i think it was carrot and stick. remember how up his ass the media was when he dropped out. saying he was one of the greatest presidents we've ever had and was showing courage and leadership by staying in long enough to deny his base a primary. how they said one day he'd be put on rushmore. they've backed off on that a lot to give kamala room to distance herself from him but you can still see them treading lightly. they haven't completely thrown him under the bus they're just using his legs as a speed bump every now and again. if he had stayed in they would have destroyed him after the election. he'd be a pariah, they'd probably run all the epstein level shit he's done and women would have come out of the woodwork to accuse him of all kinds of shit.
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