Democratic power players propose plan for Biden’s departure and a ‘flash primary’

The proposal comes as pressure mounts on Biden to drop out of the race after his June 27 debate loss to former President Donald Trump. The president’s debate performance set off alarm bells among Democratic strategists, lawmakers, donors and voters, adding to lingering concerns about Biden’s age and ability to beat Trump.

Brooks said she and Dintersmith initially sent the memo Tuesday to dozens of powerful Democrats, including major donors, Biden appointees and campaign officials.

As Brooks said in an interview with CNBC, they sent the plan to “everyone who we thought might have the ear of anyone who has influence over the president’s decision-making.”

The proposal calls for several key steps, starting with Biden announcing that he will quit the race in mid-July in a “speech for the ages,” as the memo’s authors envision.

“Overnight, Biden is being hailed as a modern-day George Washington, not an octogenarian clinging to power with a 37 percent approval rating,” the proposal reads. “From scapegoat to hero.”

The next phase of the plan is a “flash primary,” in which potential Democratic candidates submit their nominations and delegates to the Democratic National Convention ultimately narrow the list to six contenders.

According to the memo, this hypothetical accelerated primary would involve a massive campaign of social media content to mobilize voters, including forums between the candidates moderated by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift or Stephen Colbert.

Brooks and Dintersmith’s vision ends with delegates voting for the final nominee at the DNC, who would theoretically benefit from increased viewership and donations from the viral hype of the previous snap primary.

Brooks, who stressed that she is not a political strategist, said the proposal should be treated more like a living document and that many details of the plan have changed as Democrats who saw the memo hypothetically played with its ideas.

“We know we can’t really define what’s going on, but we’re very encouraged by the uniform reaction: ‘Wow! If something like this happened, America would be lifted out of its current slump,'” Dintersmith said in an email to CNBC.

Since the proposal was initially sent out Tuesday, Brooks said he has received dozens of responses, most of which liked the plan, even though it is unlikely to actually be implemented.

“The tone was more like, ‘Oh my God, this is probably impossible, but what a great idea,'” Brooks said.

She added that as time goes on, she feels people are starting to see the plan as viable: “Within a matter of days, it went from, ‘Oh, that would be so great if only that could happen, but it probably can’t,’ to ‘Why can’t that happen?'”

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.