by Jim Rickards, Daily Reckoning:

The drumbeat of polls showing Biden with a big lead over Trump is unrelenting. The RealClear Politics poll (actually an average of many different polls; a good statistical technique) shows Biden with an 8.6-point lead over Trump (49.3% for Biden versus 40.7% for Trump).

Of course, national polls don’t mean much because the U.S. does not have national elections, we have state-by-state votes for Electoral College electors.

But a lead of over 8-points is significant; even adjusting for skew and other biases, that puts Biden firmly in the lead. At the level of swing states (where it really does matter), Biden also dominates. His lead is 6-points in Wisconsin, 6.4-points in Florida, and 7-points in Pennsylvania.

That last number is critical. It’s hard to see how Trump retains the White House if he does not win Pennsylvania. So, is it all over but the shouting? Should we just hand the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to Joe Biden?

I’ll reveal the answer shortly. But first let’s look at the bigger picture…

There has never been any mystery about the Republican nominee for president — it’s Donald Trump, case closed. But the identity of the Democratic nominee was contested between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders during the primary season as other contenders dropped out one by one.

Finally Sanders stepped aside and Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee, although curiously, Biden never did win a simple majority of the delegates — the nominating process and primaries were brushed aside by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But no one cared because the competition dropped out and released their delegates to support Biden. Now, the world awaits Biden’s decision on who his Vice Presidential candidate will be.

An announcement is expected in a few days.

The candidate will definitely be a woman (Biden pre-announced this), but the identity is still unknown. Elizabeth Warren appears to be the frontrunner, and she would be acceptable to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, which seems to be calling the shots.

But whoever it is, the VP pick will probably be president within a year if Biden wins. That’s because Biden’s cognitive impairment will render him unfit for office early in his administration. Biden is already surrounded by Sanders’s handlers. Some Obama retreads will make up the Biden cabinet.

Under the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution a majority of the cabinet and the VP can declare the president “unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.” In that case, the Vice President becomes Acting President.

At that point, the takeover of the White House by the radical wing of the party will be complete. It’s already well underway…

For example, the Democratic primary election was recently held in New York’s 16th Congressional District. Challenger Jamaal Brown defeated incumbent Representative Eliot Engel in a close race.

The district is safe for Democrats, so Jamaal Brown will likely be elected to Congress in November to replace Engel. The initial reaction of most readers might be, “Who cares?” If you don’t live in that district, you’re not directly affected, and even if you do live there, you’re just swapping one liberal Democrat for another so what’s the big deal?

Actually, it’s a highly significant development. Here’s why:

Engle was not just another member of Congress. He had been in power for 32-years and was Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Engle was not in the running for House Majority Leader or Speaker, but he was definitely in the leadership ranks and was one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington.

Normally, when either party has a long-time incumbent in a safe seat, you just put that seat in your pocket and spend time and effort on other races where you can flip a seat from the other party or defend an endangered incumbent.

Why the challenge for Engel?

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