The best magicians are masters of misdirection.  And Democrats and their proxy media have proven themselves to be master illusionists.  They had Fox News and other conservative media talking nonstop about President Joe Biden’s infirmities, the administration’s cover for him, and the mainstream media’s complicity in all of it.  They deflected from the focus on failing Democrat policies and governance and how shallow and radical the Democrat bench really is.  They also gave cover for their attempts to undermine their own democratic process.  But a would-be assassin foiled their tricks, and they are working on new ones. 

A month ago, Biden and the Democrats were falling in the polls long before the debate.  It wasn’t just the failed lawfare against Donald Trump, but Republicans and Trump were finally drawing the connections to inflation, global insecurity, crime, and general malaise to each and every Democrat action and initiative.  Looking to change the narrative, Dems allowed Biden to debate — gambling on which direction it would go, but knowing that either way, it was going to take the focus off of their inherent incompetence as a ruling party.  With any luck, it would be the excuse they needed to construct a complete election do-over.

Three weeks ago, Biden flopped at the debate in plain view.  It was their chance to change the rules in the middle of the game they were losing. 

Two weeks ago, while America was debating about Joe, Democrats were polling and secretly politicking a new sleight of hand.  Maybe a newer and shinier selected candidate to distract and excite Americans?

Then, just over a week ago, at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., a would-be assassin sparked a series of events that showed just how close to losing the Democrats really were.

The assassination aftermath bought the Democrats time to plan their next big move.  A surprisingly unified Republican convention forced them to reveal a preliminary list of deflections (attacks on J.D. Vance and the Supreme Court, Project 2025 conspiracies, rewriting economic realities, Biden yelling about MAGA violence, etc.).  We all could feel something more ominous afoot.  

Then Biden got COVID — yes, that illusory and sometimes convenient illness. 

Sunday, Biden announced his withdrawal as the Democrat presidential candidate.

We are now witnessing the ultimate shell game, where the three levers of power (the Obamas, the Clintons, and Nancy Pelosi, et al.) are shuffling the party around for the shiny prize of who will be the official nominee.  We are deep in the throes of a major confidence game that will keep us watching and guessing as to which power shell the nominee is under.

But this is all another misdirection.  The Democrats see politics as a competition for complete authority, and we know the lengths to which they will go or at least exploit to win.  For five years, the Democrats gave us the mere appearance of a man in charge.  They made American governance a pretense for power.

On July 13, one brave man lost his life participating in the real and genuine promise of America.  It reminded us that elections and governance and politics are also real-life.  For many on the right, it is not a game.

Like every good magician, the Democrats will keep us in suspense.  While we watch the shell game of nominating a Democrat candidate, we are faced with a lame-duck president operating at the behest of a party that craves control.  We have to ask ourselves: what is the real ball they are hiding?

Image: Mobilus In Mobili via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped).