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Biden faces growing calls to drop out of the race as he recovers from COVID-19 in Delaware.
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But the tone of the appeals only hardened his resolve to stay in the race, the Post reports.
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Biden plans to return to the campaign trail soon, with possible stops in Georgia and Texas.
Since Wednesday, President Joe Biden has been holed up in Delaware, recovering from his latest bout with COVID-19.
But Biden has also been watching the moves of his fellow Democrats from afar. He remains under immense pressure of his party’s leading members and major donors to reconsider his re-election bid, a highly consequential decision that he has so far rejected.
Over the past 48 hours, a wave of Democrats — including vulnerable lawmakers from red states such as Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana — have called on Biden to end his candidacy. It’s part a bigger push of a growing number of staffers, frightened by the president’s poor debate performance last month and voters’ concerns about his ability to serve a second term if re-elected.
But Biden and his family remain defiant, upset by criticism of the debate from fellow Democrats. They think the president could have weathered the storm with party support, The Washington Post reported.
According to the newspaper, the tone of some of the calls for Biden to leave the race only made the president more committed to remaining as a candidate.
“It’s like they don’t know he’s Irish,” a Biden family confidant recently told the Post.
Biden’s close family relationship has always been a precious part of his political identity, from his days in the Senate representing Delaware to his time as vice president and later president.
A big development in recent weeks has been the emergency in Biden Hunter as a more visible player in his father’s political orbit, with the presidential son having attended several important meetings at the White House since the June debate. And this comes weeks after Hunter Biden – who for years has been political fodder for Republicans – was condemned on criminal weapons charges.
When reporting from numerous points of sale highlighted the importance of the first lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden in any decision-making about Biden’s political future, the Post’s latest report pointed to a more nuanced feeling among family members regarding his decision to remain the Democratic nominee.
Biden has repeatedly reiterated that he has no plans to leave the race and his family has supported him in this decision. But if the president changed course, the family would also support that decision, according to the Post.
Axios reported Saturday that Biden is with the aim of refuting his Democratic critics with a post-COVID return to campaigning, with possible stops in Georgia and Texas.
Read the original article at Business Insider
