At dinner parties and restaurants in the Hamptons on Saturday night, talk of President Biden’s performance at an upscale local fundraiser and the traffic jams his presence caused was all the rage.
The president was generally well-received, with words like “strong” and “energetic” used to describe his appearance at a private event after the inauguration. Thursday night’s debate debacle — others weren’t so sure.
One political veteran told Page Six that after seeing Biden, “most people said they felt better, but some people felt worse.”
Unconvinced Democratic officials said some attendees at the daytime event believed Biden He spoke about his “bad” arguments. His brief speech “was like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound…His debate wasn’t ‘bad,’ but he was clearly unwell.”
Biden, 81, arrived in Westhampton Beach on Saturday to speak at the home of billionaire Barry Rosenstein, the first of two big Saturday events for Biden. The public is calling for his resignation. After his astonishing performance in the debates.
I have heard many in the Hamptons’ liberal donor base say they will support Biden again.
“Biden looked and sounded good,” an attendee at the Hamptons event told Page Six, with the publication adding that the president’s speech was “short but powerful.”
“The atmosphere was good. People are worried but no one is backing down. People are still very passionate. Everyone feels that Trump has to be defeated,” said a Hamptons regular. [Biden] and [his] “He needs to continue his campaign and show that the debate was a fluke. That’s what people want to see. The first step was today and he did a good job.”
Attendees at the fundraiser included Howard and Beth Stern, Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch and his socialite wife Lizzie, and President Donald Trump’s former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
A source with knowledge of the afternoon event said that about 200 to 250 people attended the fundraiser, but that “tickets were sold out and we had to turn some people away.”
The same source said Biden’s speech was “essentially the same speech” he gave on Friday, the day after the debate. Back to election campaign Raleigh, North Carolina
Another source said that in the Hamptons, “there was a lot of talk. Donors and the public were [were] “I was worried after Thursday night. They didn’t know what to expect, and Biden showed up with a tan and a totally different face than he was on Thursday.”
The source added about the octogenarian politician: “He wasn’t gaping, he was energetic and he gave a great speech. It made me feel a lot better after watching it.”
Biden spoke for about 10-15 minutes, and I understand there was no interaction afterwards, but he did pose for photos with VIPs at the start of the event, and no questions were accepted.
“The autopsy results [the debate] “There’s a whole lot of issues that need to be addressed,” the same attendee said. “His performance was dismal. He addressed the elephant in the room: ‘Tonight was terrible. It was not a great performance. We can talk at length about the poor performance, or we can talk about the last four years of leadership and the end of democracy with Donald Trump,'” he said. He acknowledged that.
The source said Biden does not appear to be planning to resign. Instead, “he is continuing to resist.”
The emotion is Later when he showed up New Jersey fundraiser
Also attending the event, where the couple dished out a whopping $250,000 prize, were Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, philanthropists Michael Sonnenfeld and Katja Goldman, Andrew Cuomo’s former financial chief Jennifer Bayer Michaels, PR guru Michael Kempner and film director Margaret Manzer Loeb, wife of hedge fund executive Daniel Loeb.
Now that Biden is gone, at least Hamptons weekenders can enjoy their Sunday, they said.
A local resident said: “Everyone was complaining about the traffic dragging from Southampton to East Hampton for 45 minutes to over an hour. Cops were stopping traffic and it was chaos even on the back roads. Everyone is blaming Biden’s motorcade. People in the Hamptons are glad he’s gone because traffic has been a nightmare all afternoon.”
The source added of the atmosphere: “Hey! All the rich and famous people are crazy!”
