This is the fantasy:
It’s late July. The Republicans have just wrapped up their convention in Milwaukee. Donald Trump leads Joe Biden in every poll, in every battleground state, and Republicans are poised to hold on to the House and maybe take over the Senate.
In an address from the Oval Office, Biden announces that he will not seek reelection in November, that it is time for a new generation of Democrats to take the helm—throwing his party’s nomination battle to the four-day Democratic convention in Chicago, starting August 19.
I contacted 10 Democrats who have advised presidential candidates, written speeches, raised money—people who ostensibly know something about the political game—and none of them wanted to speak on the record, because they want to keep working in Democratic politics and going to Democratic dinner parties. But they pretty much agreed on two things:
