- Some of Joe Biden’s allies are not happy that he has dropped out of the race.
- They are speaking out even as much of the party rallies around Kamala Harris.
- Critics accuse Democratic Party elites of ousting Biden.
When President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he was withdrawing from the 2024 election, most Democratic leaders predicted unity.
But some of the president’s longtime allies did not stick to the script, expressing anger and feelings of betrayal.
Some accused the party’s donors and most powerful members of ousting Biden.
Those numbers “defeated the only candidate who has ever beaten Trump,” wrote Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain, who denounced the move as a “political fantasy game.”
His message was a promotion for Vice President Kamala Harris, but the sense of hurt was palpable.
According to NBC News, Klain was among several aides who urged Biden over the weekend not to resign.
According to The New York Times, those pushing for Biden to continue argued that he still has a path to victory, despite worrying polling data following Biden’s disorganized performance in the latest debate with Donald Trump.
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who is co-chairman of the Biden campaign, openly cried while talking about Biden’s decision to pull out.
“This was a very difficult decision, and I think it reflects the best of Joe Biden,” he told CBS News on Sunday.
Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas said the crisis was to blame on Democrats, who failed to choose a formal candidate just months before the presidential election.
With Biden and other Democratic leaders looking to Harris to counter Trump, Harris appears to have few serious rivals in the race for the party’s nomination.
“I hope the geniuses who ousted the most momentous president of our lifetimes have a plan,” Crockett said on X.
“Joe wasn’t the problem…the Democrats were the problem,” she continued.
Crockett also supported Harris as the new candidate and said he would refuse to campaign if someone else was selected.
Axios, citing anonymous sources, reported that Biden himself felt isolated, frustrated and betrayed as he reached the decision to pull out.
“He was furious for a while, but then he succumbed to reality. He’s a professional,” an anonymous friend of the president told the outlet.
Biden had said for weeks that he would not step down, but conceded on Sunday, saying it was in the “best interest of our party and our country.”
According to media reports, those urging him to step down or reconsider include former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Even before Biden announced he was dropping out of the race on Sunday, his supporters had criticized what they described as a campaign by party elites to oust him.
One critic, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that this could be a double blow for Biden.
To the source, recent events felt like a repeat of 2015, when Biden was persuaded not to run in the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton won the nomination.
Clinton suffered a shocking defeat to Trump.
Biden defeated Trump in 2020 and Democrats performed better than expected in the 2022 midterm elections.
“Can we all just remember for a moment that the people who are trying to get rid of Joe Biden are the same people who literally gave us Donald Trump,” a source close to Biden told NBC News.
“In 2015, [Barack] Obama, [Nancy] Pelosi, [Chuck] Schumer pushed aside Biden and endorsed Hillary. [Clinton]They were wrong then and they are wrong now.”
The decision has thrown the party into turmoil just months before the presidential election.
