That's ... quite the change. Earlier this year, Joe Scarborough vouched for Biden's cognitive excellence, declaring the current version of Biden "the best Biden ever." After the June 27 presidential debate, Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski had Biden call into the show to argue vociferously that he just had "one bad night," and that Democrat voters who voted him the nomination should be respected.

On today's Morning Joe, however, the pair called for Democrats to remove Biden from the ticket, and claimed that aides with personal financial interests were keeping Biden from doing the right thing:

"I trust Joe Biden's abilities. I also trust Nancy Pelosi's political acumen. Nobody knows politics more than her. She does not get out there without information to back it up."

— @morningmika on Pelosi privately telling Biden polls show he can't win pic.twitter.com/bQi2SMml2E

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) July 18, 2024

Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski virtually said they were eager to see President Joe Biden leave the presidential race, with the namesake host claiming Biden’s aides wanted him to continue for financial reasons.

“The donors have all gone away,” Scarborough said. “It’s really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point and help the president and help the man they love and do the right thing. This is not going to end well if it continues to drag out.”

Brzezinski echoed her MSNBC co-host’s shift, noting the reality that “it may or may not be Joe Biden” at the top of the ticket.

“I trust Joe Biden's abilities,” Brzezinski said. “I also trust Nancy Pelosi’s political acumen. Nobody knows politics more than her. She does not get out there without information to back it up.”

Joe Rogan speaks for all of us in this one-minute reaction:

Yup. "The problem here is the confusion about who Joe Biden is" Joe Scarborough definitely confused about who the real Joe Biden is. Scarborough said Biden is the BEST EVER. Watch this. pic.twitter.com/Po6WNvXX69

— Hank (@hankgolfer) July 18, 2024

It is quite a long way from being "the best Biden ever" to "Biden's been captured by greedy aides," and in a very short period of time. Literally one week ago, the same hosts floated a theory that Barack Obama has been orchestrating a quasi-coup to get Biden out, and now Biden's advisers are conducting a quasi-coup to keep him in. It's very difficult to keep up with the various conspiracy theories.

To be fair, they're likely not entirely wrong, but it's not the aides that would be the problem.  It's the Bidens themselves, famously insular anyway but more so over the last few years as their influence-peddling businesses have gotten exposed. It's not for nothing that Jill Biden has been sitting in policy discussions for quite a while, nor that Hunter Biden -- a convicted felon and unregistered foreign agent with ties to Chinese Communist Party fronts -- has now also joined those discussions after a post-debate family meeting at Camp David. 

So Joe and Mika are correct to ask Cui bono? You bet, but they are reaching for the wrong solution. The butler isn't doing it; Biden Inc is making these decisions. The family businesses sell no other valuable product or service except access to power through Joe, and a withdrawal puts them out of business within 60 seconds. To quote another famous Democrat, that's a f'ing valuable thing, man, and Hunter and Jill know it. 

At any rate, prepare your necks for more whiplash when the Bidens refuse to withdraw and drag this out all the way to the convention. (That seems more likely than ever after Obama tried pushing today.) Everyone now demanding a new candidate will develop Sudden New Respect for Biden, including and especially the media.