With Joe Biden’s election as U.S. president, a major power shift has happened in the White House. But there is also the belief that another power shift will happen within Biden’s presidency: that Joe Biden is a passthrough for Kamala Harris to become president.
Whether Biden dies or becomes incapacitated is impossible to predict. But if Biden abdicates, my prediction (or projection) is that it will be 2 years and 17 days after his inauguration date. The “17 days” gets a two-day extension, as you’ll see at the end.
How Will It Happen?
Abdication. Biden is old enough that he can plausibly leave the presidency at any time.
Death is another possibility, as it is for all of us at any moment. Biden will be 78 years old on the date of the inauguration. But he’s a hardy 78-year-old with no major outstanding health concerns.
Many of the examples of Biden’s cognitive dissonance can be chalked up to his famously loopy style; the whole hairy legs and pony soldier bit. Other examples might be attributed to him being a campaigner whose every word and pause and misstep is weighed and balanced to the nearest gram by social media.
Will It Happen By Year 1?
This is too soon to happen by plan. The first year of a presidency passes fast. By the time that whirlwind First 100 Days of a Presidency are done, nearly one-third of the year is gone.
Not within the first year.
Can It Happen By Year 3?
If Harris assumes the presidency before Biden completes his term, she needs to establish enough groundwork for re-election. If she takes office in 2023, that leaves little or no time before campaigning for the 2024 election.
Not in the third year.
Can It Happen By Year 4 (Election)?
Why would strategizers place Harris in an uncertain position when there is a certain solution at hand? Trying to elect Harris in 2024 is uncertain; it’s all left up to the voters. Switching her out for Biden ahead of 2024 is a certain thing.
No.
Harris as President: February 8, 2023
That leaves the two-year mark as the date that Kamala Harris will become president. Two full years after Biden becomes president would be January 20, 2023.
The “17” is a number that I can’t shake, one of those psychic-reading numbers floating in my head. From a less woo-woo angle, though, it does push things a notch past January 20, 2023. It would be too strange to abdicate on the exact two-year anniversary, fodder for conspiracy theorists.
This “17” takes us to February 6, 2023. But that’s a Monday. I see this as happening more mid-week: Wednesday.
Kamala Harris will become president on Wednesday, February 8, 2023.
