WASHINGTON – Four days after his disastrous debate performancePresident Joe Biden had not yet personally called top Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to bolster support, five sources told NBC News, although White House chief of staff Jeff Zients was making calls.
Biden’s team has been working to nullify questions swirling at the party about whether he can continue in the race against his former President Donald Trump. However, there is growing frustration in the president’s inner circle about being overly “isolated,” said one Democratic lawmaker, who added that Biden is not making the kind of personal outreach they would expect.
Biden did not personally contact the Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffriesboth New York Democrats, or to other Hill leaders after their halting debate — a decision that surprised some lawmakers.
“It’s concerning,” said one House Democrat, adding that White House staff should be transparent — at least in private calls with lawmakers — about whether Biden’s struggles on the debate stage were one-offs or whether they’ve seen the problem before.
Schumer and Jeffries have not publicly expressed any disappointment with the disclosure. Schumer’s office had no comment, while Jeffries’ office did not respond to questions.
The Biden campaign did not comment specifically on Schumer and Jeffries, but said Biden has spoken with some elected officials.
“The president has spoken personally with multiple elected officials in Congress and across the battlegrounds since the debate,” campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said.
Senior White House officials reached out. Zients called Schumer and Jeffries after the debate, three sources said, and he continued to exchange calls with Schumer to discuss “staying aligned on the next steps,” one of those sources said. Steve Ricchetti, the president’s adviser, also made calls to Congress.
Although Democratic legislators are all publicly supporting Bidenat least four told NBC News that they privately believe he needs to drop out now — four months before Election Day — to avoid a lopsided defeat to Democrats.
“It is a very difficult decision. But because he will continue to decline, and because if he remains our candidate we risk some catastrophic event after the convention that prohibits him from continuing as a candidate, he should step aside and allow a nomination process at the convention in August,” said one Democratic lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
Asked whether Biden should gracefully withdraw now, a moderate House Democrat responded, “yes,” adding that he would still like to see whether Biden’s approval drops precipitously in new polls after the debate.
Another Democratic lawmaker said colleagues will decide what to say publicly about Biden once they see the impact of the debate in swing House district polls. Democrats need to flip just a few seats to move the House to Democratic control, while they face a tough map to hold on to the Senate.
“This has to be the firewall” against a potential Trump presidency, the lawmaker said.
Another House Democrat, this one a vulnerable moderate facing a tough re-election this fall, said he was still processing what happened last week and was not yet calling on Biden to drop out of the race. But this lawmaker expressed anger and pointed the finger at the people around Biden 81 for letting him on the debate stage.
“I hold his family and his advisors directly responsible for this mess,” the vulnerable lawmaker said in an interview. “They are the closest to him and they should have removed him before this happened.”
The person added: “I just hope someone above my pay grade figures this out.”
Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., chairwoman of the moderate New Democratic Coalition, also reiterated frustration with the Biden team’s handling of the debate and said Democrats need more information to assess “what happened” as they defend their seats.
“Obviously, we saw what we saw. We saw what 50 million Americans saw, and we are concerned about the president’s well-being. We were disappointed and worried about him. … Many of us were upset with his team of advisors that he was put in this situation,” Kuster said in an interview Monday.
“And I think we need to have a clear understanding of what happened, both in the lead-up to the debate and during the debate. He’s obviously been a lot more energetic since then at rallies,” Kuster said. “We all have a lot of concern for him. I hope he’s all right. And so the first step is to assess what the impact is on these difficult races.”
Biden’s campaign, his political allies and top Democratic Party leaders called Biden’s debate performance a “bad night” and said he should be judged by his long list of legislative accomplishments and the fact that the alternative, Trump, be dangerous for the country. One energetic Biden recognized at a campaign rally on Friday, “I don’t debate as well as I used to,” but he said he still plans to win in November.
Many Biden allies and family members have spent the last few days circling, and some campaign aides and donors have argued that trying to nominate a replacement so late in the game could create an even worse scenario for the party.
“This magical thinking about the delegate selection process is that people use mushrooms,” said Orin Kramer, a Biden fundraiser and veteran of Jimmy Carter’s White House. “They have to get rid of drugs and focus on the future of civilization. He’s been a great president.”
On a appearance on MSNBC over the weekend, Jeffries called Biden’s debate an “underwhelming performance” and said House Democrats would have conversations by phone and virtually during the July 4 recess about the path forward. But he said he supported Biden, whom he described as a “good man, an honorable man,” running against a “con man.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a member of the Biden campaign’s national advisory board, told NBC News on Monday, “I support the president’s decision to stay and fight — the American people respect those with resilience and courage.”
But one Democratic lawmaker who has been in contact with members facing competitive races this fall described them as “scared.”
“Those who are in the worst position are the frontliners in the swing states who already felt like they had to carry the president… and then the hurdle of trying to get out there and campaign. …It’s hard not to panic,” the lawmaker said. “It’s a lot of pressure. It’s a lot of anxiety.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a Biden ally who led the team of impeachment prosecutors following Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 attack, recognized Sunday that “honest and serious conversations are taking place” in the Democratic Party about Biden’s political future.
Two Democratic officials in Washington said the way for Biden to bounce back was to get out more in impromptu settings to prove that the debate was simply a night off — appearing on TV, giving interviews or town halls, holding news conferences.
That’s the “only way to fix this,” one of the Democrats said. “I have to take him there.” The other said on Monday that it is “reprehensible” that four days after the debate, Biden has still not held an event where he speaks without a teleprompter.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
