Can we all just stop pretending Biden is in charge of this ticket? CNN probably won’t, but for a brief moment in time last night, the liberal network managed to say the quiet part out loud about Harris taking over for Biden. In what was a rather awkward headline, Chris Cillizza’s piece on the VP pick described things this way.

Joe Biden made the pick that maximized his chances of continuing to make the race a straight referendum on Trump while also selecting someone whose resume suggests being ready to step in, if and when Biden decides to step aside. | Analysis by @CillizzaCNN https://t.co/Ek4d6sfGfT

— CNN (@CNN) August 11, 2020

The piece itself is what you’d expect, i.e. slobbering praise for Biden’s. It essentially asserts that Harris was the best pick ever, historical, and offers Trump no lines of attack to open up. How true any of that is will be tested in the near future, as I actually think Harris is wide open for attacks compared to Susan Rice, who would have been a more limited target (i.e. Benghazi, and I don’t think that’s an effective political attack anymore).

Regardless, here’s what you normally don’t do when a VP candidate is chosen for a ticket. You don’t immediately begin to speculate the top of the ticket is so incapable of doing the job that he may not finish out his first term. That’s usually a red flag to not make that person president in the first place.

But we are living in a reality where defeating Trump overtakes all common sense for the left, to the point where the media are salivating at the thought of a senile old man being elected because they can just swap him out for Harris when the time is right.

Comfortably Smug had a little fun with this last night.

"IF and WHEN"

CNN knows Joe Biden is falling apart. He's 900 years old and could croak if he leaves his basement. https://t.co/z2O2WzVQK3

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 12, 2020

Imagine how awful it must be to be Joe Biden right now. Everyone just assumes you’re dying and know the *hint hint* of your VP pick is the person who’s actually gonna run the country.

It’s actually a goddamn tragedy

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 12, 2020

The New York Post also poked fun at the idea that Biden is now officially just a stand in.

Tomorrow's cover: https://t.co/zTIp3CaslX pic.twitter.com/ih8EQBHKZ5

— New York Post (@nypost) August 11, 2020

Though the left will mostly not want to concede this point, everyone knows it’s true. We’ve all seen Biden unable to tell his wife from his sister, forget where he is routinely, and spin word salads that would make Donald Trump’s public speaking seem like a scholarly lecture. We aren’t blind, nor are we deaf.

The plan here is clear. Get Biden elected so Harris can become president after he degrades to a point where they can’t reasonably pretend it’s not happening anymore. The question remains whether voters will appreciate being openly bamboozled like this. Perhaps some will be fine with having the real president they are voting for not be the person at the top of the ticket. Maybe others will resent the fact that Democrats can’t just be honest enough with the electorate to remove Biden. We’ll find out.

What we will certainly get from now until the election is fawning praise. The Times, for example, ran four separate drooling headlines about Harris this morning. She is making history, she’s the first black VP candidate, but also the first Indian VP candidate, and did I mention she’s just great? It’s so predictable.

But as a final thought, Trump is not going to sit idly by while this slobber fest continues. Biden and Harris are not going to be allowed to float above the ether to victory. He’s going to attack them and attack them hard. The fact that Harris is the most “president in waiting” VP candidate in history will offer a fruitful path of attack that isn’t normally afforded to incumbents. This honeymoon isn’t going to last long.

(Please go follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)