We can figure that out in how he and his wife handle their violent dogs. 

Biden’s German shepherds Major and Commander terrorized White House staff and Secret Service. Despite the dogs biting everyone in their path, the Bidens refused to remove the canines. It took an extraordinary level of pressure to get the First Family to send away their beloved pets.

Major was the first dog to strike fear in the White House. The young pup bit at least three people, including significantly injuring a Secret Service agent. The Bidens refused to remove Major from the White House until they got a new puppy, Commander, to replace him. 

Commander bit even more people over his nearly-two year tenure as First Dog. There were 11 reported biting incidents and even more left unreported. Some of the attacks resulted in hospitalization. The Bidens couldn’t control Commander, with the dog one time wringing free from Jill Biden and charging at a Secret Service agent. It became clear Commander was even worse than Major last summer, but the Bidens kept the dog at the White House until this month. A former White House official told Axios that the Bidens didn’t care about the bitings: "The first family and their inner circle refuse to engage in any problem-solving discussions to protect the agents and [Executive Residence] staff."

The Secret Service lived in fear of the dogs, which the Bidens weren’t concerned with. “We’re beyond the point of worrying about trust being broken. We have to speak up,” a source familiar with the president’s Secret Service detail told CNN.

That source, who requested anonymity to speak freely, described a “hostile” and “dangerous” work environment, suggesting that some agents have been warned to go through certain entrances and avoid certain areas to evade an interaction with the dog. The Secret Service communicates to its agents by radio when the dog is outdoors, and officers avoid the area.

The Bidens responded to this with characteristic arrogance. When the Daily Mail posted a photo of Commander biting a staffer, a White House official said that was just the dog playing. Furthermore, the White House blamed the attacked staffers for the dog’s actions, saying they showed unfriendly expressions towards the canine. The Biden flacks insisted everyone else loved the dog.

Eventually, Commander was removed after he had bitten one too many Secret Service agents. But it took a lot to get rid of the dog.

The poor training of Major and Commander says a lot about the Bidens. It’s little wonder Hunter Biden turned out the way he did considering how they raise German shepherds.

What’s most revealing is how Joe and Jill responded to clear evidence they should do something to benefit others. The dogs harmed those around them and made the White House a nightmare. But the Bidens didn’t care about the feelings of others in this situation.They wanted Commander in the White House, the Secret Service be damned. And, for nearly two years, they got their way. 

Now imagine what the Bidens would do with an issue of greater importance than a household pet, like that of staying president. Joe doesn’t make any decisions without his wife’s input. He sometimes can’t even walk without her help. Both Joe and Jill want to stay in the White House. Both Joe and Jill think Joe is a great president. Both Joe and Jill think anyone who says otherwise should be ignored. And unlike with the dog, there’s no one here to tell them it’s unsafe for Biden to run for president. Democrats don’t want to publicly admit that Biden’s biggest problem is his age, and it’s not like Jill is going to tell him he’s too old to run.

The Bidens don’t care about what the polls say, what worries Democratic strategists, or whether Biden even has the health to run. Joe is running and everyone has to deal with it. It’s the same position they took with Commander. His bitings were somebody else’s problem, not theirs. Biden’s political handicaps aren’t their problem either.

There’s a history of presidents with poor health choosing to run again. Post-stroke Woodrow Wilson wanted to run for a third term in 1920 despite being incapacitated for months and relying on his wife to take over his presidential duties. The Democratic Party thought better of the idea and did not nominate him for president. The Democrats, however, did nominate the dying Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944. FDR was at death’s door throughout the year, and his cadaverous appearance horrified those who saw him in person. Yet, he still ran for president–and won. 

Powerful people don’t like to give up power in old age, no matter who asks them to. Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed on the Supreme Court well past her expiration date. Democrats wanted her to retire when they could’ve replaced her with another liberal. Instead, she stayed on the court and died when Donald Trump was president. RBG benefitted from liberals deluding themselves into believing she was really healthy despite her obvious physical frailty and frequent trips to the hospital.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein refused to retire from the Senate despite her poor health and advancing age. Her staff had to announce her decision to not run for office again in 2024, a fact she wasn’t even aware of when asked by reporters. While her senility allowed her staff to scuttle plans for another run in her nineties, it still wasn’t enough to get her to quit the Senate before her term expired. Only death forced her early departure from the Senate. 

Biden is in better physical (but maybe not mental) health than FDR, RBG, and Feinstein. There is no mechanism to pressure Biden to not run again. He is one of the most arrogant and dishonest politicians in modern American history. He and his wife only care about themselves, and they feel it’s best for them to stay right where they are. 

Democrats can only get rid of Biden if he has a health episode that incapacitates him (they need him to at least be able to give speeches) or a primary challenger bests him. Otherwise, the party is stuck with Biden. The Commander principle is the key to understanding the president. He won’t drop out in 2024.