Here is a post from Charlie Pierce's blog at Esquire - a sane look at the alternatives in this situation.....
Charlie is correct in the fact that it is either Biden or Harris on the ballot in Nov.
Why?
1. If Biden resigns tomorrow, Harris becomes the first woman President and is the first black woman president. There is no way she is not the candidate in Nov. If the Democratic Party were to kick her off the ticket for a white woman or man, there would not be a Democratic party left.
Besides, Harris has all the qualification to be a good president.
2. If Biden says he's not running but stays in office. He will support Harris for president, and she will be the nominee.
3. If Biden stays in the race and has a stroke or dies next week, Harris is President and the candidate.
4. If Biden/Harris win in Nov and Biden has a stroke of dies, Harris is the President
5. If Dems support Biden/Harris we can win regardless of what happens to Biden.
6. If Dems decide to drop Biden and don't back Harris, we lose and Trump is President.
Dems have a history of throwing the Presidency away. In 1968, we threw away LBJ who passed the voting and civil rights acts, Medicare, Medicaid. and was negotiating a peace to the Vietnam war, but we went to Chicago and destroyed Humphrey, the most progressive Democrat of his time, and what did we get, Nixon who sabotaged LBJ's peace efforts and gave us 7 more years of war.
We did it to Al Gore and to Hillary. And the nation got GWB and Trump and 2 twenty-year wars. 3 massive tax cuts for the rich and corporations, the worst financial recession in history and the worst response to the pandemic.
I'll take #5 for $500, Alex -- or Bruce, or Charlie . . . There's little doubt in my mind that VP Harris has the chops to be president, but I'm not at all sure she could win an election in her own right at this point. My doubts have nothing to do with her and everything to do with the sexism and/or racism of too much of the electorate, including many who claim to be moderate, liberal, or progressive.
Yes, the forlorn hope here is that the prospect of the Orange Rind and his evil minions getting back into power will energize people to forget their prejudices and vote for democracy, not necessarily Kamala or whoever..... A thin reed I'll grant, but it is what we have going for us. I have no doubt Kamala Harris would make a fine president.....
I do believe that those who are concerned about the state of democracy and/or the state of women's rights will vote for Biden for the same reason. However, I'm not sure that most of the electorate even knows what "democracy" is, or could be. The GOP has been becoming progressively less democratic since at least the mid-60s -- they were only pro-democracy if white Christians (or at least nominal Christians) were guaranteed control -- and from Gingrich to Trump it's become overtly anti-democratic. The Democratic Party hasn't been all that gung-ho for democracy either, but "we the people" -- esp. the non-white, non-male people among us -- have a much better chance of influencing the future course of events with the Dems than with the GOP.
We are like a herd of skittish cats on a porch with a rocker that gets to moving when the wind blows. We scatter ... or attack each other. Yet the rocker stays where it is. Boo! Scardie cats.
Vote and support Biden/Harris to keep us from “king” Cheeto and his minions’ demonic plans, long in the making, from destroying everything … every.thing.
Yes.Shades of the abandonment of Al Franken with not so much as a feigning interest into protecting him.This stuff with the Biden hit job is a media creation.They are creating their own false story about Biden. They mention nothing-zilch-about Trump’s huge flaws, his morbid obesity, his noticeable mental decline not to mention the horrid and hateful word salads that he spews on about our country. No pride or patriotism with him.Only revenge,retribution, deportation , imprisonment,self-glorification and ego worship.I don’t know about you but we cannot let this miserable group of judges,traitors and malcontents to kill our democracy when we have an able bodied, distinguished elder statesman at the helm.
Here, here! Fortunately for us, we are represented by folks standing by Biden, including the one and only Senator John Fetterman who was the first elected Dem to tell us to get a grip. We’re supporting, contributing to, and voting for Biden-Harris. Anything less is political suicide.
As FOTP put it, I'd vote for a bar stool over Cheatem. It's either him or Harris. No Whitmer (even though she's a great Governor), Newsom, or anyone else. At this late date? No, I'm ridin' with Biden.
Not to mention, democracy is conducted via a multistage process in this country and Biden is now the Democratic party candidate as elected to be so by the people. I know I voted for him already. Which group of fake electors is the DEM party expecting to step in to over-turn our election of our candidate? That may sound fine to GOPers who have normalized election theft, gerrymandering and voter suppression, but we the DEMs should not countenance it at all.
We always devour our own. Always. We're fools. We're the kid on the playground, too bewildered to fight back, always wetting his pants, thinking it's his fault.
Nothing like playing right into the maggots hands by causing doubt and division in the Democratic Party. What is wrong with these people?? Seems they can’t think without the $$ media directing them. Stuart Stevens knows of what he speaks. If the democrats calling for Biden to step down had an ounce of sense they would listen.
Stuart Stevens strikes me as the Republican who's most remorseful for his own role in setting the stage for a DJT becoming POTUS. Some of the other never-Trump GOP need more self-reflection.
Great post Tom, You hit the nail squarely on the head. In 1968, due to his lies and errors in the Vietnam disaster, Lyndon Baines Johnson who in his first half term had been a terrific President blew his claim to fame in his first full term by tying himself to Vietnam - a war we had no business entering and was unwinnable. So, Robert Francis Kennedy stood up. He had everything in his favor, from his murdered, but well loved, older brother to his own liberal progressive ethics. I worked hard on that campaign only to have it fall to pieces in June. We were so sure of winning in November, then in one indescribable instant it was all taken from us, Bobby was murdered. LBJ had abdicated and we were bereft of any viable candidate. The DNC with their usual lack of wisdom chose humpty dumpty to run in his place, Hubert Humphrey was not a bad man, he was just colorless. Even Teddy Kennedy would have been a better choice
So, here we are, 56 years later with a terrific President who has gotten more significant legislation passed than any one since LBJ in 64/65. Yes President Biden is old in the eyes of some people - he's ten years younger than me and in a hell of a lot better shape. So, he caught a cold. It's not like he went out seeking a virus to infect him. He's constantly in public for heaven's sake, Ask any public school teacher in their first 3 years of teaching - they caught every damned virus the kids brought in.
Joe had a sore throat which prevented him from using his normal fighting Joe voice. So, he searched for a few words. Tom, you're a lot younger than Biden how often when you're talking extemporaneously, have you paused to find that elusive word. Even when I'm writing I have look ion the thesaurus to find the word I want. And I don't even have a cold.
Of Biden's temporarily poor performance at the debate, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Dr. Harlan Krumholz wrote in Newsweek:
"The most probable explanation for this transient period of cognitive impairment in an older person with a cold is a side effect of cold medications. If this is so, the handwringing should cease, and we should use the debate as a reminder of how common such reactions are rather than an indication that the president is chronically debilitated.
In recent weeks, Biden has made several high-profile public appearances on the world stage. He commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, attended press briefings at the G7 Summit in Italy, and engaged with the public and world leaders. Journalists who have been beside Biden closely these past few weeks reported no such impairment, aligning with bullish sentiment from the Biden debate prep team. Everyone would have noticed if Biden exhibited even a fraction of what he displayed at the debate."
And why the fuck do they put out more attention to his performance in the 90 minute debacle with a lying, felonious bully than his accomplishments of the last 3 1/2 years? I am going to work hard to unify the troops and support Biden. There’s nothing more that Trump and his maggots would like than to see uncertainty, division and infighting in the Democratic Party now, with only 4 months until the election.
It's crucial that those of us (like myself) who are standing with Biden/Harris also recognize the distinct possibility that the President really is too frail to continue.
Here's what that means:
Most of the polls taken since the debate, treat all potential Democratic nominees as though they are interchangeable candidates. But the reality is that only Vice-President Harris (or the President himself) can seamlessly continue the current campaign.
Any nominee not named Biden or Harris would essentially have to build a new campaign from scratch, just months before the election. That is a practical impossibility, even if it were possible to choose such a nominee without fracturing party unity.
Given that Kamala Harris is polling as well, or better, than any other potential nominee, there is only one plausible path to a unified party and victory in November. That is to nominate President Biden, or for him to resign so Ms. Harris can run as the incumbent.
This is the message we have to spread within the Biden-loving activist community.
You obviously were not around when this was tried in 1968. The party didn't behave as you suggest they should then, and will not do so now. The result of LBJ ending his re-election campaign was that the RFK Democrats hated the Humphrey Democrats and disliked the Gene McCarthy Democrats, who hated both the RFK and Humphrey Democrats. The result was Nixon won and we got four more years of the Vietnam War and the majority of US casualties, and the foundation of the crap we still deal with today.
As the Old Salt Marine Gunnery Sergeant said, "Listen up, Butter Cups! Off yer dead asses and onto yer dyin' feet! There's a fight to be won!"
Make that nearly 7 more years, the War really ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon, The Paris Peace Accords were in 1973, but they didn't stop the fighting.
1) LBJ did not resign the presidency. If he had, Mr. Humphrey would have gone into the convention as the incumbent. Not saying that would have unified the party, but it would have been an entirely different scene. Today, President Harris would enjoy full support from virtually all those who are supporting Mr. Biden, as well as all those who don't really want to be the nominee this year.
2) The Democratic party was already torn apart by the Vietnam War. There's no anti-Joe movement today like there was anti-LBJ in '68. ("Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?" Not to mention the McCarthy and RFK candidacy.
Also possibly inform our own senators & representatives that we intend to vote Biden/Harris - period. Its asinine to think of changing at this point in time AND expecting everyone in the country to also change!!! Aint gonna happen!
Here's an idea: Write to your local newspaper, then forward that letter to your Congressional reps. Use, and re-use, the loving care you put into your message(s) as appropriate.
My wife and I wrote an LTE to the Albany Times Union (timesunion.com) as follows:
***Beginning of LTE***
Regarding your editorial of June 28th ("Editorial: If Biden can’t make a better case for his candidacy than he did Thursday, he must step aside"), we believe that the TU editorial board acted rashly to attack President Joe Biden for his unexpectedly poor performance during the debate.
The very next day, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Joe Biden performed ably and well, calling out Trump's lies ("a new record for the most lies told in a single debate"), and lack of character (“the morals of an alley cat"), and, indeed, speaking plainly about his own performance ("I don't debate as well as I used to").
Your editorial missed this news event completely.
We wish that you had looked as deeply into the realities of electoral history as Lawrence O'Donnell did in his MSNBC segment "We live in a country where most commentators declared the liar the debate winner."
Biden's rally in NC was a good start on a "resurrection campaign." We look forward to more news of that sort, and to excellent, fact-based reporting from the Times Union on the real choice in this election: Democracy under the Democrats, with a few brave Republicans joining them in governing wisely, or the loss of freedom under a Trump dictatorship.
The Philadelphia Inquirer called for Trump to resign (June 29, “To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race”).
Have you called for Trump to withdraw from the race?
***End of LTE***
A couple days later, they published that editorial from the Inquirer, and I emailed my thanks to the TU's managing editor.
Thank you and your wife So Much for doing that. It was a good idea to get extra mileage out of the carefully crafted letter. It takes time to write these. Sending them around as far as you can is a good idea.
I just read Stuart Stevens's column in The Atlantic. Huzzah! Meanwhile, The New Republic has been so relentlessly beating the Resign Step Down Resign drum that they should change their name to The New Republican.
If trump hasn't yet adopted the campaign slogan "even his own party doesn't want him" it's only because he is so fixated on himself and his victim status that he can't spare a word for his opponent without lying.
It doesn't matter if you say "well, I'm still voting for Biden, but...." You are handing a sledgehammer to the GOP by expressing doubt so publicly.
Here is a post from Charlie Pierce's blog at Esquire - a sane look at the alternatives in this situation.....
Charlie is correct in the fact that it is either Biden or Harris on the ballot in Nov.
Why?
1. If Biden resigns tomorrow, Harris becomes the first woman President and is the first black woman president. There is no way she is not the candidate in Nov. If the Democratic Party were to kick her off the ticket for a white woman or man, there would not be a Democratic party left.
Besides, Harris has all the qualification to be a good president.
2. If Biden says he's not running but stays in office. He will support Harris for president, and she will be the nominee.
3. If Biden stays in the race and has a stroke or dies next week, Harris is President and the candidate.
4. If Biden/Harris win in Nov and Biden has a stroke of dies, Harris is the President
5. If Dems support Biden/Harris we can win regardless of what happens to Biden.
6. If Dems decide to drop Biden and don't back Harris, we lose and Trump is President.
Dems have a history of throwing the Presidency away. In 1968, we threw away LBJ who passed the voting and civil rights acts, Medicare, Medicaid. and was negotiating a peace to the Vietnam war, but we went to Chicago and destroyed Humphrey, the most progressive Democrat of his time, and what did we get, Nixon who sabotaged LBJ's peace efforts and gave us 7 more years of war.
We did it to Al Gore and to Hillary. And the nation got GWB and Trump and 2 twenty-year wars. 3 massive tax cuts for the rich and corporations, the worst financial recession in history and the worst response to the pandemic.
Sometimes Cassandra is right.....
I'll take #5 for $500, Alex -- or Bruce, or Charlie . . . There's little doubt in my mind that VP Harris has the chops to be president, but I'm not at all sure she could win an election in her own right at this point. My doubts have nothing to do with her and everything to do with the sexism and/or racism of too much of the electorate, including many who claim to be moderate, liberal, or progressive.
Yes, the forlorn hope here is that the prospect of the Orange Rind and his evil minions getting back into power will energize people to forget their prejudices and vote for democracy, not necessarily Kamala or whoever..... A thin reed I'll grant, but it is what we have going for us. I have no doubt Kamala Harris would make a fine president.....
I do believe that those who are concerned about the state of democracy and/or the state of women's rights will vote for Biden for the same reason. However, I'm not sure that most of the electorate even knows what "democracy" is, or could be. The GOP has been becoming progressively less democratic since at least the mid-60s -- they were only pro-democracy if white Christians (or at least nominal Christians) were guaranteed control -- and from Gingrich to Trump it's become overtly anti-democratic. The Democratic Party hasn't been all that gung-ho for democracy either, but "we the people" -- esp. the non-white, non-male people among us -- have a much better chance of influencing the future course of events with the Dems than with the GOP.
We are like a herd of skittish cats on a porch with a rocker that gets to moving when the wind blows. We scatter ... or attack each other. Yet the rocker stays where it is. Boo! Scardie cats.
Can you post a link to the article? I went to his page on Esquire, and was not able to find a it. Thanks!
Here is the URL: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a61477104/democrats-biden-president-race/ You'll have to scroll down a few pages of comments to get to this quote. The post is about "Joe Biden, candidate".....
Thank you!
Madness, indeed.
Vote and support Biden/Harris to keep us from “king” Cheeto and his minions’ demonic plans, long in the making, from destroying everything … every.thing.
Yes.Shades of the abandonment of Al Franken with not so much as a feigning interest into protecting him.This stuff with the Biden hit job is a media creation.They are creating their own false story about Biden. They mention nothing-zilch-about Trump’s huge flaws, his morbid obesity, his noticeable mental decline not to mention the horrid and hateful word salads that he spews on about our country. No pride or patriotism with him.Only revenge,retribution, deportation , imprisonment,self-glorification and ego worship.I don’t know about you but we cannot let this miserable group of judges,traitors and malcontents to kill our democracy when we have an able bodied, distinguished elder statesman at the helm.
Here, here! Fortunately for us, we are represented by folks standing by Biden, including the one and only Senator John Fetterman who was the first elected Dem to tell us to get a grip. We’re supporting, contributing to, and voting for Biden-Harris. Anything less is political suicide.
As FOTP put it, I'd vote for a bar stool over Cheatem. It's either him or Harris. No Whitmer (even though she's a great Governor), Newsom, or anyone else. At this late date? No, I'm ridin' with Biden.
Not to mention, democracy is conducted via a multistage process in this country and Biden is now the Democratic party candidate as elected to be so by the people. I know I voted for him already. Which group of fake electors is the DEM party expecting to step in to over-turn our election of our candidate? That may sound fine to GOPers who have normalized election theft, gerrymandering and voter suppression, but we the DEMs should not countenance it at all.
We always devour our own. Always. We're fools. We're the kid on the playground, too bewildered to fight back, always wetting his pants, thinking it's his fault.
Well said. I'll be calling my reps and senators to stand up and support vocally the man we voted for.
Nothing like playing right into the maggots hands by causing doubt and division in the Democratic Party. What is wrong with these people?? Seems they can’t think without the $$ media directing them. Stuart Stevens knows of what he speaks. If the democrats calling for Biden to step down had an ounce of sense they would listen.
Stuart Stevens strikes me as the Republican who's most remorseful for his own role in setting the stage for a DJT becoming POTUS. Some of the other never-Trump GOP need more self-reflection.
Great post Tom, You hit the nail squarely on the head. In 1968, due to his lies and errors in the Vietnam disaster, Lyndon Baines Johnson who in his first half term had been a terrific President blew his claim to fame in his first full term by tying himself to Vietnam - a war we had no business entering and was unwinnable. So, Robert Francis Kennedy stood up. He had everything in his favor, from his murdered, but well loved, older brother to his own liberal progressive ethics. I worked hard on that campaign only to have it fall to pieces in June. We were so sure of winning in November, then in one indescribable instant it was all taken from us, Bobby was murdered. LBJ had abdicated and we were bereft of any viable candidate. The DNC with their usual lack of wisdom chose humpty dumpty to run in his place, Hubert Humphrey was not a bad man, he was just colorless. Even Teddy Kennedy would have been a better choice
So, here we are, 56 years later with a terrific President who has gotten more significant legislation passed than any one since LBJ in 64/65. Yes President Biden is old in the eyes of some people - he's ten years younger than me and in a hell of a lot better shape. So, he caught a cold. It's not like he went out seeking a virus to infect him. He's constantly in public for heaven's sake, Ask any public school teacher in their first 3 years of teaching - they caught every damned virus the kids brought in.
Joe had a sore throat which prevented him from using his normal fighting Joe voice. So, he searched for a few words. Tom, you're a lot younger than Biden how often when you're talking extemporaneously, have you paused to find that elusive word. Even when I'm writing I have look ion the thesaurus to find the word I want. And I don't even have a cold.
Of Biden's temporarily poor performance at the debate, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Dr. Harlan Krumholz wrote in Newsweek:
"The most probable explanation for this transient period of cognitive impairment in an older person with a cold is a side effect of cold medications. If this is so, the handwringing should cease, and we should use the debate as a reminder of how common such reactions are rather than an indication that the president is chronically debilitated.
In recent weeks, Biden has made several high-profile public appearances on the world stage. He commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, attended press briefings at the G7 Summit in Italy, and engaged with the public and world leaders. Journalists who have been beside Biden closely these past few weeks reported no such impairment, aligning with bullish sentiment from the Biden debate prep team. Everyone would have noticed if Biden exhibited even a fraction of what he displayed at the debate."
https://www.newsweek.com/did-cold-medications-affect-bidens-debate-performance-1919099
And why the fuck do they put out more attention to his performance in the 90 minute debacle with a lying, felonious bully than his accomplishments of the last 3 1/2 years? I am going to work hard to unify the troops and support Biden. There’s nothing more that Trump and his maggots would like than to see uncertainty, division and infighting in the Democratic Party now, with only 4 months until the election.
Are we sure that was really
Joe Biden at the debate? 😉
😁 It sure didn't look like him
or sound (according to my
closed captions) like him.
Maybe it was an AI fake job.
I wouldn't put anything past
CNN and the orange blob,
in this new meta-verse of
alternate facts, conspiracy
theories and a corrupt 6 on
SCOTUS. Anything could be
possible.
Let's have a witch hunt on
bogus democrats who don't
back Joe Biden.
With you on this. Only democracy loving Democrats need apply.
It's crucial that those of us (like myself) who are standing with Biden/Harris also recognize the distinct possibility that the President really is too frail to continue.
Here's what that means:
Most of the polls taken since the debate, treat all potential Democratic nominees as though they are interchangeable candidates. But the reality is that only Vice-President Harris (or the President himself) can seamlessly continue the current campaign.
Any nominee not named Biden or Harris would essentially have to build a new campaign from scratch, just months before the election. That is a practical impossibility, even if it were possible to choose such a nominee without fracturing party unity.
Given that Kamala Harris is polling as well, or better, than any other potential nominee, there is only one plausible path to a unified party and victory in November. That is to nominate President Biden, or for him to resign so Ms. Harris can run as the incumbent.
This is the message we have to spread within the Biden-loving activist community.
.
You obviously were not around when this was tried in 1968. The party didn't behave as you suggest they should then, and will not do so now. The result of LBJ ending his re-election campaign was that the RFK Democrats hated the Humphrey Democrats and disliked the Gene McCarthy Democrats, who hated both the RFK and Humphrey Democrats. The result was Nixon won and we got four more years of the Vietnam War and the majority of US casualties, and the foundation of the crap we still deal with today.
As the Old Salt Marine Gunnery Sergeant said, "Listen up, Butter Cups! Off yer dead asses and onto yer dyin' feet! There's a fight to be won!"
Make that nearly 7 more years, the War really ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon, The Paris Peace Accords were in 1973, but they didn't stop the fighting.
Two points, TC:
1) LBJ did not resign the presidency. If he had, Mr. Humphrey would have gone into the convention as the incumbent. Not saying that would have unified the party, but it would have been an entirely different scene. Today, President Harris would enjoy full support from virtually all those who are supporting Mr. Biden, as well as all those who don't really want to be the nominee this year.
2) The Democratic party was already torn apart by the Vietnam War. There's no anti-Joe movement today like there was anti-LBJ in '68. ("Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?" Not to mention the McCarthy and RFK candidacy.
.
If you will re-read, you will see I wrote "resigned his candidacy"
Also possibly inform our own senators & representatives that we intend to vote Biden/Harris - period. Its asinine to think of changing at this point in time AND expecting everyone in the country to also change!!! Aint gonna happen!
Here's an idea: Write to your local newspaper, then forward that letter to your Congressional reps. Use, and re-use, the loving care you put into your message(s) as appropriate.
My wife and I wrote an LTE to the Albany Times Union (timesunion.com) as follows:
***Beginning of LTE***
Regarding your editorial of June 28th ("Editorial: If Biden can’t make a better case for his candidacy than he did Thursday, he must step aside"), we believe that the TU editorial board acted rashly to attack President Joe Biden for his unexpectedly poor performance during the debate.
The very next day, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Joe Biden performed ably and well, calling out Trump's lies ("a new record for the most lies told in a single debate"), and lack of character (“the morals of an alley cat"), and, indeed, speaking plainly about his own performance ("I don't debate as well as I used to").
Your editorial missed this news event completely.
We wish that you had looked as deeply into the realities of electoral history as Lawrence O'Donnell did in his MSNBC segment "We live in a country where most commentators declared the liar the debate winner."
Biden's rally in NC was a good start on a "resurrection campaign." We look forward to more news of that sort, and to excellent, fact-based reporting from the Times Union on the real choice in this election: Democracy under the Democrats, with a few brave Republicans joining them in governing wisely, or the loss of freedom under a Trump dictatorship.
The Philadelphia Inquirer called for Trump to resign (June 29, “To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race”).
Have you called for Trump to withdraw from the race?
***End of LTE***
A couple days later, they published that editorial from the Inquirer, and I emailed my thanks to the TU's managing editor.
Thank you and your wife So Much for doing that. It was a good idea to get extra mileage out of the carefully crafted letter. It takes time to write these. Sending them around as far as you can is a good idea.
I just read Stuart Stevens's column in The Atlantic. Huzzah! Meanwhile, The New Republic has been so relentlessly beating the Resign Step Down Resign drum that they should change their name to The New Republican.
As well the New Yorker, where David Remnick has run up the flag of surrender.
I didn't realize that. I'm letting my (digital) New Yorker sub run out because I rarely get a chance to read it.
I had not seen this yet. (I’m traveling in Japan.) Stevens makes perfect sense and the analogy to Jan. 6 is spot on!
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Ave and shoot somebody and not lose voters.”
SCOTUS approves this message⬆️
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-still-not-lose-voters
📣keep sharing the video !
If trump hasn't yet adopted the campaign slogan "even his own party doesn't want him" it's only because he is so fixated on himself and his victim status that he can't spare a word for his opponent without lying.
It doesn't matter if you say "well, I'm still voting for Biden, but...." You are handing a sledgehammer to the GOP by expressing doubt so publicly.
Let’s dump doubts and concentrate on substance.👍