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Biden’s family told him to stay in the race during a meeting at Camp David, the Times reported.
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The trip was planned well in advance, but the purpose changed after Biden’s tough debate.
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A chorus of influential supporters has called on Biden to step aside since the debate.
After a poor debate performance that forced him to defend his re-election campaign, President Joe Biden’s family encouraged him to remain in the 2024 presidential race, the New York Times reported.
Biden met on Sunday with his family at Camp David in what was a pre-planned trip – an opportunity for the entire family, including children and grandchildren, to take a family photograph – and a timely opportunity for a private meeting between the people who are perhaps most influential in Biden’s life. His family played a fundamental role in his decision to run in 2020.
For Biden, a former US senator and former vice president, the decision to continue to be the party’s standard-bearer in the face of so much opposition is probably one of the most harrowing decisions of his long political life.
Family reunion follows Biden’s widely criticized campaign debate performance against former President Donald Trump on Thursday. During the debate, Biden struggled with a raspy voice and incoherent answers that renewed concerns about her age.
During your exchanges With Biden, Trump sought to paint the president as ineffective both domestically and globally, and in the process made unsubstantiated claims about immigration and crime rates.
The Times reported that Biden’s relatives thought the president could still make the case that he could effectively serve a second term. Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was one of the most vocal supporters of his father staying in the race, arguing that he wanted voters to see the more polished Biden they have long known — not the candidate who struggled to articulate his vision in last week .
One of Biden’s grandchildren was intrigued by the idea of the family increasing its campaign presence, according to the Times.
Biden’s family members also questioned several members of the president’s inner circle about the preparation for the debate, according to the newspaper, and shared the opinion that he was inundated with statistics.
In 72 hours since the debate, a chorus of donors and other supporters called on Biden to step aside. New York Times Editorial Board made the same appeal last week.
Outside a fundraiser Saturday in East Hampton, New York, several voters supporting Biden held up signs calling on him to drop out of the race. The weekend was dominated by debates about who could potentially take Biden’s place.
In just 90 minutes, Biden’s debate performance appears to have triggered the most serious challenge to his presidency yet. Biden’s campaign, however, has firmly pushed back and sought to refocus the party’s message toward one centered on the general election. And Biden himself has so far given no indication that he will drop out of the race.
During a campaign event Friday in the swing state of North Carolina, Biden responded publicly to their debate struggles.
“Guys, I may not walk or talk as well as I used to. I may not debate as well as I used to. But what I do know is how to tell the truth,” he told attendees in a speech that was infinitely more energized than his debate performance the night before.
Read the original article at Business Insider
