Not too long ago, Joe Biden had it made. The Democrat convention was approaching, he had the delegates, and he was going to be the nominee.

He rigged the Democrat primaries for himself, shut out all competition, kneecapped Bobby Kennedy's independent campaign, and if all else failed, tried through various means -- court and otherwise -- to eliminate his main rival, President Trump.

But he got hit from a direction from which he wasn't looking -- his own party majordomos, who engineered his "easy way or hard way" ouster, ushering in Kamala Harris instead. Harris was stupid. Harris was his "insurance." But Harris had ideas of her own and ran away with it. Now she has risen in the polls as he hasn't and the mainstream media are in full-throated cheerleading mode in ways he never got.

Now he's reportedly seething.

Here's what President Trump's close advisor, Stephen Miller, tweeted out:

Buzz growing that Biden regrets caving to the coup after Kamala seismically botched the VP pick by surrendering to the Jew-haters. She showed tremendous cowardice exiling Shapiro for a socialist and Biden is fuming that he let donors extort him out by freezing his campaign funds.

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) August 6, 2024

Here's what Trump himself is hearing:

🚨WHOA - Trump predicts Biden might try to “take back the nomination” at the DNC after it was stolen by “Kamabla”

What does Trump know that we don’t?! pic.twitter.com/AGv8zGcLKV

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 6, 2024

Meanwhile, Tom Bevan at RealClearPolitics noticed a curiously empty schedule for Biden, and not for the first time:

Another day, another blank schedule for Biden.

(ps. At least he's getting his PDF before mid-afternoon today) https://t.co/lHEp7DRax9 pic.twitter.com/p5AL4Zp8Hq

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) August 7, 2024

Could Trump and Miller just be spitballin,' trying to sow discord among the Democrats?

A couple of factors say 'no':

One, Joe Biden fought hard to hold his place as the Democrat nominee in the coming election. First, he said he was running, even as other Democrats tried to stop him, and he said his health and sentience was perfect.

This video, dating from February, by the Hindustan Times, gives the flavor:

His 'amen' corner among the Democrats continued with that lie about his sentience until, post-debate, it was too obvious to ignore. Yet right to the last day, he said he was fit as a fiddle and would never step down.

Obviously, he was pushed, and he didn't like it. His speech to the nation was oddly muted and lacking in detail. He never said in that speech that he was stepping down because he was going senile. Perhaps he was keeping some powder dry for events to come.

The other thing is, Trump doesn't like to connive. He likes to spill secrets, tell us things he's hearing, say the obvious thing that everyone is murmuring. That's his style. That he and Miller could launch a disinformation effort the way Democrats and their Russian allies do doesn't sound credible. The two of them probably are hearing something, even though the comeback idea sounds farfetched, and can't hold it in.

So the story is out: Biden is seething, bitter, disgusted with Kamala's bad judgment in picking the buffoonish Tim Walz over more moderate Josh Shapiro, looking for a way to regain his grasp on power, and no longer motivated to do his job as president of the United States.

Biden must be thinking about it even if he's now powerless.

He's oddly absent with that empty schedule as the world is burning -- in the Middle East, in South Asia, in Venezuela, and in Western Europe. The media is focused on gushing about the Kamala campaign, but who's running the store in this now-lame-duck presidency isn't obvious.

All that tells us is that Kamala isn't as secure in her TikTok candidacy as suggested. That means Biden may be looking for some way to throw a spanner in the gears if he can't retake his position as nominee the way he might hope. Maybe he will just burn it all down on the way out.

Unlike Trump, Biden does plot, and he takes a lot of revenge on his enemies. If Democrats could plot against him, why wouldn't he plot back to take the whole miserable house of cards down, too? He probably will fail, and once again, stew in his bitterness.

If so, couldn't happen to a nicer guy who did so much damage to our country. Biden set the rules on manipulating elections, and in the end got beaten by fellow Democrats at his own game, his own rules he thought he was master of.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

Image: Screen shot from Hindustan Times video, via YouTube