CNN
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An astonishing 24 hours that has sent shockwaves through the political base of Joe Biden’s reelection bid has led him to face the most pressure-filled presidential news conference in modern history on Thursday.
The significance of Biden’s solo speech at the closing ceremony of the NATO summit grew with every passing day as his political standing unravelled with increasing dignity. Supporters from Congress to Hollywood warned that Biden needed to step aside for the good of his party and his country, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explicitly suggesting that the stubborn president should reconsider his options.
The insurrection, which included only a small percentage of congressional Democrats, appears to be growing more serious, reflecting fears now growing across Capitol Hill that former President Donald Trump could lead to a Republican landslide victory that could give conservatives a monopoly on power in Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court.
Some Democrats worry that Biden, 81,’s decision to run again despite his declining skills revealed in the debates, could endanger the very democracy he claims to be trying to save.
The president, who was in poor political shape even before the disastrous debate, remains adamant that he has no intention of handing the baton to a younger Democrat. But three factors are making his case untenable: divided support within his party, dried-up fundraising and unfavorable polling data. As Biden hosts world leaders at a NATO summit on Wednesday to lead discussions on a Ukraine bailout package, the ingredients are lining up to make this fateful trifecta a reality.
Biden’s hopes for a second term hang in the balance at the press conference, which comes exactly two weeks after his campaign took a nosedive with a disjointed and confused debate performance. It’s the latest in a series of public events that have grilled Biden about his health and cognitive abilities, and any gaffe or confusion along the way could spark political catastrophe. Any signs that Biden’s reasoning or performance are being blurred by age could reinforce the impression of the president’s frailty seared into the national consciousness by the CNN debate and spark a surprising Democratic revolt.
The day began with Pelosi, still the party’s key power broker, pushing back against Biden’s dismal debate performance and his claim that the nomination issue was settled. “It’s up to Biden to decide whether he wants to run,” she said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” a comment interpreted by everyone in Washington as a call for Biden to change his mind. The California Democrat appeared to be giving the president, who warned earlier this week that “I’m not going anywhere,” another chance to change his mind gracefully.
Lawmakers sent similar signals throughout the day. “If you’re going to commit political suicide, at least be honest,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus who has supported Biden, told CNN. Rep. Pat Ryan, a moderate from New York, called on Biden to live up to his pledge to build a bridge to a new generation of leadership. “Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. It is our duty to put up the strongest candidate to run against him. Joe Biden is a patriot, but he is no longer the best candidate to beat Trump.”
And on Wednesday night, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on Biden to step down. “He saved us from Donald Trump once and he wants to do it again. But he needs to reconsider whether he’s the best candidate to do so. In my view, he’s not the best,” Welch wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
Biden campaign officials are scheduled to meet with Democratic senators on Thursday to make the president’s case, but the briefing to staff will likely stop short of the steps lawmakers are seeking to show Biden has the ability to beat Trump.
As recently as Tuesday evening, Biden appeared to have succeeded in stemming the momentum against him. But in less than 24 hours, he has rapidly lost ground, making it hard to imagine the party being able to rally around him at the Democratic National Convention in August if many lawmakers leave Chicago and head to the polls believing their presidential candidate will be declared defeated.
Lawmakers are so concerned because they are listening to their voters, reading the polling data in each state, and concluding that not only can Biden not win, but, as Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said on CNN on Tuesday, he could deliver a landslide victory that Trump could use to implement his authoritarian policies.
Congressional Democratic leaders have yet to say Biden should resign. And some are still defending the president. “He’s going to be our nominee at the convention. He’s going to be our nominee in the fall. He’s going to be the next president of the United States,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Biden ally and campaign co-chairman, told CNN’s Caitlin Collins on Wednesday. “It would be a disgrace to have a great president go,” Sen. John Fetterman, who represents the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, told CNN’s Erin Burnett, adding that he would be steadfast in his defense of Biden when the Senate Democratic conference meets on Thursday.
But growing discontent and signs that the president’s plummeting approval ratings could dash the party’s hopes in November help explain why House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told party members he would convey his concerns to Biden.
The most personally scathing departure from Biden came from actor and Democratic megadonor George Clooney, who appeared at a fundraiser with the president last month. The director and star of the film “Good Night, and Good Luck” said he loved Biden and believed in his morals, character and presidential qualities. But in a New York Times op-ed, he wrote that “the Joe Biden I sat with at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the ‘big’ Joe Biden of 2010.” Clooney continued, “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same person we all witnessed in the debates. … This president will not win the election in November.”
Clooney’s piece underscored how Biden’s predicament is not just a bitter political dispute but a heartbreaking human test for a president beloved by many Democrats but whose declining health and incapacity have become fodder for the most public and humiliating debate imaginable.
Clooney maintains deep ties with Democratic officeholders and donors, giving his opinion more weight than any celebrity. And he’s not the only disgruntled donor. In another warning sign for Biden’s candidacy, one Democratic strategist told CNN, “Everything’s on hold because nobody knows what’s going to happen. Everybody’s in wait-and-see mode,” adding that funds are on the sidelines, waiting to see the results of Biden’s Thursday press conference and interview. The president spoke to NBC’s “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt in an interview that will be taped and aired next Monday, the network announced.
Biden’s support has slipped in polls since the debate, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a close Michigan Senate candidate, told donors in a video call on Tuesday that private polls in the state show Biden trailing Trump, The New York Times reported. If the president fails to win Michigan, as he did in 2020, that will all but close his path to securing the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.
The deepening crisis besieging the Democrats doesn’t just undermine Biden’s chances of retaining the nomination. It also provides Trump and Republicans with fodder for a bottomless supply of attack ads against Biden, if he is confirmed. Individual candidates also expect to be grilled on why they are supporting a party poster boy who many Democrats have declared unfit to serve a second term that ends at 86. And two weeks of agonizing over Biden’s age and mental capacity, combined with clumsy mitigation efforts by the White House and his campaign, have eased the pressure on Trump and deprived Democrats of the comparisons to the former president’s lawlessness and mercurialism that initially led many to believe Biden would help him keep the White House.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta who is a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, warned that Democrats needed to stop fighting and get behind the president before it was too late. Bottoms told CNN’s Erin Burnett it was “astonishing” that Democrats would be “suicidal” with the election so close.
But as Biden’s political standing continues to rapidly deteriorate, the question is how long he can continue to claim to be the only Democrat who can beat Trump.
