Democrats were in an apparent stalemate Saturday as former Vice President Joe Biden continued to endure calls to end his reelection campaign after a week of stunning intraparty moves to remove from office the candidate many expected to have a good chance of beating President Donald Trump.
In the weeks since his disastrous debate defeat against President Trump, the 81-year-old Biden has tried to fend off calls to step down as the top candidate over concerns that his age and mental fitness are no longer fit for the job, but a series of interviews, news conferences and speeches have done little to ease anxiety within his party.
Quote: “Everybody’s Waiting for Joe” Maureen Dowd of The New York Times “And he’s sitting at home worrying, ‘What if? What if? What if?'” one senior Democratic official said. “We’re doing things the Democratic way. We’re messing it up.”
With the Democratic establishment increasingly frustrated with what it sees as Biden’s intransigence, the outlet reported Saturday that the president has privately complained that former aides to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton lecture him on election strategy after Democrats avoided defeat in the 1994 and 2010 midterm elections.
Those pressuring Biden, who is infected with COVID-19, to give up on reelection are The Times reported.“You risk upsetting him and making him stay after all.”
Some advisers are said to think Biden will hold out at least until Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington on Wednesday, but some donors say now is the ideal time for Biden to step aside, with a month until the Republicans finish their convention and the Democrats hold their convention in Chicago, so a new narrative can be told about a new candidate.
The stark picture of a COVID-19-stricken, abandoned and embarrassed veteran politician bearing the pressure at his Delaware beach house came as most top Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, are calling on Biden to at least reconsider his position.
“We must heal these wounds now, and the sooner that happens, the better,” Gerald E. Connolly, a Democratic representative from Virginia, told the Times. Mr. Connolly, who has not publicly called for Mr. Biden to resign, said the unfolding drama “shows the cold reckoning of politics.”
Last week, a wave of Democratic elected officials praised Biden’s performance in office while also publicly issuing stern warnings that the United States could see a second Trump administration if he remains the party’s nominee in November’s presidential election.
The latest high-profile figure to join the chorus is Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who appeared on Friday night to call for an end to Biden’s reelection campaign.
“Ohioans have spoken to us on important issues, including how to continue to grow jobs in our state, give law enforcement the resources to crack down on fentanyl, protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts, and stop efforts to impose a nationwide abortion ban,” Governor Brown said in a statement.
“At this critical time, we must keep our full focus on these important issues. I believe the president should end his campaign,” he added.
These public denials are reflected in an equally intense private lobbying campaign by Democratic Party officials, party heavyweights and big donors aimed at persuading Biden that he cannot beat Trump and that his political legacy is in jeopardy unless he replaces him with a more dynamic candidate, perhaps Vice President Kamala Harris.
The campaign appears to be inching closer to convincing Biden and his close advisers and family members that the situation has become serious enough that he should consider the extraordinary step of declaring himself a one-term president and endorsing someone else to take on Trump.
Biden’s position has reportedly shifted from an outright refusal to a willingness to consider his position, with some media reports even suggesting a decision could be made in the coming days, possibly as early as this weekend.
But on Friday, Biden’s campaign made a clear display of defiance, saying it expected the president, who is quarantining at his Delaware Beach home, to return to campaign activities.
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“I look forward to returning to the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 policies, while also selling my record of achievement and my vision for an America that defends our democracy, protects our rights and freedoms, and creates opportunity for all,” Biden said in a statement.
“The stakes are high and the choice is clear,” Biden added. “Together, we will prevail.”
Biden still has some prominent allies at the top of his party, with left-leaning Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders both backing him to stay in the top spot in recent days.
“If a candidate or a president is 10,000 percent sure that they cannot beat Donald Trump, then they can do what they feel is in good conscience. But I don’t see an alternative scenario that doesn’t put us at very, very great risk,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Polls over the past week have shown Biden lagging behind Trump, especially in key battleground states that could determine the election, and Republican campaigners have even boasted that their electoral map is widening, with traditionally Democratic states like Virginia and New Hampshire potentially on the way.
But Ocasio-Cortez warned that there could be chaos within the party if Biden is removed from the running for reelection.
“If you think it’s going to be an easy transition, I’m here to tell you that many in the donor class and elites who are pushing for the president not to be the nominee don’t want to see the vice president be the nominee. [Harris] Become a candidate.” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She warned that Democratic “elites” do not want Harris to run in place of Biden, but that at a brokered convention in Chicago, state delegates who currently support Biden will be free to pledge their support for another candidate.
This may lead to confusion.
She noted that the Biden crisis has exposed racial, ethnic and class divisions within the Democratic Party, saying her community “cannot afford to accept defeat in July of an election year. My people are the first to be deported. The first to be put on Rikers Island. The first to have their families killed in war.”
