WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — To a provocative president Joe BidenTHE Elections 2024 That’s for the public to decide, not Democrats on Capitol Hill. But the chorus of Democratic voices calling for his removal is growing louder, from donors, strategists, lawmakers and their constituents who say he should step down.
The party did not rally behind him, even after the events that were organized as part of a blitz to revive his doomed campaign and show everyone that he was not too old to stay in office or to do so for another four years.
On Saturday, a fifth Democratic lawmaker openly said Biden should not run again. Angie Craig The Minnesota representative said that after what she saw and heard in the debate with Republican rival Donald Trump, and Biden’s “lack of forceful response” afterward, he should step aside “and allow a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
Craig won one of Democrats’ key suburban victories in the 2018 midterms and could serve as a bellwether for districts that were vital to Biden in 2020.
With the Democratic Convention Approaches And with just four months to go until the election, neither side of the party can afford to live out this fratricidal drama any longer. But it is here to stay until Biden steps down or Democrats realize he won’t and learn to contain their concerns about the president’s chances against Trump.
There were signs that party leaders were realizing the impasse needed to end. Some of the most senior lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emeritus of the House of Representatives, and James Clyburn, Representative of the House of Representatives.were now publicly working to bring the party back to the president. Pelosi and Clyburn had both raised pointed questions about Biden following the debate.
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“Biden is who our country needs,” Clyburn said Friday night after Biden’s interview aired on ABC.
On Saturday, Biden’s campaign said the president had attended a biweekly meeting with the campaign’s 10 national co-chairs to “discuss their shared commitment to winning the 2024 race.” Clyburn was among them.
But the silence from most other House Democrats on Saturday was notable, suggesting that not all lawmakers are convinced by what they’ve seen from the president. More House Democrats are likely to call on Biden to step down when lawmakers return to Washington early this week.
Biden had no public schedule Saturday, as he and his aides have moved away from the fervor of the past few days. But the president will return to the campaign trail Sunday in Philadelphia, intent on putting the debate behind him. And this coming week, the United States will be hosts NATO summit and the president is to hold a press conference.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in New Orleans on Saturday, but she avoided answering questions about whether Biden should step down.
President ABC Friday Night Interview — billed as an attempt to get the campaign back on track — has prompted carefully worded expressions of disappointment from within the party ranks, and even worse from those who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ten days into the crisis debate between Biden and Trump, Biden is out.
Even within the White House, some feared that the ABC interview would not be enough to bring closure.
Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez has sent text messages to lawmakers and administration officials encouraging them not to publicly voice concerns about the president’s race and electability, according to a Democrat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.
Democrats are wondering what they are seeing and hearing from the president, but they are not at all sure about the path forward. They were particularly concerned that Biden suggested that even if he were to be defeated in a rematch with Trump, he would know he gave it his all. That seems to them an insufficient response.
“A lot can change in the next 72 to 96 hours, because that’s what’s happening these days,” Hawaii Gov. Mark Green said Saturday. “You know, four months is an eternity in today’s political world. I’m not worried about whether we’re going to have a good candidate if the president chooses a different path.”
But Green added that he also wanted to “respect the president and give him time to make that decision. And if he decides to be our nominee, he will be our nominee. And we will oppose Mr. Trump because he does not represent the right values for our people.”
While Biden’s camp has encouraged lawmakers to give the president a chance to show what he can do, a Democratic aide said Friday’s interview didn’t help and actually made the situation worse. The aide expects more Democrats to call on Biden to step down.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, while not breaking with Biden at this point, are holding meetings with members of Congress in the coming days to discuss options. Many lawmakers are listening to constituents at home and answering questions. One senator was trying to rally other senators to ask him to step down.
After the interview, one Democratic donor said many of the donors he spoke with were furious, particularly because the president refused to acknowledge the effects of his aging. Many of those donors want a change in party leadership, said the person, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Biden straight to the point rebuffed calls Friday to withdraw from the race, saying telling voters at a rally in Wisconsin, reporters outside Air Force One and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I totally rule out that possibility,” he told reporters at the rally.
Biden dismissed calls for his ouster, saying instead that he had spoken with 20 lawmakers and that they had all encouraged him to stay in the race.
Concerns about Biden’s ability to stay in power for another four years persist. a survey from August 2023 Since Associated Press Public Affairs Research Center-NORC77% of American adults believe Biden is too old to be effective for four more years. That’s not just the case for 89% of Republicans, but also for 69% of Democrats. His approval rating stands at 39% in the latest AP-NORC poll.
Biden has dismissed the polls, citing as evidence his rise to the nomination in 2020 and victory over Trump, after initially faltering, and the 2022 midterm elections, when many expected Republicans to win but did not, partly over the issue of abortion rights.
“I don’t believe it,” he was reminded, as he trailed in the polls. “I don’t think anyone is more qualified than me to be president or win this election.”
Biden rambled at times during the interview, which aired in its entirety and without cuts, according to ABC. Asked how he could reverse the trend, Biden said one key would be to hold big, dynamic rallies like the one he held Friday in Wisconsin. When reminded that Trump regularly draws larger crowds, the president lashed out at his opponent.
“Trump is a pathological liar,” Biden said, accusing him of botching the federal response to the COVID pandemic and failing to create jobs. “Have you ever seen anything Trump has done that has benefited someone else and not him?”
Republicans, however, strongly support their candidate and back Trump. who at 78 years old has three years younger than Biden, has grown up.
And this despite Trump’s 34 serious crime convictions in trial for silencing peoplethat he was found responsible for Sexual abuse columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996and that his companies have been found to have engaged in fraud.
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Miller and Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Saugatuck, Mich., Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Bill Barrow in New Orleans and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
News Source : apnews.com
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