WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphyan ambitious young Democrat from Connecticut, went on television Sunday with a carefully worded warning to President Joe Biden about the viability of his campaign.
“This week will be absolutely critical; I think the president needs to do more,” Murphy said, arguing that Biden needed to hold a town hall and participate in impromptu events because “the clock is ticking” for him to put to rest doubts about his candidacy raised by a disastrous debate. performance. Several times, Murphy emphasized his deadline, saying he, as well as voters, should see more action “this week.”
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Sen. michael bennetD-Colo., who briefly ran for president, said Biden needed to “reassure the American people that he can run a vigorous campaign to defeat Donald Trump.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a senior member of the Democratic leadership team, issued a statement that passed for fighting words, saying the president “must do more to demonstrate that he can run a strong enough campaign to defeat Donald Trump.”
So far, Biden has done none of this.
And yet, Democrats on Capitol Hill are stifling their doubts and supporting him anyway.
Having spent the last week and a half in various stages of private panic and public skepticism about Biden’s viability as a candidate and whispering amongst themselves about what would be the best way to sideline him – a strongly worded letter? a meeting at the White House? a high-level intervention? — Top Democrats decided Tuesday on a strategy that many of them admitted could be disastrous: They would do nothing, at least for now.
“As I said, I’m with Joe,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said several times at a news conference following a closed-door lunch in the Senate. The lunch gave Democrats the first opportunity after a weeklong recess to meet in person and discuss how aggressive or public they wanted to be in facing a defiant party leader who has unequivocally refused to step aside on his own.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, explicitly told colleagues in a private call Sunday afternoon that Biden should withdraw from the race. But on Tuesday, as he addressed a House policy meeting, he was pushing back, saying any concerns he harbored were “out of the question” and that Biden “would be our nominee, and we all have to support him.” ”
Sen. Ricardo BlumenthalD-Conn., left the Senate lunch arguing that Biden and only Biden would decide his future, and that it was not up to Congress to pressure him out of the race.
“He has my support and I think at this point he is the only one who will decide whether he remains the candidate,” said Blumenthal.
Never mind that Biden did almost none of the kinds of impromptu events, town halls or interviews that his critics said he needed to show he was still fit to run. He was not scheduled to do so until Thursday, when he was to participate in a pre-planned NATO press conference.
Instead, a defiant letter Biden sent to lawmakers on Monday in which he refused to give up the race — along with members of the influential Congressional Black Caucus vehemently rallying to his side — appeared to have successfully paralyzed the entire party. in a state of uncertainty and inaction during what it considered to be a critical week.
Longtime supporters said they were now reduced to waiting for another big public blunder from Biden, such as a serious stumble at his NATO press conference, to persuade reticent members of Congress to speak or to convince the president that he should abandon the race. alone.
The position struck a chord with Democratic lone wolves who stuck their necks out to publicly call for Biden’s resignation, considering it absurd – and even dangerous.
“The idea that we’re going to slowly move toward fascism because we don’t want to hurt the feelings of someone we respect — I can’t even begin to tell you how angry that makes me,” said Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking member of the Committee of Armed Services and one of seven House Democrats to publicly call for Biden’s resignation.
On Tuesday night, Bennet stopped short of publicly calling on Biden to end his campaign. But in an interview with CNN, he confirmed that he told his colleagues during the closed-door Senate lunch that he didn’t think Biden could beat Trump. “I think we could lose everything,” he said, referring to the White House as well as both chambers of Congress.
He added: “The White House has done nothing since the debate to demonstrate that it has a plan to win this election.”
Privately, vulnerable Democrats representing competitive districts were panicking because there appeared to be no plan to pressure Biden to exit what they hoped would be a losing proposition for them all. Behind closed doors, a consensus formed among members in the House’s toughest seats that Democrats would have a much better chance of winning a majority with Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket.
His position was expressed privately to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the minority leader, who was still in listening mode Tuesday, debating how to proceed.
“I think he’s thinking about logistics and practicality and how do you do it all?” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.
Publicly, Jeffries toed the party line. “I made it clear publicly the day after the debate that I support President Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket,” he told reporters on Monday. “My position has not changed.”
Waters said it is up to Congress to help Biden win the election.
“We don’t educate people enough about their accomplishments,” she said. “We all need to do a better job of this.”
However, the consensus among many Democratic lawmakers was that Biden himself was the problem. His reluctance to say it was reminiscent of the way Republicans in Congress behaved during Trump’s presidency, when they criticized and mocked him in private but professed complete loyalty in public — or simply looked away from his latest incendiary missive.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said it was destructive to call for Biden to resign if he refused to leave voluntarily, adding that Democrats had to “make the best of a complicated situation.”
“Those publicly calling for President Biden to withdraw must ask themselves a simple question,” Torres told CNN. “What if the president becomes the Democratic nominee?”
For now, top Democrats have no desire to break with him. In a statement provided to The New York Times, Schumer said, “I am working overtime with the Biden campaign and my colleagues to win the presidency and maintain the Democratic majority in the Senate.”
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