Rebellion is as much a part of Joe Biden’s psyche as it is in Delaware.
But with the president and his aides hardening their stance following his disastrous performance in last week’s debate, a growing number of Democratic leaders want the president to step down for the good of the party and the country.
The first to break ranks was Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas.
“I represent the heart of the congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. “Under very different circumstances, he made the difficult decision to resign, and President Biden should do the same,” Doggett said in a statement on Tuesday. “There is a large and growing group of Democrats in the House who are concerned about the president’s candidacy, and she represents a broad cross-section of the caucus,” ano of anonymity. “We are very concerned about his trajectory and chances of winning. We want to give him the space to make that decision, but if he does not, we will make our concerns increasingly clear.”
The White House on Tuesday. The announcement came after that some governors had expressed concerns about the president’s performance at the debate. One source said the governors were reluctant to make their concerns public for fear that Biden would dig deeper.
more than 20 current and former Democratic Party officials, donors and longtime Biden supporters, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid upsetting Biden. Many of these people say they have already decided that the president should withdraw from the campaign, and some believe he should announce that decision this week.
Democrats have so far refrained from reaching out to Biden directly, hoping he would make a decision on his own, but several that their patience is wearing thin amid signs that Biden has not made any serious moves to address their growing concerns.
Aides say he is prepared to make a trip to battleground states this weekend, a sign he has no intention of changing course. On Tuesday, ABC News announced that Biden would speak to George Stephanopoulos in his first television interview since the debate, excerpts of which will air on Friday. Given the poor results of the debate, it was initially expected that the president’s family would persuade him to step down.
But at Biden’s retreat at Camp David on Sunday, it became clear that the family supported his decision to continue campaigning and blamed his staff for his missteps. “The one word I know about Biden is stubbornness,” said a senior Democratic official who has publicly supported Biden but privately believes he should step down. “They’re trying to give him the space to understand what a disaster this is.
Biden’s campaign maintains the debate was simply a bad night for the 81-year-old president, but Democrats calling for his resignation say it’s not a one-time incident that can be fixed.
“It’s not that Obama isn’t up for debate,” one Democratic official said, referring to former President Barack Obama’s lackluster performance in his first debate with Republican opponent Mitt Romney in 2012. “If this was the only incident, he could survive. But this is not the only incident,” the Democratic official said on Capitol Hill.
“We have to be honest with ourselves that it wasn’t just a bad night,” the Illinois senator said. “I think what I’m trying to say here is that he clearly needs to understand that his decision will impact not only who’s in the White House for the next four years, but who’s going to be in the Senate and who’s going to be the next president,” Mike Quigley told Casey This Morning” on Tuesday.
In an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Biden to participate in a few interviews with reporters following his debate appearance.
The California Democrat stressed that it was Biden’s decision whether to step down, but said she’d heard “mixed” reactions to the debate from donors and others within the Democratic network.
“I think that’s a fair question: Is this an affair or a condition?” “That’s a fair question, and one I asked former President Donald Trump,” Pelosi said, referring to Biden’s performance in the debate. She quickly added that this was a legitimate question for former President Donald Trump, pointing out that he repeatedly lied during the debates.
The stakes have never been higher
The already high stakes became even higher after the Supreme Court ruled Monday that Trump deserved broad immunity from prosecution. Some concerned Democrats say the development makes Biden’s departure even more urgent.
The ruling gives the former president a major legal victory and “makes Trump even more dangerous,” said a former Democratic congressman who was a longtime Biden supporter but now wants to quit the campaign.
Biden advisers argued that the decision, and concerns that Trump would feel emboldened to act if reelected, only strengthened Biden’s case for remaining in office, because the advisers’ statements still feel like the safest bet to defeat Trump.
Some leading Democrats, including at least one senior Biden administration official, have already begun discussing what will be a painful process of fielding a new team of candidates to replace Biden. In addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, a handful of governors and lawmakers are awaiting the Democratic bench. With six weeks to go until the Democratic National Convention and less than 130 days until the election, we’re ready.
Facing a defining moment in his long career, Biden is doubling down. The president still sees himself as the stuttering kid who was so poor he had to wear nuts and bolts instead of cuffs to his ninth-grade prom, but he hopes this will be his latest comeback after being fired.
“He’s betting on himself, he’s always thinking long-term, and he’s not reactionary like a lot of these people are,” said a person with long experience in Biden’s environment.
Until now, Biden has not reached out directly to Democratic leaders for reassurance or feedback, which was surprising given the aftermath of the debate, according to a number of people familiar.
On Tuesday, he called House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, a person familiar It was the first time the two had spoken since the debate reached out to Jeffries’ office for comment.
“They’re equating this moment with all the other moments they’ve been through before and not realizing it’s a totally different moment,” a Democratic operative close to the campaign said of Biden and his aides.
At a fundraiser in the Hamptons on Saturday, Biden used a teleprompter, which at least one donor criticized as intrusive. Meanwhile, first lady Jill Biden stuck to the myth of Biden family resilience as she introduced her husband.
“Joe’s mother used to say God never gives us a cross that’s too heavy for us,” she said. “Joe is not just the right man for the job. He is the only man for the job. … Joe’s mother was right, there is no cross he cannot bear, and that is one he will not bear for our country and our democracy,” Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, Biden’s closest .
The president is pushing back against the narrative that he is too old and incompetent for the job by holding more public events, town hall meetings and interviews. Before announcing the ABC interview, White House aides said Monday that Biden was considering a high-profile interview in the coming days to prove his suitability as a presidential candidate, and that they hoped his energetic rally in North Carolina the day after the debate would show that it was not just a coincidence. Campaign aides also plan to expand his travel schedule to battleground states in July.
Many leading Democrats have doubted whether Biden can do it, but see his backtracking after Sunday as proof they’re right. The schedule is consistent with Biden’s general style. One metric: Biden has held 36 news conferences since taking office, compared with 64 for Trump at this point in his presidency, 72 for Barack Obama and 82 for George W. Bush at this point in his presidency.
President Trump has also not made a public appearance since Friday’s post-rally in Virginia and has none scheduled for the rest of the week. Local TV hosts announced they had canceled post-rally interviews at the last minute after staffers solicited questions in advance. He is expected to spend most of the next few days golfing in New Jersey.
There is also a growing feeling among some Biden loyalists that Biden is unlikely to survive the four years required for another term. The debate performance sent shock waves through Democrats and surprised even such powerful figures as Sen…. Sheldon Whitehouse told local reporters in his home state of Rhode Island on Monday that he hopes to hear more about the president’s health.
From the West Wing to Wilmington
On Monday, an aide said Biden campaign leaders were working to “continue to reassure everyone and listen to people’s concerns,” and said they were understanding of the anger and concern many Democrats felt.
“People in the West Wing and in Wilmington feel the seriousness of the situation,” another aide added.
Multiple Biden that the campaign is still working to assess the true impact of the debate on voters in key battleground states, including whether Biden lost a head-to-head matchup with Trump or if the battleground states were lost. Bigger.
Many committed Democratic leaders point to the Senate races in Minnesota, Virginia and Michigan as key indicators. House Democrats are in the midst of their own polls to assess the extent of the damage.
While there is a gloomy mood among some advisers, including some who are disheartened by years of internalizing the Biden-related myths he always preaches at key moments, others hope that those who believed he was proven wrong will never go along with it.
On Friday, in response to a call from the New York Times editorial board to oust Biden, a Biden aide, “This shit is like jet fuel in my veins. I don’t support The New York Times.” Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries.
No clear solution
The same small, closed inner circle that has accompanied Biden so far is dealing with the consequences. Few who are familiar with the activities of the members of this circle believe it is possible to force one of them out.
Still, Biden campaign officials and Democratic National Committee officials have been on the phone nonstop in the days since the debate. Many of those calls started out badly but ended at least a little better, according to people familiar with the matter. And the Biden campaign said Tuesday that June was its best fundraising month ever, raising $127 million, nearly a third of which came since the debate.
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told members of the campaign’s national finance committee Monday night that the team is “visionary and not optimistic,” . She didn’t divulge anything about Biden’s plans other than that they are full steam ahead.
But after several previous calls with donors fizzled, the campaign team limited this Zoom call, allowing questions only in a moderated chat.
“Every time Joe Biden has had a downfall, he proves his doubters wrong, and I’m confident he can do it again this time,” said Andrew Weinstein, a longtime Biden supporter and donor.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who called Biden a “comeback kid” at a fundraiser he hosted with the president Saturday night, said the conversation at the dinner was wide-ranging and consistent: Ukraine, the Middle East, higher wages, job creation, doing business more effectively with corporations, expanding preschools and community colleges.
“His life story is the story of a man who, at almost every stage, was dashed and succeeded against all expectations and odds, even in times of tragedy,” Murphy said. “And now he’s having that moment again.”
This story has been updated with additional details.