The last 24 hours, which have shaken the political foundation of Joe Biden’s re-election bid, leave him facing the highest pressure at a presidential press conference in modern history this Thursday (11).
The importance of Biden’s solo appearance at the end of the NATO summit grew by the hour as his political standing crumbled at an alarming rate. Supporters from Congress to Hollywood warned that he needed to leave the race for the good of the party and the country, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a clear signal that a recalcitrant president should rethink his options.
The riot, led by a small minority of congressional Democrats but appearing to run deeper, reflects the fear now emerging on Capitol Hill that former President Donald Trump could spark a Republican surge that would give conservatives a monopoly on power in Congress. , the White House and the Supreme Court.
Some Democrats fear that 81-year-old Biden’s determination to run again despite diminished skills exposed by the debate could endanger the very democracy he claims to be trying to save.
The president – who was already in a bad political situation even before the disastrous debate – is determined not to pass the torch to a younger Democrat. But three factors could make his position untenable: a fracture in support within his party; campaign funding dries up; and unfavorable research data.
As Biden greeted world leaders at Wednesday’s NATO summit and led discussions on how to save Ukraine, pieces were falling into place to make this fatal triad a reality.
Nothing less than Biden’s hopes for a second term will be at stake at the press conference exactly two weeks after his incoherent, dazed debate performance threw his campaign into free fall.
This is the latest in a series of public events that have turned into excruciating examinations of Biden’s health and cognitive ability, during which any slip-up or mix-up could trigger a political disaster.
Any sign that his reasoning or performance is hampered by age would reinforce an impression of presidential weakness etched into the national consciousness in the presidential debate. CNN and could ignite a surprising Democratic revolt.
Changing terrain under the president
The day began with Pelosi, still a key party powerbroker, contradicting Biden’s insistence that questions about his debate performance and his nomination were over.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” she said it was up to Biden “to decide whether he’s going to run” — comments that everyone in Washington interpreted as a plea for Biden to change his mind. The California Democrat appeared to be offering the president another chance to gracefully change his mind after he warned earlier in the week, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Throughout the day, lawmakers sent similar signals. Democratic Representative Ritchie Torres – a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which supports Biden – told CNN: “If we are on a political suicide mission, then we should at least be honest about it.”
His New York colleague, moderate Rep. Pat Ryan, called on Biden to fulfill his promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders. “Trump is an existential threat to American democracy; it is our duty to present the strongest candidate against him. Joe Biden is a patriot, but he is no longer the best candidate to defeat Trump.”
And on Wednesday night, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on Biden to withdraw. “He saved us from Donald Trump once and he wants to do it again. But he needs to reevaluate whether he’s the best candidate for it. In my opinion, he is not,” Welch wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
Biden’s top campaign officials are scheduled to meet with Democratic senators on Thursday to make the president’s case, but a record from aides will fall well short of the measures members are demanding to show Biden has the strength to beat Trump.
Until Tuesday night (9), it seemed that Biden had managed to contain the momentum against him. But within 24 hours, he was quickly losing ground, and it’s becoming difficult to imagine how the party can unite around him at the Democratic National Convention in August if many lawmakers leave Chicago and enter an election in which they believe their presidential candidate will seal their victory. defeat.
Lawmakers’ concerns are so significant because they are listening to voters, reading polling data in their states, and concluding that Biden not only can’t win, but — as Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet told CNN on Tuesday — could hand Trump a landslide victory that he would use to implement his authoritarian agenda.
Top Democratic leaders in Congress have not yet said Biden should leave. And the president still has his defenders.
Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a Biden campaign ally and co-chair, told CNN on Wednesday: “He will be our candidate at the convention. He will be our candidate in the fall. He will be the next president of the United States.”
Senator John Fetterman, who represents the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, told CNN that it would be a “disgrace to dismiss and expel an incredible president” and that he would attend the meeting of Democratic senators on Thursday armed with brass knuckles to defend Biden.
But growing frustration and indications that the president’s falling support could dampen the party’s November hopes help explain why Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told his members he would convey their concerns to Biden .
Biden is no longer the “big deal” he was in 2010
Biden’s most personally painful defection came from actor and Democratic mega-donor George Clooney, who appeared at a fundraiser with the president last month. The “Good Night and Good Luck” director and star said he loved Biden, and believed in his morals, character and presidency.
But he wrote in a New York Times op-ed: “the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was no longer the ‘big deal’ Joe Biden of 2010.” Clooney continued: “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate. We are not going to win in November with this president.”
Clooney’s article highlighted how Biden’s situation is not just a simmering political controversy but has become a painful human ordeal for the president, who is beloved by many Democrats but whose diminished health and capabilities are now becoming fodder for debate. humiliating in the most public way possible.
Clooney maintains deep contacts with Democratic officeholders and donors, so his opinions carry more weight than those of any celebrity. And he’s not the only disgruntled donor.
In another sign of danger for Biden’s candidacy, a Democratic strategist told CNN: “everything is frozen because no one knows what will happen. Everyone is on standby,” adding that the money was on hold and awaiting the outcome of Biden’s Thursday press conference and interviews.
The president will sit down with NBC’s “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt for an interview that will be recorded and aired next Monday, the network announced.
There has been a drop in public polls for Biden since the debate. And Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is in a tight Senate race in Michigan, told donors in a video call on Tuesday that Biden was trailing Trump in private polls in her state, the New York Times reported.
If the president cannot win Michigan, as he did in 2020, his path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House becomes meaningless.
The deep crisis plaguing the Democratic Party is not just hurting Biden’s chances of retaining the nomination. It is also offering Trump and Republicans an endless supply of attack ads against Biden if he is confirmed as the nominee.
Individual candidates can also expect to be criticized for supporting a party figure who many Democrats have declared is unfit to serve a second term that would end when he is 86.
And two weeks of agonizing over Biden’s age and mental faculties, combined with a clumsy mitigation effort by the White House and the campaign, have taken the focus away from Trump and deprived Democrats of the comparison to the former’s lawlessness and volatility. president who many originally believed would help Biden keep the White House.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior adviser to Biden’s campaign, warned that Democrats needed to end their disputes and support the president before it was too late. She told CNN that it was “amazing” that his party was on a “suicide mission” so close to the election.
But as Biden’s political standing continues to rapidly deteriorate, the question is becoming how long he can insist he is the only Democrat who can beat Trump.
Share:
