So how’s that Biden campaign going? Well, in addition to locking in many Democrat-or-Bust loyalists, Joe roping Republicans.

So claims The Daily Beast.

According to TDB, the presumptive presidential nominee’s team is building a “secret” group of GOP supporters aimed at seducing otherwise Trumpsters to cast their votes for the J-man.

During a livechat with soccer star Megan Rapinoe in late April, Biden said he’d been “speaking to a lot of Republicans.” That included “former colleagues” who, he claimed, were “calling and saying, ‘Joe, if you win, we’re gonna help.'”

He even offered the following:

“Matter of fact, there’s some major Republicans who are already forming ‘Republicans for Biden.’ Major officeholders.”

And now, as per the Beast, that plan’s “starting to get underway in certain Republican circles behind-the-scenes.”

Citing sources “directly familiar with the matter,” the outlet reports that discussions of “messaging, engagement, leadership, and roll-out are starting to be broadly sketched out.”

An unnamed top official in the Party of Lincoln’s purportedly involved in the preliminary talks.

Here’s what he told the TDB:

“I’ve had several conversations with people who have approached me. It’s going to take off, it’s going to happen. The question is to what degree and form it does. You don’t want something like this out on the street before it needs to be. It just makes it much harder to do.”

The Beast also notes Biden’s expressed penchant for working with those across the aisle, and the piece lays out two possible iterations for a pro-Joe Republican effort:

• An outside PAC that would function similarly to Democratic-led external organizations
• An inside group within the actual campaign, complete with one or more major Republicans as the face

The article mentions a few potential key players, including former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, former Florida Rep. David Jolly, political analyst Charlie Sykes, Weekly Standard founder and The Bulwark Editor-At-Large Bill Kristol, and former RNC Chair Michael Steele.

Bill’s a no-brainer (see RedState writer Nick Arama’s article “Bill Kristol Formally Comes Out of the Closet, Admits He’s a Democrat“):

Not presumably forever; not perhaps for a day after Nov. 3, 2020; not on every issue or in every way until then. But for the time being one has to say: We are all Democrats now.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 1, 2020

Among the possible flag-wavers for Biden, TDB points to one NeverTrumper as a standout: former Republican Ohio Gov. (and current CNN commentator) John Kasich.

However, a senior strategist for John has denied any such workings.

Would a major Republican name really join a Democrat’s campaign in a prominent way?

Democratic tactician Joe Trippie put it this way:

“It’s done, but the reason it’s not common is there are few people willing to do that. It’s not rare on the Biden campaign’s part. You just don’t usually have that many prominent people…willing to cross lines in the middle of a presidential campaign.”

To me, more so than any election in memory, these next six months leading to America’s presidential vote are an utter mystery. What in the world is to come?

Presently, we have a man running for the highest office in the land with a very substantial and evident medical issue. And it’s not the kind of problem that gets better with time. Why are Democrats sticking around? It seems to me the sexual assault allegations provide a convenient basis for a switch to someone more primed to lead. But Biden’s apparent confusion should’ve done that already.

If Joe chooses a female VP — which he’s set to do — do Dem voters pull that lever thinking Biden’ll be declared unfit in office, leading to a Party-of-the-Donkey victory via the first female prez?

The Democratic Party, in my view, has seemed largely disinterested in the election. What’s going on? With impeachment, they dragged Joe through massive amounts of mud. And now he’s embarrassing himself by relentlessly displaying health issues in front of the whole world. Why are they letting him do this?

Then there’s Trump — he’ll get credit for being strong in a time of crisis, and he’ll be blamed for both economic and health woes, though those maladies appear to sit largely in opposition to one another.

The idea of notable Republicans prominently pushing for Biden is wild.

Personally, I keep waiting for some insane occurrence to make this last year make some kind of political sense on the side of the Dems. What’s cooking?

Whatever it is, things are heating up.

November’s not far away.

But given that it’s politics, there’s still time for plenty to happen.

What do you predict?

-ALEX

See 3 more pieces from me:

Believe Who? The Women’s March Gives Handsy Joe Biden Two Enthusiastic Thumbs

Big Brother Barks: A Chilling Viral Video Foreshadows a Dystopian Future. Can It Be Avoided?

Take a Peek Into Portland’s Drive-Thru Strip Joint, and Gawk Over Its Name for Disrobed Deliveries

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