CNN
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The week ahead will be crucial to see whether President Joe Biden’s defiance saves his reelection chances or whether Democrats who doubt his ability to serve a second term succeed in forcing him to step down.
While only a handful of House Democrats have publicly called on the president to end his campaign, there is deep unease within the party that Biden, who ousted Donald Trump from the White House four years ago, could fail to stop voters from putting his rival back in the Oval Office after the November election, undermining his own achievement and plunging the country into uncharted political territory.
Democratic anxiety was also reflected in a conference call hosted by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday afternoon. Some lawmakers said Biden should resign, and there was consensus among several dozen party members that Biden should step down, aides told CNN. But a meeting Sen. Mark Warner had planned for Monday to consider the president’s future was canceled, and the Virginia Democrat said he hadn’t decided whether Biden should step down, the aides said.
Speaking on Sunday morning news shows, leading figures from several major parties said the president needs to do more to ease voters’ skepticism. “I think this is going to be a really important week for the president in answering the questions that remain,” Sen. Chris Murphy, R-Connecticut, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Still, the president campaigned in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, insisting, “I’m up for the job!”
In a key interview with ABC News on Friday, Biden underscored his resolve to stick with the Democratic nomination he won in a nearly unbeatable primary, warning that only “God Almighty” could end his campaign. But the interview only underscored the panic among Democrats about whether they can beat presumptive Republican nominee Trump following Biden’s underwhelming performance in last month’s debate. The interview also raised further questions about Biden’s health as he seeks a new term that ends at age 86, and whether he understands the gravity of his political predicament, as he trails Trump in the polls.
According to CNN’s MJ Lee, confusion over Biden’s future has created a gloomy atmosphere in the White House. Though support for Biden’s reelection remains strong within the White House, White House staff are shaken by his performance in the presidential debate and subsequent reports of his struggles.
One of the key questions now is whether enough lawmakers will band together to convince the president to step down.
• If that happens, will party leaders go to the President and argue that his position is unsustainable?
• Even if that were the case, would Biden, who won the votes of millions of Democrats for the nomination and who argues he is fit enough to serve another term, agree to withdraw from the campaign?
• If the President maintains his hardline stance at this point, Democrats will be forced to decide whether to make their views public, and many lawmakers in key states and districts will have to consider distancing themselves from their party’s presidential candidate to protect their own survival in November.
As Biden doggedly argues, there is an almost surreal air about this heated political debate: In an already remarkable year in which Republicans have nominated a convicted former president who has been impeached twice as a presidential candidate, it would be an extraordinary development if Democrats were to withdraw at the last minute from the nomination of a sitting president, whose term most believe to be successful, out of concern he cannot win.
Missing out on Biden would mark a humiliating end to a political career that has spanned half a century and would leave the president viewing himself as the victim of a bitter betrayal.
If Democrats oust Biden, it would create one of the most high-risk scenarios in modern history. They would have to decide whether to rally around Vice President Kamala Harris, as some have already begun to do, or blitzkrieg an unvetted newcomer. There’s no guarantee a new standard-bearer would do better than Biden, who already beat Trump once. But the fact that so many are willing to try indicates the strength of wariness within the party and the image of an aging, sometimes incoherent president seared into the minds of 50 million viewers at the CNN debate in Atlanta.
In a worrying sign for Biden, even party officials who normally support and praise his accomplishments in office argue he must do more to convince voters that he is up to the demands of the presidency.
“There’s no question that his debate performance has raised questions for voters — not just about his character, not about his decency, not about who he cares about, not about who he’s fighting for — but about whether he’s still the same Joe Biden,” Murphy said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He told Dana Bash that the president needs to get out there and “hold town hall meetings, hold press conferences and show the nation that he’s still the same Joe Biden.”
Rep. Adam Schiff also expressed concern. Like Murphy, Schiff praised Biden’s work and was a scathing critic of Trump. But on NBC’s Meet the Press, he said the debate performance raised concerns among voters about whether Biden could win an “existential election.” The California Democrat said the election shouldn’t be close, given that Trump is a convicted felon, and that the president’s age is the only reason it’s so close. “He should look for people who can step back and be objective. He should look for pollsters who are not his pollsters. He should take some time to make an informed decision. And once he does, he should run full speed ahead and beat the motherfucker.”
The comments from the two top Democrats highlight a divide within the party. While many in Congress are wary and want the president to do more unscripted work to prove he’s fit for the job, Biden himself has already ruled out giving up on reelection. In an interview with ABC News, he declined to answer a question about what he would do if leaders such as Jeffries or Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told him continuing the campaign could damage Democrats in Congress. “I’m not going to answer that question. That’s not going to happen,” Biden said.
But the president has strong support from his allies in the Congressional Black Caucus. Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a former CBC chair, said Democrats “should not launch arbitrary attacks against our own president.” And voters at the Essence Festival in New Orleans expressed confidence in Biden and resisted calls for him to end his campaign, CNN’s Ebony Davis and Eva McKend reported.
Aside from the ABC News interview, the president isn’t about to subject himself to the intense scrutiny of the repeated, spontaneous political events that many of his supporters want to see. On Sunday, he spoke at a black church in Philadelphia and gave a short, impromptu address to campaign workers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He did spend a fair amount of time working the ropes in the stifling heat. And later this week, he’s scheduled to hold a news conference at the NATO summit he’s hosting in Washington, which will also be a key barometer of his performance.
But many Democrats are urging Trump to do more, fearing his position is so precarious it could not only cost him the White House but weaken his party and allow Republicans to retake the House and keep the Senate. With the Supreme Court cementing an era of ultra-conservative justice, many Democrats openly fear the consequences of a second unbridled Trump administration.
House Democrats on Sunday vented frustration over Biden’s troubles and how they could affect their bid to retake the House, something many had been optimistic about leading up to the debate. “It’s been pretty harsh,” a senior Democratic aide told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations among House leaders.
Aides said a decision on requesting a White House meeting or possibly sending a letter to Biden is not expected until the full Democratic senate meets on Tuesday. A source on the call told CNN’s MJ Lee that Jeffries has not taken a position on what should happen next. But Tuesday’s call is likely to be a make-or-break moment for the president.
Concerns about Biden’s ability to campaign and the long-term impact of the debate remain strong, despite the legacy of his first term with a legislative record equal to or better than any Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson. Rep. Gerry Connolly, for example, told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Saturday that what happened was more than “just a bad night,” and “that’s why that image is so indelible in the minds of so many people.” The Virginia Democrat said Biden’s performance in the ABC News interview was mostly good, but he did have some concerns. “I hope that Joe Biden doesn’t really think that relying on God Almighty is the only intervention that’s going to deter him from going forward,” Connolly said.
Biden tried to quash speculation about his future by showing vigor in his campaign in Pennsylvania, a state he must feature in his column in November to keep his hopes of victory alive. The president stopped by the Mount Airy Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia to reflect on faith and the challenges it helps him overcome. “We are all imperfect beings. You never know when or where or what faith will bring you,” he said, appearing to read from prepared notes. Black Democrats helped save Biden’s 2020 primary campaign and put him in the White House. In this election, he has been troubled by polls suggesting Trump is gaining ground in a community that typically votes overwhelmingly for Democratic presidential candidates.
Biden then traveled to the state capital of Harrisburg with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a rising star in the Democratic Party and a leading candidate for the next term. Biden was accompanied by Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of his continued reelection campaign. Senator Bob Casey, an old friend who is in a tough reelection battle, completed the impression that the state’s leading Democrats have Biden’s back. “This election is going to be about blocking and addressing simple, basic politics. It’s simple. It’s going to be about how many signs you hold up, how many door-to-door canvassing, how many phone calls you make, how many requests you respond to,” Biden told his supporters.
The Biden campaign has already announced that it plans to campaign in Michigan, another key battleground state, on Friday, following this week’s NATO summit in Washington. Inviting world leaders would allow Biden to highlight his statesmanship and one of the most important aspects of his term: revitalizing and expanding the Western alliance and strengthening U.S. allies to counter the threat of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
If Biden can navigate the event without further controversy, attention may begin to shift from his shortcomings to Trump, who is expected to announce his running mate at or before next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. By the time Biden is back in the spotlight, his critics will have even less time to push for an alternative candidate ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
