- According to the Washington Post, Biden’s labor union allies have doubts about his candidacy.
- The paper said union leaders are calling on Biden to detail his plan to defeat President Trump.
- Biden has come under pressure to resign after his disastrous debate defeat against Trump.
Joe Biden this week described himself as the most pro-union president in U.S. history.
“I think of you all as our NATO. I’m not kidding,” the president said Wednesday in a speech to the executive committee of the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor union federation.
Biden has regularly touted his support from unions and may be relying on them for survival.
But that support may be eroding.
According to the Washington Post, labor union leaders have privately expressed concern about Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November.
Citing two anonymous sources familiar with the comments, the newspaper said union leaders repeatedly questioned Biden campaign officials in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday about their plan to defeat Trump.
Among those who attended, the most vocal were Sarah Nelson, president of the Union of Flight Attendants, and Sean Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, according to the report.
The Association of Flight Attendants and the United Auto Workers did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
Many in Biden’s campaign staff are also beginning to have doubts about his future, The Washington Post reported.
“Most campaign staff are frustrated and don’t see a path forward,” a Democratic strategist familiar with the discussions told the paper.
For now, union leaders continue to publicly support the president, with the AFL-CIO leadership “unanimously reaffirming its commitment” in a statement Wednesday, adding that “no president has ever been more committed to supporting workers than Joe Biden.”
United Steelworkers President David McCaul said ahead of Wednesday’s meeting that the union is “proud to support” Biden and that he has an “incredible track record of serving working people.”
lose support from workers
According to Politico’s Jonathan Martin, support from labor unions is likely Biden’s only chance of survival against Trump.
A few days ago, Anita Dunn, a longtime Biden adviser, told Politico, “The people Joe Biden is fighting for — middle-class union members, black people, Latinos — know he’s fighting for them, and they will continue to fight for him.”
Biden and other Democrats have regularly touted the president’s pro-worker stance.
The AFL-CIO told The Associated Press on Thursday that Biden’s “fighting spirit” was on full display in meetings with union leaders this week.
The Associated Press noted that some of the statements of support were worded diplomatically in case Biden caved in to pressure to withdraw.
The pressure has grown since Biden’s disastrous defeat to Trump in the June 27 presidential debate, which raised questions about his age and mental competence.
A June 30 CBS/YouGov poll found that 72% of registered voters believe Biden is not in good mental and cognitive health to be president, while reports suggest Biden has also shown signs of aging behind closed doors, stumbling over his words and forgetting things while chatting with world leaders at a recent D-Day event.
Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, in a Washington Post op-ed on Wednesday, became the first Democratic senator to call on Biden to resign, saying it was “for the good of the country.”
Hollywood actor and Democratic supporter George Clooney wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that the Biden he met at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the Joe Biden of 2010.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020,” Clooney said, “the same guy we all saw in the debates.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer According to Axios, he has privately told donors he is open to replacing Biden as the party’s presidential nominee. reportThe statement cited three anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
And on Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi, who stepped down as speaker early last year, Did not explicitly endorse Biden as the Democratic candidate.
If labor leaders join the calls for Biden to resign, other key advocates may soon follow suit.
