New York Times warns Democrats against putting Harris atop November ticket

President Joe Biden made a shocking turnaround on Sunday afternoon by declaring an end to his re-election campaign after pledging -- via surrogates -- to remain a candidate for another term in office just hours before.

Though a significant number of Democratic Party power players have already lined up to lend their support to Vice President Kamala Harris as the next in line for the White House, no less than the New York Times editorial board has cautioned against such an uncritical coronation process, expressing “profound concerns” about her prospects and calling for her removal, as Breitbart reports.

Gratitude mixed with alarm

Before letting loose on what it feels are the pressing perils of a Harris candidacy, the Times editorial board offered words of praise and gratitude for Biden.

The editors declared of the current president, “By agreeing to step down when his term ends in January, he is greatly increasing the chance that his party is able to protect the nation from the dangers of returning Donald Trump to the presidency.”

That, however, is where the pleasantries ended and the board's exhortations regarding Harris began.

The board noted that while selecting Harris as Biden's successor is “reasonable” in a practical sense, given that she was anticipated to be part of the ticket even if primary voters never weighed in on her as a candidate for the higher office, it added that there are considerable pitfalls to keep in mind as well.

According to the paper, convention delegates deserve a voice in the matter, noting that there are “other qualified Democrats who could take on Mr. Trump and win and picking a candidate without a real contest is how the party got into a position of anointing a standard-bearer that large majorities of Democrats and independents had profound concerns about.”

Risks from within and without

As Breitbart observed, however, if the Democrats were to follow the Times' advice and refuse to hand the nomination automatically to Harris, the party could end up bleeding Black support in sufficient volume to produce a loss this fall.

Given the notable inroads Trump has been making in Black communities -- particularly with Black men -- the risk of ditching Harris may be a bridge to far for those calling the shots at the top of the Democratic Party.

While the immediate aftermath of Biden's announcement appeared to unleash a massive wave of support for Harris, news soon broke that Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) was contemplating a return to the Democratic Party he previously departed so that he could mount a challenge to the vice president for the top of the ticket, as The Hill noted on Sunday evening.

Manchin made clear his support for an “open process” over the next few weeks in order to select a replacement for Biden, saying, “I think that we have a lot of talent on the bench, a lot of good people.”

One thing is clear, and that is that there is still a lot of road to travel between now and November and given the startling unpredictability of this election season thus far, truly anything can happen.