Biden is eyeing a fresh start in the 2024 presidential election after the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump rocked the political world and diverted attention from his own daunting re-election bid and discontent within his own party.
In the weeks following Biden’s disastrous debate performance with Trump, many Democrats publicly called for him to withdraw, but Saturday’s shooting has halted those calls, at least for now.
Democratic aides said discussions about Mr. Biden dropping out of the race were “on hold.” Mr. Biden has tried to ease concerns about his candidacy through calls with lawmakers and donors for weeks, but no calls have been scheduled yet this week, the aides said.
“As far as the Trump campaign is concerned, I think the calls for him to resign have probably died down at this point,” said David Thomas, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Vice President Al Gore. “Given what happened over the weekend, it’s hard to imagine that picking up again.”
Biden has insisted he has no plans to drop out of the race and delivered a spirited speech in Detroit on Friday in which he offered a full defense of his candidacy, including scathing criticism of the press, pundits and other Democrats.
But he entered the weekend feeling pressure from his own camp: About two dozen sitting Democratic lawmakers have called on him to resign, and he held a tense conference call Saturday with moderate Democrats who said they are “really disappointed” in the president’s lack of strategy.
Shortly after the call with the New Democrats, a shooting at a Trump rally marked a major shift in the president’s policy. A 20-year-old gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, with one bullet grazing the former president’s ear. The gunman, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired at the rally from a nearby rooftop.
“The president has since addressed the nation three times: on Saturday, two hours after the shootings, on Sunday, and in a prime-time address on Sunday. A source familiar with the campaign’s thinking said Biden knows when to play politics and when to unite, and he made that clear in his speeches.”
Biden’s campaign suspended activities on Saturday in the wake of the shooting but will resume activities Monday evening, and Democrats are watching closely to see whether calls for Biden to step down will also resume at some point.
“That remains to be seen,” said former Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y. “Certainly, people expressed what they believed, but it didn’t translate into a public upsurge. I don’t think rock bottom has yet come for the president, and that’s the key point.”
He added that Democrats will look at polls ahead of their convention in August to decide whether Biden should remain in the lead.
“I think a lot of it depends on what the poll numbers are and how the polls are going in each district,” Crowley said. “The closer we get to the convention, I think it’s going to be harder to actually see change.”
Meanwhile, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Biden was seeking a “reset,” noting that no Democrats have spoken out against him since the shooting.
“President Biden will use this as an opportunity to reset his campaign, take down the ads and give a speech from the Oval Office. He’s been in office for four years and this is his third year. He can’t afford to miss this opportunity,” McCarthy told CNBC on Monday. “No Democrats have come out of this. I don’t know where they’re going to go. We’re only a few weeks away from the convention. He’s secured the nomination.”
Biden urged Americans of both parties to tone down their rhetoric. He also met with Trump, whom he said had a “good” discussion, while First Lady Jill Biden met with former First Lady Melania Trump.
The president acknowledged Sunday that he expects opponents at this week’s Republican convention to criticize his record and offer a competing vision for America, and said he would travel to promote his vision, including a trip to Las Vegas.
But he called on Americans to take action at the ballot box, not with violence.
“I think President Biden’s response is exactly what you’d expect from any president to respond to such a horrific event, regardless of party. Of course people will want to appeal for calm. President Biden is the president of the country,” said Thomas, a partner at Melman Consulting.
“I think we would all benefit from a toning down of the heated rhetoric, and I think that’s what the overwhelming majority of Americans want from this election season,” he added. “So I would love to see this not just be a short pause, but something that can extend into the fall.”
