Eleanor Clift

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/ReutersFighting for his political life is a familiar even invigorating role for Joe Biden. He’s been discounted enough times before but to be “pushed out,” his words, after winning every primary and more than enough delegates to secure the nomination—it’s not going to happen, he says. “I’m not going anywhere.”His family is standing with him, his wife Jill and sister Valerie, who Democrats relied upon to provide wise counsel—not just cheerleading. His son, Hunter, has been seen at the White House so much lately that one well-connected lawyer/lobbyist Democrat dubbed him “the acting chief of staff. He’s the gatekeeper. He’s the one who’s bucking up his dad.”Hunter is the X factor here, wanting to encourage his father like deceased brother Beau did, and not wanting the stress of his felony convictions to hamper his father. Having Hunter on the scene is not helping Biden politically, but that’s not what this is about. A Democrat who worked for Biden earlier in his career says simply, “Biden stood by him through all the darkest times. This is more of a family thing than a political thing. It has nothing to do with his criminal cases, it’s much more about how the family operates.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastIn every election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe two years ago, voters have turned out in big numbers to protest the decision and restore abortion rights statewide where possible. Reproductive freedom remains a major rallying cause for Democrats even as former President Donald Trump appears to have found a way to insulate himself from the voters’ wrath about losing this essential right.“Trump heard the politics of the post-Dobbs world when he made it clear almost from the beginning, he wasn’t willing to go along with some of the more extreme responses, repeating over and over the Florida six-week ban is much too restrictive, denying exceptions is a big mistake, and resisting a federal law,” says Bill Galston, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution’s governance program.“He positioned himself as something of a moderate,” Galston continues, “To give him credit, he found a way to neutralize an issue at least for himself. Unless he says something really stupid, he might yet get away with it. He might drive a wedge between himself and other Republicans.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden is routinely attacked, mocked, and ridiculed for his supposed physical and cognitive decline, while other comparable political figures like Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Mitch McConnell—and even President Ronald Reagan—got much gentler treatment from their opponents and the media into their later years.The easy explanation is that being one of a hundred senators is nothing like being president of the country. Also, Reagan was president 40 years ago, which is like being in another galaxy. The traditions that insulated them are vanishing in the age of social media but can help provide context for what Biden and former President Donald Trump, too, face today.The late California Sen. Feinstein had shown serious decline for years before dying in office last year at age 90. Her staff covered for her, which is how such things are customarily done in the Senate. She was an icon for women with an illustrious career, and respect for her and what she’d accomplished kept her in office—even when she was no longer a fully functioning senator. After she gave up her seat on the Judiciary Committee, her uneven cognition didn’t matter as much, and even her critics backed off.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/GettyChaos at the border is the top issue for Republicans, and their likely nominee promises to launch what he calls “the largest domestic deportation operation in history.”Aides are reportedly scouting land for detention camps, and Donald Trump and his allies have not been shy about calling for the invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military and federalized National Guard troops to assist in what they envision as a mass removal of undocumented immigrants.If such a plan were carried out, it would cause enormous disruption to communities throughout the country and increase the weight of the federal government in people’s lives in a way that runs counter to a political party that supposedly prides itself on small government.Read more at The Daily Beast.