A longtime Democratic donor said it was “wishful thinking” to suggest Joe Biden would withdraw from the presidential race despite his “awful” CNN appearance on Thursday, arguing that the commander in chief could still bounce back.
“The idea that Biden is going to step down now is wishful thinking,” Charles Myers, a Wall Street veteran and major donor to Biden’s 2024 campaign, told The Washington Post.
“The performance is bad, but I don’t think it’s catastrophic and there’s more than enough time to bounce back,” Myers added.
Myers, chairman of investment advisory firm Sygnum Global, expressed optimism despite Biden’s stumbling and muttering during Thursday’s televised debate with Donald Trump, raising fresh concerns about the 81-year-old Biden’s cognitive abilities.
Myers also shot down the idea that California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would be sent out to take on President Donald Trump.
Miers stressed that there is “no mechanism” in the Democratic Party’s internal rules to remove Biden as a presidential candidate.
“Plan B is Kamala,” a top Biden fundraiser told The Post, referring to the vice president who is less popular than Biden in opinion polls.
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But Meyers also said Biden could be forced to withdraw if Trump trails him in six key battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“We’re watching the battleground state polls closely,” the former Evercore executive said. “If Trump gets an 8- or 9-point lead in those battleground states over the next three or four weeks, there will be real calls for him to step down.”
Some Democratic activists are questioning whether Barack Obama’s vice president can remain at the top of the shortlist.
“There will be a debate about whether the president should continue in office,” David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, told CNN.
“There’s no way to interpret this. His performance deserves to be disqualified,” a Democratic fundraiser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying after the debate.
“We expect fundraising to dry up. Money follows enthusiasm,” a source told Reuters. “Can anyone with a straight face say, ‘Donate to help Joe win?'”
The Biden campaign and pro-Biden groups have managed to raise a staggering $389 million in funding ahead of this year’s White House election.
If he refuses to back down, delegates to the Democratic National Convention would have to stage a revolt at the convention in Chicago in August.
The rules state that “delegates elected to a national convention who pledge allegiance to a presidential candidate shall, in accordance with their conscience, reflect the sentiments of the people who elected them.”
Biden is running a virtually unopposed campaign despite health concerns and has already amassed 3,894 delegates out of the 1,968 needed.
Biden appeared to lose his train of thought at times Thursday, veering from one topic to the next and his voice trailing off before finishing an answer.
But he put in a more energetic performance at a rally in North Carolina on Friday, where he sought to brush off calls for him to resign.
“I know I’m not young,” he told supporters.
