The fight intensifies between Biden and his own party

TTwo weeks after Joe Biden’s nightmare debate, the White House faces an increasingly turbulent political scenario, amid calls from the Democratic Party for the President to step down before the 2024 elections.

The difficult President faces perhaps the most crucial moment of his political career, as a growing chorus of detractors from his own party publicly question his leadership abilities. Supporters and skeptics alike say he needs a powerful showing in an appearance planned for Thursday night at the close of the NATO summit, his first major press conference since the debate. And more defections are likely in the coming hours, as some Democrats have indicated privately that they are waiting for world leaders to leave Washington to ask Biden to drop out of the race.

“The trend is downward,” says a Democratic House lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “I have a lot of respect for Joe Biden, but it doesn’t look good.”

Ahead of Biden’s press conference on Thursday, the White House has been working behind the scenes to try to convince Democrats to stay on board. Biden sent his campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, and advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti to meet with Senate Democrats behind closed doors on Thursday afternoon. Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who supports Biden as a candidate, told reporters that Biden’s team gave “a very strong presentation” and described the discussion as “helpful.”

But the meeting did not convince everyone: “We have different perspectives on how to proceed to defeat former President Trump,” Hassan said.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat who has expressed concern about Biden at the top of the ticket but has not yet called on him to resign, told reporters on his way to the meeting: “If they remain as they are, it is likely that Donald Trump will win the election.” and we will lose the Senate and the House. “(Not all Senate Democrats attended the meeting. Two of the most vulnerable members — Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana, both remained silent publicly on Biden’s eligibility — I ignored.)

Fissures within the party widened notably this week after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime Biden ally, hinted in a televised interview on Wednesday that the president had not yet decided to run despite of his firm statements that he intends to stay in the race. So far, a dozen Democrats in Congress have called on Biden, 81, to step down as the party’s nominee, including Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, who said in an opinion article in Washington Publish Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris would be a capable replacement.

The unrest within the party comes in the wake of Biden’s disastrous debate performance, which raised concerns about his age and mental acuity and led many to fear he had irreparably harmed his re-election prospects. New York Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, said in a post on social media As of Thursday morning, calling Biden’s debate performance a bad night “reflects an ongoing pattern of denial and self-deception.”

Several Democrats in both chambers told TIME that Biden, a former senator himself, should interact directly with the caucus to address their concerns. Senator Tim Kaine, who is running for re-election in Virginia, says he has “talked to people in the White House, but not President Biden” and that it would “help” to hear from him directly.

Most Democrats think Biden should no longer be the nominee, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos Poll published on Thursday. The poll also showed that Harris would fare slightly better at the top of the ticket. Unrest persists among Democrats who fear Biden’s candidacy could spell electoral disaster in November. The non-partisan Cook Political Report this week made the decision to move six key states in the Electoral College closer to Trump, including Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, from swing status to leaning Republican. Since the debate, Biden pass rate it fell to about 37%, according to an average of 538 polls, an all-time low.

Despite mounting pressure, Biden has so far remained defiant, saying he would only step aside if the “Lord Almighty” asked him to. Some polls have shown Biden remains within striking distance of Trump, giving Biden’s campaign some optimism that he can bounce back.

“No one denies that the debate was a setback. But Joe Biden and this campaign have experienced setbacks before,” O’Malley Dillon and Chavez Rodriguez wrote Thursday in an internal memo, obtained by TIME, intended to calm frightened campaign staff. “We have a clear vision of what we need to do to win. And we will win moving forward, unified as a party, so that every day between now and Election Day we focus on defeating Donald Trump.”

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democratic caucus leader, told TIME that “it would be a good idea” for the Biden campaign to release data showing they have a path to victory. While he’s not yet calling on Biden to step aside, he says he went to the meeting with Biden’s advisers hoping to hear a game plan for the way forward.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, tasked with mediating the escalating tensions, found himself in the eye of the storm. He told reporters on Thursday that he does not believe Biden is a risk to vulnerable Democrats running for re-election, but also did not respond directly when asked whether he believes Biden should drop out of the presidential race. Jeffries said lawmakers should “engage with their constituents” as they consider how to move forward. His efforts to appease both sides have underscored the fragility of the Democratic coalition in this extraordinary political moment.

“Hakeem wants to give everyone the opportunity to be heard and to express their concerns,” says Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Maryland Democrat who supports Biden as a candidate. “We’re not going to have everyone in agreement.”

As the crisis deepens, the influential Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has quickly emerged as a key supporter of Biden, highlighting his long-standing support among black voters. But that sentiment appeared to change as the week progressed, with some members beginning to publicly question Biden’s candidacy. “The Congressional Black Caucus and its members are not a monolith,” Rep. Steven Horsford, Democrat of Nevada and president of the CBC, told reporters Thursday. “We have always expressed… including to the President of the United States himself, the need to make changes, structural changes in the campaign, changes in strategy, changes in the way we make investments in spending to achieve what wins in November.”

Dissenting voices within the Democratic Party are not limited to Capitol Hill. Democratic mega-donor and actor George Clooney wrote a review op-ed in New York Times this week in which he called on Biden to drop out of the race and lamented the President’s diminished performance compared to previous years.

Biden is clinging to his loyal base within the Democratic coalition. That tension appeared in the Oval Office on Wednesday as he met with newly elected UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer following an earlier meeting at AFL-CIO headquarters. Biden couldn’t avoid questions about Clooney’s op-ed, to which he responded by appealing to his radical base of union support in the country: “AFL-CIO. Go, go, go.” The comment spoke of a growing confrontation within the Democratic Party between the donor class and political minds that Biden calls “elites,” and Biden’s political base made up of labor unions and black voters.

After speaking with Biden on Wednesday, union leaders issued a statement of unanimous support. There was a standing ovation from the approximately 50 union leaders present. But while Biden’s campaign team was there, two staunch Biden supporters, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson, demanded more details from the Biden campaign about his path. to prevent Trump from winning the White House. in November.