U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says that Democrats could “parachute in” Michelle Obama to replace President Joe Biden as the party’s 2024 presidential nominee.
Cruz stated during his recent podcast:
The scenario that I think is perhaps most likely and most dangerous. In August 2024, the Democrat kingmakers jettison Joe Biden and parachute in Michelle Obama. And I want you to pause and reflect on this.
I view this as a very serious danger. Michelle Obama, number one you don’t infuriate African-American women, a critical part of the constituency Democrats rely on to win. But number two, you avoid the problem. If you pick any of the four [most likely replacements] the other three are pissed because they’re all to some extent peers or rivals.
Michelle Obama because she was first lady has the ability to parachute in above all four and say we’re not picking among any of you, you guys can all fight it out next time, we’re coming, this is the Obamas saving the day.
In terms of a solution that unifies Democrats, there ain’t nothing like that. I also think Michelle is not all that eager to run for president, but to parachute in a couple of months before and suddenly wake up and be president, not a bad gig.
Would she do it? I don’t know. … I do think Barack Obama is already running the Biden administration, I think he is already the puppet master behind this Biden White House. I don’t think Joe Biden is the decision maker so when I see the media turning on Joe Biden right now, I think the odds of Michelle Obama parachuting in in August 2024 have risen dramatically, and that ought to scare the hell out of anyone who is unhappy with the direction this country is going.
For more than half a decade, the former first lady has remained steadfast in her assertions that she has no intention of ever running for office.
“It’s all well and good until you start running, and then the knives come out,” she said at a conference in 2017. “Politics is tough, and it’s hard on a family. … I wouldn’t ask my children to do this again because, when you run for higher office, it’s not just you, it’s your whole family.”
Yet, despite years of ardent “No’s” to the question of a return to the national political spotlight, even members of her own party entertain the prospect of rebooting the Obama White House.
Democrat pollsters Douglas Schoen and Andrew Stein argued in an op-ed earlier this year that Obama would be the “strongest candidate by far.”
“Biden is pretty safe in the Democratic primary. However, he’d better make sure Michelle Obama is on his Christmas card list,” Mike Noble, CEO of Noble Predictive Insights, said of a poll showing that Obama would have more support from Democratic voters than Biden if she entered the race.
Obama’s favorability rating was 26 points higher than her husband’s, and is 20 points higher than ratings of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
Within the past two years, she has been considered one of the top two picks as a replacement, should Biden be unable to remain as the nominee.
Known for her eloquence and charisma, Obama also has star power that matches that of Trump. When she launched her Becoming book tour, she sold out Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, which holds more than 19,000 people.
The filing deadline for new candidates is next month, making it unlikely she would jump in the race to challenge Biden.
However, some analysts have said that after the Democratic primaries, it is possible that Biden could step down and that another candidate would simply be awarded all of his delegates, thereby being able to be listed on the ballot without having had to endure months of arduous campaigning.
