Gaming Out Doomsday Scenarios

The fallout from last week’s doozy of a debate continues, with voters, party leaders and donors all working to figure out if Joe Biden is still their guy. This, as a devastating Supreme Court term ends after several extraordinary rulings that will reverberate for years to come. Senator Claire McCaskill and former White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri wade through all the feelings, and what Biden needs to do to reassure voters and the Democratic party that he is equipped to stay in the race. Then, Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick joins to connect the dots on why the Supreme Court decisions on immunity, Chevron and EMTALA lay bare the adage that elections have consequences, and the makeup of the Court is chief among them. And lastly, Claire and Jen game out the logistics of how the party rules would actually work if President Biden did exit the race.

Also: a note about the post-debate CNN poll mentioned in this episode: both Claire and Jen were right. In this data set taken after the debate, Kamala Harris was running two points behind Donald Trump (45%-47%), while Joe Biden was running six points behind Donald Trump (43%-49%). Both of these are within the margin of error.