Subject: Re: Politico on the Biden coup + NYT
The evidence says otherwise. Pelosi was the Mafia Don that delivered the choice to Biden:

The evidence does say otherwise. As you recognize, Biden had a choice.

Choices have expected outcomes. If my doctor tells me I have high cholesterol, and that I have a choice to either reduce the amount of red meat and cheese in my diet or to keep going but face a heart attack, he's not a Mafia Don. He's not threatening me. I'm not being coerced. The fact that one of those choices has an expected outcome that I find displeasing (a heart attack) does not eliminate my agency, or mean that my doctor is staging a "coup" over my eating habits.

Pelosi went and spoke truth to power: you and your campaign thought you had enough in the tank to gut out the election, but you just shot the bed. You were in good enough shape to do the sorts of necessary events on the campaign trail in 2022:

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/17...

...but you're not any more. You've blown your chance with the voters and the donors, and any member that isn't running in a safe seat is going to distance themselves from you. You can't win anymore, even if your inner circle is telling you that you can.

And then Biden had a choice. Biden could have simply told Pelosi, "I don't care, I'm running anyway," and she would have had to just eat it. So, no. Not a coup. Not a Mafia Don.