Every lost election generates its own cycle of sagas and folktales to create heroes and villains and apportion credit and blame. Usually, the best stories come from the winning side, but in the case of the 2024 election, the premier chronicles of political skulduggery and malfeasance are the sole province of Kamala's campaign.

Stories that Joe Biden would be forced out of the race began circulating shortly after Biden's disastrous and barely lucid debate performance against Donald Trump. Biden admits he may have to drop out in days if post-debate events don't go well.

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By now, it is generally accepted that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama were working behind the scenes to push Joey SoftServe out of the race because they thought he couldn't win a rematch against Trump. At the time, reporting based on informed sources indicated the plan was for Biden to withdraw and for a new candidate to emerge at an "open," and by that, I mean "Obama-controlled," convention. Here is Mark Halperin discussing the plan on July 18, three days before Biden dropped out.

NEW — "According to my sources, President Biden agreed to step down as the Democratic nominee. It will happen as early as this weekend..."

- Mark Halperin on Newsmax just now pic.twitter.com/89vkN7VV0Q

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 18, 2024

MARK HALPERIN, NEWSMAX CORRESPONDENT: Carl, according to multiple Democratic sources, this is happening all of a sudden. Everyone said it would happen gradually and then all at once, and that's what's happening. According to my sources, President Biden has agreed to step down as a Democratic nominee.

It will happen as early as this weekend. A speech has been drafted for him. He will continue on as president, is his intention. He also will not, I'm told, endorse Vice President Harris as his successor. They're hoping that he will endorse an open process in which the convention will be open to Vice President Harris and a few other candidates in Chicago to pick the Democratic nominee for president.

The belief is that Vice President Harris is already looking at potential running mates to go to Chicago with a full ticket, including one possibility, Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, and perhaps the governor of Pennsylvania, Governor Shapiro.

Other possible candidates who are being talked about include Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, perhaps Gretchen Whitmer, and again the vice president running. On the first ballot, the regular delegates would be allowed to vote under this agreement that's being talked about amongst the president and high-level Democrat officials. The regular delegates would vote on the first ballot. If there is no winner on the first ballot, the so-called super delegates would be allowed to vote on the subsequent ballot.

This decision was reached, I'm told, all of a sudden because of the high-level pressure from Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and others, as well as the decision of many of Biden's top aides, that there was no path forward for him, that he would not be able to win this election, win the general election, and therefore he's stepping aside again as early as this weekend.

Note this sentence: "He also will not, I'm told, endorse Vice President Harris as his successor."

This is Nancy Pelosi sobbing to the New York Times about the election on Friday:

“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Ms. Pelosi said during an interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a host of “The Interview,” a Times podcast. She added during the interview, which will be published in full on Saturday, “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.”

Ms. Pelosi went on: “And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened. And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.”

Compare and contrast this with what Halperin reported:  “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.”

If that was the "anticipation," then why did Joe Biden immediately endorse Kamala when he withdrew from the race?

In retrospect, there were signs that Biden was not "at peace" with his decision to withdraw from the race. In a September 25 appearance on "The View," Biden forcefully asserted that he could beat Trump:

President Biden on Wednesday delivered a blunt assessment of the character of his predecessor, telling the hosts of “The View” on ABC that “there’s not a lot of socially redeeming value” to former President Donald J. Trump. Asked if he would have won if he stayed in the presidential race, Mr. Biden replied: “Yes. I was confident I would beat Trump. He’s a loser.”

But in an appearance that was part personal, part policy and part political, Mr. Biden said he was “at peace” with his decision not to run again. 

On October 16, Biden and Obama had a tense conversation in which Biden made it clear that he still thought he was a stronger candidate than Kamala.

The New York Post hired a professional lip reader to decipher what Obama and Biden were talking about at Ethel Kennedy's funeral.

Obama: "She's not as strong as me"

Biden: "That's true." pic.twitter.com/JHaMo0ABFo

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 17, 2024

President Biden griped to former President Barack Obama that “she” is “not as strong as me” — with Obama agreeing “that’s true” — in a stunning off-mic conversation deciphered for The Post by a professional lip reader.

The apparent candid assessment of Vice President Kamala Harris’ standing going into the Nov. 5 election occurred Wednesday afternoon as America’s two most recent Democratic presidents conversed at Ethel Kennedy’s memorial service in Washington.

“She’s not as strong as me,” said Biden, 81, according to the translation, which was produced by analyzing the on-video lip movements during the discussion.

“I know … that’s true,” the popular former president agreed, adding, “We have time.”

“Yeah, we’ll get it in time,” said Biden, who was forced by fellow Democrats to relinquish the party’s nomination in favor of Harris on July 21 in a mutiny that Obama was believed to support.

It is impossible to believe that Halperin had heard of the plan Pelosi articulated this week and not believe Biden was also aware of it  It is also impossible to believe that Biden was not aware that Kamala was a high-functioning imbecile who had gamed her way into the vice-presidency and never accomplished a single task he assigned to her. He had to know that forcing her onto the people who had shunted him aside would be the sweetest form of revenge, and he would be able to point to his victory in 2020 as proof that he was a better candidate.

When Biden gave his post-election "unity" speech Thursday, he seemed elated. Combine that with Jill Biden showing up to vote in a bright red suit, and one could reasonably doubt Biden's willingness to go along with the plan.

Trump really wasn’t lying when he said Joe Biden hates Kamala. Just look how happy he was giving today’s speech. 😂 pic.twitter.com/jeYddtl1aN

— Zak Fenner (@zakfenner) November 7, 2024

Taken as a whole, the facts paint a picture of Biden as an embittered man who was elbowed out of the way rather than voluntarily stepping aside. His decision to endorse Kamala in his withdrawal speech locked the Democrats into a convention that was a coronation rather than a contest. As a result, the Democrat king-makers lost their say on who would lead the party in the upcoming campaign and created an electoral Chernobyl that will smolder for years to come.