A house divided cannot stand, but Democrats are going to give it their best shot. They’ve got their eye on 2020, but seem to be wanting to make sure that the right person gets to the general election debate stage.

It seems they’ve deemed Joe Biden as the wrong person, and are already launching attacks to bring him down.

An article from the New York Times noted how Biden collected a $200,000 speaking fee from the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan in order to speak highly of a Republican. Representative Fred Upton:

But Mr. Biden was not there to denounce Mr. Upton. Instead, he was collecting $200,000 from the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan to address a Republican-leaning audience, according to a speaking contract obtained by The New York Times and interviews with organizers. The group, a business-minded civic organization, is supported in part by an Upton family foundation.

Mr. Biden stunned Democrats and elated Republicans by praising Mr. Upton while the lawmaker looked on from the audience. Alluding to Mr. Upton’s support for a landmark medical-research law, Mr. Biden called him a champion in the fight against cancer — and “one of the finest guys I’ve ever worked with.”

Democrats in the area were “stunned” according to the New York Times and proceeded to beg Biden to fix the situation by denouncing the Republican, which Biden didn’t do, and Upton ended up beating his Democratic challenger by over four percentage points.

The New York Times then got down to the paragraph they really wanted to write, and raised the question about whether or not Biden is a fit leader because his ability to be a unifying statesman is a vulnerability and “raises questions about his judgment as a party leader”:

As Mr. Biden considers a bid for the presidency in 2020, the episode underscores his potential vulnerabilities in a fight for the Democratic nomination and raises questions about his judgment as a party leader. Mr. Biden has attempted to strike a balance since leaving office, presenting himself as a unifying statesman who could unseat President Trump while also working to amass a modest fortune of several million dollars.

At this time, Biden is a threat to Trump’s presidency in no small part because many would consider him a good middle of the road option. He has brand name recognition from his time as Vice-President to Barack Obama and a relatively charming personality.

The problem with Biden for Democrats seems to lie with the fact that Biden is the wrong sex and color. As many on the left have voiced already, the Democratic party has changed to be more “inclusive,” and Democrats have been voicing their disappointment over the fact that the top three contenders in the polls to challenge Trump are all white and male.

In their total embrace of identity politics, they’ve begun to view Republicans as undeniably racist. If Biden would sink so low as to help them, it would be unforgivable to actually bring former Trump voters into the Democrat party, as Erik Erickson notes at the Resurgent:

There is a body of conventional wisdom out there noting that Biden would have the best shot at stealing Trump’s base from him. But Democrats have largely decided Trump’s base is full of racists and bigots and no one should want them and no one even try to get them. That Biden can potentially bring these undesirable people into the Democratic fold means Biden is undesirable and must be stopped.

If Democrats are smart, they would embrace Biden with all their might. However, they’ve proven to be blinded by their newfound social justice-centered identitarianism. The left may be up for a tougher fight in 2020 than it needs to be, and Democrats will have no one but themselves to blame.