While the Republicans were busy at their convention, the Democrats had a lot on their plate. There were some pretty big events that they were dealing with – some of their own making, and some of them not.

Let’s start with the biggest and most recent news, which is not political, but will have political ramifications.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Dies of Pancreatic Cancer

The news broke late on Friday evening that Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas had passed away at age 74.

“Today, with deep grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas,” her office said in a statement.

Jackson Lee, who has been representing Texas’ 18th congressional district for 30 years, said last month she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She previously battled breast cancer, having been diagnosed in 2011, before announcing the following year she was cancer free.

Sheila Jackson Lee had been in Congress for nearly 30 years, and had attempted to run for mayor of Houston just last year (she lost in the Democrat primary), but had won the Democrat primary for her Congressional seat again just this last March. With her death, Texas state law allows for the Democrats to nominate a replacement candidate for the general election. Odds are strong that Amanda Edwards, a former intern to Sheila Jackson Lee who challenged her in the Democrat primary this year, could be the choice to replace her now.

While we here at Victory Girls disagreed strongly with Jackson Lee’s politics over the years, we send our condolences to her family and friends. Pancreatic cancer is a particularly nasty and painful disease which we wish on no one.

And now to the self-inflicted problems that Democrats have brought upon themselves.

Senator Bob Menendez is GUILTY of all federal charges

In a news cycle where we weren’t dealing with the aftermath of an attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, the news that a sitting senator had been found guilty of bribery and corruption charges would make a much bigger splash. This guy has gotten away with so much over the years – remember, this is his SECOND trial for corruption. But the news of Bob Menendez’s conviction fell off the front page nationally rather quickly.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was found guilty on all counts Monday after being tried on charges of accepting bribes, including cash and gold bars, to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Menendez had his hands crossed and his chin resting on his hands as some of the verdict was read and didn’t display any emotion. He then shook his head in disagreement as the jurors were polled about the verdict. Some of his family members broke down in tears. He’ll be sentenced Oct. 29.

Menendez told reporters outside the courthouse he was “deeply, deeply disappointed by the jury’s decision” and predicted, “we will be successful upon appeal.”

“I have never violated my public oath,” he said. He didn’t answer questions about whether he would resign.

Menendez was charged with 16 counts, including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice and several counts of conspiracy. He had pleaded not guilty, as did his wife, Nadine Menendez, whose trial was delayed indefinitely following her surgery after a breast cancer diagnosis.

The jury deliberated for about 12½ hours over three days before returning the verdicts.

While Menendez had already decided to run as an independent and not as a Democrat, he now faces expulsion from the Senate – if Democrats (who control the chamber) can find the political will to do it, instead of just letting him lose his election this November. Why would they have to expel him? Because Bob Menendez is not capable of shame, and even a conviction isn’t enough to convince him to resign.

Menendez has vowed to appeal his corruption conviction and on Wednesday, despite reports he was caving in to demands to resign, the senator dug in and told reporter Christine Sloan, “I can tell you that I have not resigned nor have I spoken to any so-called ‘allies,'” adding, “Seems to me that there is an effort to try to force me into a statement. Anyone who knows me knows that’s the worst way to achieve a goal with me.”

Democrats might have the numbers, when added to the Republicans, to expel him.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the No. 3 in the caucus, said she backed expulsion in a statement to POLITICO.

“After being found guilty, Senator Menendez should resign from the U.S. Senate. If he does not, he should face expulsion. He has betrayed the trust of his constituents and his duty to this country,” she said.

Others calling for Menendez to either step aside or face expulsion include seven incumbent Democrats facing reelection this fall: Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Tim Kaine (Va.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Jon Tester (Mont.). Additionally, four rank-and-file senators who aren’t up for reelection this year also want to boot Menendez if he doesn’t resign, according to their spokespeople: Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.). Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is also in that group, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

And Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) “likely would,” according to his spokesperson.

A spokesperson for Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) — Menendez’s chief Senate antagonist as he’s faced federal charges — declined to comment on Wednesday about expelling Menendez, but the Pennsylvania Democrat suggested earlier this year that he would support the Senate taking such a step.

New Jersey is a blue state, and Governor Phil Murphy would appoint another Democrat to replace him. There is no up side to letting Menendez stay in the Senate, and no down side to booting him out. This should be the world’s easiest call for Senate Democrats to make.

AOC rants and calls Trump a “neo-Nazi”

Remember after last Saturday, and the calls to “lower the temperature” on the rhetoric? That was a nice few days, but it’s over now, apparently.

“Donald Trump is a Neo-Nazi…” -AOC pic.twitter.com/1lBKAgP12u

— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) July 19, 2024

So AOC has gone from wishing Trump “a speedy recovery” to calling him a “neo-Nazi” in five days. Awesome. And since Team Biden is back in on the fear-mongering themselves, it seems the era of “civility” is over again.

It's been one week since Donald Trump was nearly assassinated on national television.

Joe Biden is back to accusing him of wanting to steal freedom and put your family in detention camps. https://t.co/l6ZSc26dYK

— Sunny (@sunnyright) July 20, 2024

How do Democrats convince Biden to drop out?

The short answer is that Democrats have no control in this situation. Joe Biden has all the delegates, and if he doesn’t say the magic words, the party is stuck with him. The pressure campaign that has been ratcheted up has, so far, had little effect. If Joe Biden, currently sequestered in Delaware, ostensibly to recover from Covid – but with the added benefit of keeping everyone but Jill and Hunter and the inner circle away from him – gets through the weekend without dropping out of the race, then his chances of making it all the way to the Democrat National Convention begin to increase again. The clock is ticking, Kamala Harris is refusing to do anything but support Biden, and as this drags on, any potential alternative candidates will get cold feet and prefer to start with a clean slate for 2028.

But the damage has been done, and the leaks coming from Congressional Democrats about Biden’s mental state are damaging. Not just to Joe Biden, but to themselves, even if they don’t realize it yet. Let’s take the case of Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA), who wrote an editorial in the Boston Globe urging Biden to drop out.

Every time we crossed paths and I caught his eye, he would break into that big, wide Joe Biden grin and say how glad he was to see me. It was like that just last Christmas at the White House Ball.

More recently, I saw him in a small group at Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. For the first time, he didn’t seem to recognize me. Of course, that can happen as anyone ages, but as I watched the disastrous debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem.

It was a crushing realization, and not because a person I care about had a rough night but because everything is riding on Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November.

America needs him to win and, like most Americans, I’m no longer confident that he can. The president should bow out of the race.

Here’s the problem with what Moulton is saying.

The time to say so was a month ago. https://t.co/h3tg8oPdMt

— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) July 19, 2024

Remember when the media and the White House told us all that these were just “cheap fakes,” and Joe Biden was TOTALLY FINE and we shouldn’t be worried about him? Yeah, they lied. They all lied, and they either knew they were lying, or were too stupid to look critically at what they were seeing or saying, or both.

As more and more Democratic lawmakers call for Biden to step aside, remember that this was MSNBC's Nicole Wallace barely a month ago, denouncing “a growing and insidious trend in right-wing media … to take highly misleading and selectively edited videos of President Biden … and… pic.twitter.com/7vrYTYiHU6

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 19, 2024

And now they are stuck. All these Democrats are coming out of the woodwork, in an attempt to get Biden out of the race, telling “their truth” about how the current president of the United States is senile and sundowning. But if Joe Biden stays in the race, what are they going to do? Support him and hope that voters forget that they ever said anything??? That’s the plan! And the media, who was also complicit in covering up for Joe Biden, will let them get away with it… IF the old man is still the nominee by the time the convention rolls around.

Things are not going to get any easier for the Democrats in the near term. We are currently living through a very volatile period in American history, when so much is rising and falling on the brain function of a single man, and the control of said elderly grandpa by his family. If this doesn’t get out of hand, and we manage to live through it, then we should count ourselves Providentially blessed.

Featured image via Proulain on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license