A subtle but important point from the email sent out by Biden’s deputy campaign manager I previously discussed.

The bedwetting brigade is calling for Joe Biden to “drop out.” That is the best possible way for Donald Trump to win and us to lose.

First of all: Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee, period. End of story. Voters voted. He won overwhelmingly. And if he were to drop out, it would lead to weeks of chaos, internal foodfighting, and a bunch of candidates who limp into a brutal floor fight at the convention, all while Donald Trump has time to speak to American voters uncontested. All of that would be in service of a nominee who would go into a general election in the weakest possible position with zero dollars in their bank account. You want a highway to losing? It’s that.

And at the end of the day, we’d switch to candidates who would, according to polls, be less likely to win than Joe Biden — the only person ever to defeat Donald Trump.

Buried in the middle Flaherty’s rant is a pretty clear threat.

“All of that would be in service of a nominee who would go into a general election in the weakest possible position with zero dollars in their bank account. You want a highway to losing? It’s that.”

Donors looking to get Biden to drop out have emphasized that the money raised needs to transfer over to the new candidate. Team Biden however is warning that it’s not going to happen. Any new candidate will start with “zero dollars.”

Officially the Biden campaign is sitting on under $60 million unspent. And not for long since the burn rate is huge.

So the threat isn’t much of a threat. In a race likely to run into the billions, threatening to abscond with millions is a weak argument. Especially since any staffers withholding the money from the party-approved candidate so Biden can later run his own PAC will never work again. But it’s telling that Rob snuck that threat in there.

The larger signal is that the Biden campaign won’t cooperate with any transition effort and will not only keep all the money, but fight this process every step of the way, taking the 2024 race hostage. If Dems try to replace Biden, Team Biden will make sure that whoever they replace him with loses.

That’s hardball.