We have seen similar rhetoric in recent days surrounding Biden's proclamation, with many predicting a trend towards "unity."  If history is any indication, this optimism is a pipe dream.  

The Democratic Party was plunged into confusion over their prospective candidates and their chances.  

Johnson insisted on controlling party decisions on who would take his place, but there were other candidates that might disrupt Johnson's plans, including Robert Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy. 

Though Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris to take his place as the Dem candidate, the official decision is up to DNC delegates, not Biden.  

An upset at the convention might sound unlikely, but it is certainly possible if Harris is viewed as too incompetent or unpopular to run against Trump. 

Only five days after Lyndon Johnson's speech, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a "lone gunman" in Memphis, TN.  

Two months later, Robert Kennedy was shot and killed by a "lone gunman" after a campaign event celebrating his California primary win.

Trump's near assassination just before Biden's announcement to step down may mark a renewed period of political violence on a scale not seen since the 1960s.  

Suspicions of conspiracy are only magnified by the similarities to the LBJ era of multiple assassinations.    

Despite hopes that Johnson's departure would lead to peaceful conditions his replacement Hubert Humphrey promised to continue Johnson's policies in lockstep, including the war in Vietnam.  

This enraged activists and resulted in riots around the convention in Chicago that summer.  Johnson's "Great Society" agenda had also left the country with deep racial divisions to be inherited by the next president and Humphrey was certain to expand on that agenda. 

Richard Nixon and the Republicans were given an assured win. 

 Humphrey was crushed by Nixon by a comfortable margin in the electoral college with many analysts suggesting Johnson would have done better had he stayed in the race.  Nixon became the first former (non-sitting) vice president to win a presidential election; he was the only person to achieve that until Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. 

Nixon would enter office with a recession in progress and ultimately an energy crisis and stagflationary crisis hit hard (he didn't help matters much when he started the process to remove the US dollar from the gold standard in 1971).  

There's an array of economic threats facing the next president in 2025, with the most likely prospect being Trump and conservatives stepping into a financial and geopolitical mine field.  Biden's announcement likely heralds another tumultuous period in American history.      

Update (1400ET): After six days of darkness, the leader of the free world has made a physical appearance, exiting a vehicle, mumbling incoherently at reporters, and carefully ascending the stairs of the smaller AF1...

"He's Alive!!"

Given the headlines which say he did you might wonder why I ask if Biden has quit his attempt to get reelected.

But look at 'his' rather weird letter which was distributed via the Joe Biden campaign X/Twitter account.

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There is no official letterhead. The formulations are obviously not by Joe Biden and the signature looks canned.

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This says that Ricchetti, Biden's aide, wrote and posted the letter.

There was no speech and no press conference. People working on Biden's campaign had no pre-warning.

Biden allegedly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new Democrat candidate for the presidency.

Let's remember that Harris, of Asian/Indian decent but playing black, is a former California prosecutor who failed in 2020 to get any votes in the primaries. Biden selected her as his vice because she was a woman of color not because she is a person fit for the job.

What does it say about a democracy when some obscure party functionaries and billionaire donors contradict the will of the primary voters and decide against another presidency for Joe Biden?

What does it say about a democracy when similar powers install a new candidate who is by no means qualified and has never received any votes?