Democratic lawmakers, feeling frustrated and defensive about their political situation, are attacking the media for its relentless focus on questions about whether President Biden is mentally and physically fit to serve another four years in office, and how doubts about Biden divided his own party.
Senate Democrats have grown accustomed to the media spotlight on Capitol Hill being focused on former President Trump.
Although Trump hasn’t been in the White House since January 2021, he’s generated more than enough controversies — from his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen to his regular attacks on Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) , until his accusations. on 91 criminal charges – to keep Republican lawmakers busy, avoiding difficult questions about the former president.
Some Democratic senators now fear that on top of their other problems, including inflation, uncontrolled migration at the southern border and Biden’s low job approval ratings, they have lost the media, at least for now.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Biden’s national campaign co-chair, got into an angry exchange with reporters when asked about warnings from other Democratic senators that Biden could lose to Trump in a landslide.
“Have any of you asked any of us about Trump’s proven inability to serve?” Coons demanded of members of the Capitol press corps.
“We have two men running for president of the United States and for 10 days all I’ve gotten from either of you are questions about Biden and his path to victory,” said Coons, clearly angered by what he sees as unbalanced coverage of the race. presidential.
He criticized media pundits for criticizing Biden for his botched answers at the Atlanta debate while largely ignoring Trump’s “lies” on stage.
“Donald Trump’s debate performance? Shocking. Full of lies,” Coons said. “How many days ago did you ask me about… Trump? Given this NATO week, given that we all just met with Zelensky.”
Coons criticized reporters for putting too much focus on a few senators, like Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), who said Biden is headed for defeat in November, arguing they represent only a small minority of the Democratic caucus.
“There were a dozen others who came forward and said now that Michael said this, do they share the same opinion? I don’t think so,” he said.
Republicans appear relieved that for the entire week after the July 4 recess, they were free to roam the halls of the Capitol, largely unconcerned with thorny questions about Trump or any of the divisions within their own party.
“I loved it,” commented Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) as he passed a surveillance of television and print reporters camped outside the Judiciary Committee hearing room without arousing any interest.
Biden lashed out at media coverage of his race during a rally Friday at Renaissance High School in Detroit.
“They’re hammering me because sometimes I mix up names,” Biden said, as the crowd booed at the mention of the national press.
“You named me the candidate. No one else. Not the press, not the experts, not the insiders, not the donors,” he told the crowd. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a Trump supporter, said earlier this month that Biden had “lost the media” and predicted his campaign was “toast.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) accused journalists of “being offended” by Biden’s bid for a second term, implying that the media is driving the story of the president’s political troubles more than Democratic lawmakers. disillusioned or disgruntled voters said.
“Joe Biden is our guy, he’s my guy and he’s the only guy who’s ever kicked Trump. He’s the man, I don’t know why everyone in his branch seems so offended by this,” Fetterman said furiously as he was surrounded by a group of reporters after Democratic senators discussed Biden’s political viability at a luncheon on the Senate floor.
A Democratic senator who requested anonymity to discuss Biden’s difficult political situation noted that Biden’s campaign is struggling to shift focus to Trump, but that the media and the steady stream of Democrats calling for Biden to abandon his reelection bid have kept the spotlight on. firmly fixed on their mental and physical fitness.
“His goal, of course, is to return the focus to Trump, but I don’t see how he will achieve that when the American people and the press are continually focused on Biden,” the senator said.
“If the issue focuses on Biden’s suitability and Trump’s kind of inaction,” it will result in a “huge drop in enthusiasm” among Democratic voters, the source warned.
Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin (Ill.) complained that it’s time for news directors and editors to move on to a new topic.
Asked how much longer Democrats can go back and forth on the question of whether Biden should remain the presumptive nominee, Durbin responded: “As long as the cameras show up and the reporters show up asking the same questions every day.”
“At some point, someone at your station is going to have to decide there’s another problem,” Durbin told a television correspondent.
The Senate’s No. 2 Democratic leader scoffed at the idea that Democrats who have questioned Biden’s viability, like Bennet, or who have called on Biden to drop his re-election bid, like Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), are driving the story.
“It’s you, come on,” he told the correspondent and other reporters who surrounded him after a Judiciary Committee hearing. “The fact is, this is the No. 1 story and it’s been around for 10 or 12 days.
“The reality is that the American people, many of them, don’t understand why we stop focusing on this instead of the issues that are important to their families,” Durbin said.
“The bottom line is he will be the nominee. He will be nominated in Chicago and we will move forward with an aggressive campaign to win reelection,” he insisted, adding that he does not believe the party will change its ticket.
Durbin argued that the media is exaggerating the story by focusing on what he said is the relatively small number of lawmakers in both chambers calling for Biden to drop out of the race: one senator out of 51 Senate Democrats and 19 House members out of 213 members of the House Democratic Caucus.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), a master of messaging strategy, tried to undermine the energy of press coverage of the division within his caucus over Biden’s future.
Schumer used the same dry refrain whenever asked about Biden’s problems: “As I’ve said before, I’m with Joe.”
That strategy has been undermined by some of his fellow Democrats, notably former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who appeared on NBC’s “Morning Joe” last week to suggest that Biden could still change his mind about running. She urged her colleagues to hold off on calls for him to drop out of the race until the conclusion of the NATO summit in Washington.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
