Democrats’ worst nightmares about the president Joe BidenThursday’s suddenly crucial press conference became reality:
Everything went well.
That’s not to say Biden was dazzled at what was considered a “big boy” press conference, his first such appearance with reporters in months. He spoke for about an hour and was quite coherent. We saw a lot of slurred words and rhetorical dead ends that would make even donald trump blushing and the necessary moment of anger at Grandpa Simpson.
But Biden didn’t make a major gaffe, he didn’t get hopelessly lost, he didn’t try to address any dead world leaders, and he didn’t repeat many of the weaknesses that Democrats pretended not to notice until his poor debate performance two weeks ago.
What Democrats needed from this was one of those moments, something they could show Biden, his family and his advisers to finally convey how bad the situation is. Something even the most loyal Bidenite could look at and say: There is no going back.
Instead, all they can do is grit their teeth and wait for the next opportunity.
Biden had a pretty blunt response to a question about his strength as a candidate, although he did call his running mate “Vice President Trump.” He coughed repeatedly, but it was clearer than during the debate. He praised the economy, but said that corporate prices were too high, as if he was not to blame for inflation.
This leaves Democrats in a terrible mess. They may support Biden, worrying every day that the crucial moment of collapse will arrive and it will be too late to resolve it. Or they could act to force his hand, a politically devastating mess that would leave the party in no better position than it is now, and perhaps even worse—bitterly divided against itself.
Furthermore, Democrats are confined to a miserable political Groundhog Day. Now that Washington reporters are (finally) fully invested in the story of the president’s decline, they are breaking news about Biden that goes back years. And many of them resort to a paraphrase of the famous Watergate question: What did leading Democrats know and when did they know it?
Only on Thursday:
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CNN reported that White House meetings are subject to being “managed in stages”, going back years into Biden’s term. An unnamed source told the outlet that Cabinet members would be asked in advance by staff how they would respond to a question from the president so that Biden could be given talking points. It’s “Weekend at Bernie’s: White House Edition.”
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Several people who attended the White House Juneteenth celebration said they noticed strange behavior of the president, ABC News reported, with sources using words like “indifferent,” “stiff” and “unreadable.” One member of the Texas House, Democratic Rep. Ron Reynolds of the Houston area, told the network, “We didn’t quite know what to make of it, but we thought it was different and it was — he seemed changed.”
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O Fundraising for Biden’s campaign is winding downNBC News reported, with a source saying the campaign could raise half as much in July as it did in June.
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A Wisconsin media company acknowledged that one of its radio stations edited interview with Biden at the request of his campaign. This reflects more badly on the broadcaster than on the candidate, but it shows that even an exchange with a friendly media outlet is dangerous for the president.
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Biden’s campaign is conducting polls to determine how well the vice president Kamala Harris would be the nominee against Trump, according to The New York Times. It is a natural thing for the campaign to do, but the results will certainly be leaked to the public.
If the poll shows Biden to be the weaker candidate, it will fuel calls for him to resign. If it shows that Harris is getting worse, some Democrats will be furious that the campaign is deliberately running roughshod over the vice president, who could inherit the job anyway or be a future candidate.
The longer this goes on, the more likely Democrats will face a louder chorus of questions about the president’s fitness to remain in office at this point, let alone try for another four years.
The more it appears that Biden is isolated from all but his most trusted relatives and advisors, that information is pre-digested for him, that the work of the presidency is being done by others, the more other Democrats will suffer.
It is increasingly clear that if Biden does not run for another term, he will not be prepared for the tremendous daily exhaustion of the presidency. If something catastrophic happens as a result, Democrats at the polls will pay the price.
So they need Biden to show in public that he is truly done. The more he messes up, the worse it gets for his group.
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