With just about every major media outlet in the country calling for President Joe Biden to either step aside or seriously consider it in the wake of last week’s disastrous debate performance, names like former First Lady Michelle Obama, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are all being floated as possible replacements on the Democrat ticket.
But have the editorial boards and pundits been overlooking someone who already resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? On Monday’s show, Right Wing Revolution author Charlie Kirk joined Megyn to discuss the state of the 2024 race and why he believes First Lady Jill Biden could end up being the presidential nominee.
Then and Now
Kirk likened the CNN showdown between Biden and former President Donald Trump to the 1960 presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was the first time such an event was televised, which was believed to have worked in the telegenic JFK’s favor.
“When people listened to this [2024] debate, they did not have as dramatic of opinions as people who actually saw what Joe Biden looked like and saw that he was completely incapable,” Kirk noted. But anyone who saw Biden staring hollowly into the distance with his mouth agape for most of the night was left wondering whether the president is still up for the job.
As Kirk explained, “now all eyes on who is really running the country.” And he believes that puts the first lady, in particular, under the microscope. “This is very similar… to when Woodrow Wilson – a very bad president – was declining toward the end of his presidency and Edith Wilson basically took control of the American presidency,” he noted. “Jill Biden is effectively running the country right now. No one voted for Jill Biden. No one really knows who she is.”
The Vogue Treatment
In the aftermath of awkwardly coaxing her husband off the debate stage and then patronizingly praising him for “answering every question” at an event with supporters immediately following, Vogue dropped its August issue on Monday with Jill on the cover.
In the cover photo, the first lady is wearing an ivory tuxedo-inspired Ralph Lauren Collection gown that retails for nearly $5,000 and staring longing into the distance. The headline reads, “The First Lady Jill Biden” and is accompanied by a rather misleading “we will decide our future” quote from the piece. In the context of the interview, “she was talking about women’s rights,” Megyn noted.
The feature also comes on the heels of the entire Biden clan decamping to Camp David over the weekend for what the White House insisted was a preplanned get together. Reports indicated, however, that the itinerary was updated post-debate to include conversations about the president’s future, and it is believed Jill and First Son Hunter Biden are encouraging him to stay the course.
“Hunter Biden [is] the biggest grifter in the entire administration, and Jill Biden turns out to be a bit of a grifter too. She is power hungry,” Megyn said. “She is like a Hillary Clinton. She is not a Laura Bush [or] a Melania Trump. She is not somebody who is just there to support her husband. She seems to me like somebody who was out for her own power and can’t let go.”
Madam President?
And that is precisely why Kirk thinks the first lady may soon be more explicitly in the political fray. “What if they pull Joe Biden with Jill Biden? I’m not kidding,” he said. “She would be the first female president… They don’t have to change the ballots. It’s still voting for Biden. Joe can still be around as a senior adviser… I mean, it is staring at us right in the face.”
Megyn said a ‘President Jill Biden’ was not on her Bingo card for this election but admitted it is not entirely farfetched. “This is the first time I’ve heard someone say it is possibly Jill, and it is not insane,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I love this possibility.”
Kirk, meanwhile, thinks Jill being the Democratic nominee is “the most probable” outcome at the moment. “It keeps Joe Biden around for all of his relationships… Jill Biden can even say, ‘Hey, I was kind of running this place and I kind of know what I am doing,'” he concluded. “No one is thinking it, but she is now more front and center… and it’s the same last name. You don’t have this huge switch. Think about it.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirk by tuning in to episode 827 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.