The Biden campaign has been working overtime to quell the overwhelming panic that spread following his disastrous debate performance, to the point where party brass have held conference calls with members to try to persuade them, the people said.
While Biden mingled with big donors in the Hamptons on Saturday, the Democratic National Committee, led by Biden campaign chairman Julie Chavez Rodriguez and DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison, held a hastily organized conference call aimed at easing fears and frustration.
“They are trying to minimize the controversy as much as possible,” a source told The Post. “It was meant to indirectly dismiss any discussion.”
“The fact is, we are making progress,” he added.
Invitations to the call were sent out on Friday, but not before Biden, 81, was seen staggering around, looking weak and confused.
The 45-minute debate featured only “brief debate references,” referencing remarks Biden made at a rally in North Carolina on Friday, where the president said, “I don’t walk as easily as I used to, I don’t talk as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth,” the source said.
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A DNC spokesman sought to downplay the call, telling The Washington Post it was just one of several quarterly meetings in which Chairman Harrison gives the latest fundraising figures and reflects on the week.
That included a debate in which “President Biden outlined a positive vision for advancing progress, while President Donald Trump lied and refused to accept the results of the election,” said Hannah Muldavin, a member of the Democratic National Committee.
But the party is standing its ground as pundits, including the New York Times editorial board, and countless media outlets call for Biden to resign.
The discussions were about moving the campaign forward, according to the people.
“They said the energy was amazing. It was a standard talk you would give.”
But our source said the call “was clearly organised at the last minute in a rush to quell frustration over the discussions.”
“They would try to treat it as routine, but it wasn’t routine,” the source said.
Biden’s lackluster performance in Thursday’s debate sent ripples through the Democratic establishment, with former Bronx, New York, senator Alessandra Biaggi and former deputy chief of staff to President Barack Obama, Joel Wertheimer, immediately taking to social media to urge the aging president to drop out of the race.
Trump, who is in his 80s, froze at various times throughout the 90-minute debate and made a series of gaffes, including saying his son Beau, who died of cancer in the US, “died in Iraq” and that he “defeated Medicare”.
He also spoke in a soft, husky voice, which an anonymous aide claimed was due to a cold.
At the end of the debate, First Lady Jill Biden ran over to escort her husband off the stage, a move that some viewers saw as an embarrassing moment for the commander in chief.
But Sean Cooperman Research released a report Saturday showing that more than half of debate viewers had less confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country than his opponent.
Of 500 registered voters surveyed, 51% said Trump performed better than Biden, while just over half said Biden’s surprising performance was worse than expected.
Nearly three-quarters of voters said they were “more concerned” about “Biden’s age and fitness to be president” after the debate.
