President Joe Biden is not taking the hint. Doubt and uncertainty about the 81-year-old’s ability to lead the Democrats into the US election in November continue to engulf the party as its presumptive nominee presses on with his campaign rallies over the weekend.
The “live” presidential press conference held on Thursday night did nothing to either magnify or quell the unease within a party caucus still spooked by the malfunctioning performance of their president during his recent television debate with Donald Trump.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, had a meeting with Biden late on Thursday evening to convey the deepening concerns among Democrats on Capitol Hill and the worsening sense of gloom and fear that the prevailing ticket will lead to inevitable electoral defeat in November.
“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the caucus has shared in our recent time together,” Jeffries wrote to colleagues in a brief letter circulated on Friday morning.
Podcasts of 2024: 10 of the best shows from the past year, from Keep It Tight to Who Trolled Amber?
Samantha Barry: ‘There’s not a moment where I’m not representing Glamour. I don’t get to switch it off’
Biden grants largest single day clemency in US history as 1,500 sentences commuted
Bearing thrifts: Elon Musk targets Washington waste with his ‘naughty and nice list’
It was reported that Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, held a series of private meetings with former president Barack Obama during the week as senior Democrats try to plot a path through this acute crisis of faith in their leader. The Biden campaign is convinced that its candidate can recover from the current position, where most polls show he trails former president Trump in the definitive battleground states.
Biden took his campaign to Detroit on Friday as his team sought to put a positive spin on his position. A new poll by Marist/NPR shows Biden with a 50 per cent to 48 per cent lead over Trump, leading Ron Klain, one of his leading campaign advisers, to state: “With yesterday’s press conf and this new poll, it’s time to end the freak out and unite behind the Democratic nominee and the only person who has ever beaten Trump.”
Although he displayed flashes of the adept range of foreign diplomacy and legislative accomplishments that define his five-decade career during his hour-long stint on the podium on Thursday, the president also committed two verbal howlers. First, he mistakenly introduced the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as “president Putin” to gathered Nato heads of state. Then, during his press conference, he referred to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, as “vice-president Trump”. Biden has a long tradition of verbal gaffes but since the debate they carry added weight and significance.
In taking questions from reporters, the president was asked if he would step aside if his campaign team showed him data suggesting other candidates had a better chance.
“No, unless they came back and said there’s no way you could win. No one’s saying that.”
He delivered that final line in a theatrical, mock-conspiratorial whisper. The problem is that several Democrats are saying that, and more continued to say it after the conference ended. It was reported that leading donors to the party are withholding pledges totalling $90 million to Future Forward, the largest pro-Biden super Political Action Committee.
Jim Clyburn, the 83-year-old South Carolinian veteran congressman called on Friday for his colleagues to “let Joe Biden continue to make his own decisions about his future: he’s earned that right”.
It is hardly a glowing endorsement, but it illustrates the current impasse.
Meanwhile, Trump is preparing for next week’s Republican convention in Milwaukee and hinted that he may announce his running mate on Monday.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
