A lot of things are unspeakable until suddenly they’re not. The lab-leak theory for the origins of the 2020 pandemic was racist disinformation; now, commentators and experts acknowledge it’s a genuine possibility. The idea that greedy firms pushing up prices to make more profits was a major part of inflation was at first a “conspiracy theory”; now it’s widely accepted by central bankers, economists, and politicians. Until two weeks ago, President Joe Biden’s mental decline was a creation of partisan fakery and lies; now not a day goes by that new reporting doesn’t come from his own inner circle about his limitations.

It’s the same, it seems, when it comes to the outcome of the 2020 primary that made Biden the Democratic candidate in the first place. At the time and since, many on the Left argued that the Democratic Party was less interested in stopping a second Donald Trump term and more focused on crushing the ascent of socialist Bernie Sanders and the movement behind him — claims that, if you spoke them in certain circles, were liable to get you labeled a conspiracy theorist, a purveyor of misinformation, or unserious.

Yet now, as the president fights for his political life, centrist Democrats are just coming out and saying it.