A series of overlapping warnings to Joe Biden that he faces defeat if he continues his re-election campaign are finally resonating with the president as he ponders the future for himself and his party at his beachside home in Delaware.
With former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries all sharing information about Biden’s waning support on Capitol Hill and in the polls, the president must now decide whether to take this dire advice to heart as he battles COVID-19 in Rehoboth Beach.
Asked whether the information was reaching Biden, a Democrat in the House of Representatives close to him told DailyMail.com: “I think so, and I’ll leave it at that.”
A Washington Post report that former President Barack Obama told allies that Biden’s path to victory was significantly narrower only added to the frenzy surrounding Biden’s next move. However, a former Senate adviser who knows all the players involved told DailyMail.com that Pelosi had more influence on the latest pressure campaign than the former president.
“He never got involved in politics when he was president. Why would that change now? He knows full well that Biden has some kind of grudge that he stoked [Hillary] Clinton would run for president in 2016 instead, the source said.
President Joe Biden is holed up in his Delaware beach house battling COVID. Leaders have given him grim polling information, and a House Democrat has said the information is getting through
A series of leaks about Pelosi’s warnings to Biden — even sharing detailed polling data with him showing he can’t beat Donald Trump — made it “clear that she’s at the center of this whole saga,” the aide said. The latest demonstration was Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) public call for Biden to “pass the torch.” Pelosi installed Schiff to lead the Intelligence Committee, her former position, and backed her protégé in his Senate primary.
“Anyone familiar with their relationship would have reason to believe that he did it only after consulting with her,” the aide said. The internal opposition and the lateness of the hour have led to a second look at Vice President Kamala Harris, despite her failure to outperform Biden in public approval ratings, as an opportunity to try a new move after polls have barely budged for months. “We’re already headed for disaster,” the longtime aide said.
Another shoe dropped on Thursday when a four-page letter to Biden was leaked, written by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), another prominent Democrat. Raskin compared him to aging Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martínez, who stayed on the mound too long during the 2003 American League Championship Series against the rival New York Yankees.
That came before Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) said it was time for Biden to “pass the torch,” despite being “an incredible president,” for the “good of the country.”
“Democrats must unite and deliver their strongest team to the American people in this election,” he said said in a statement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 84, shared grim polling data with President Biden, and her fingerprints are all over other calls for Biden to leave office, observers say
Biden regularly praises Pelosi, whom he awarded the Medal of Freedom, at public events. The former speaker remains a force in her party
A source familiar with Obama’s thinking tried to quell some reports of a pressure campaign from him, without publicly denying it. “He continues to see his primary role as a sounding board and advisor to President Biden, as they have done for each other for years,” the source told DailyMail.com.
“He believes Joe Biden has been an excellent president and he is protective of him both personally and in terms of the strong and historic accomplishments of the Biden administration,” the source said.
But after his defiant statements and circling after his disastrous debate performance, there are signs that Biden, 81, is reconsidering the bleak political picture presented to him.
“His soul-searching is really going on, I’m sure. He’s thinking about this very seriously,” a source told Reuters. Biden is “resting” and “reflecting” in Delaware, said home-state Sen. Chris Coons, a campaign manager.
The focus is on the wounding of a united Republican convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is being presented as a hero who survived a would-be assassin’s bullet. His son Eric Trump told DailyMail.com and a group of reporters awaiting Trump’s speech at the convention that it would define him as a “fighter” who “gets up after being shot in the face.”
Biden’s rethink comes after a series of post-debate public appearances have challenged Biden’s initial claim that he was having a “bad day.” While he has avoided similar disasters, he continues to ramble, speak softly, trail off answers in interviews and drop names, infuriating some of his allies who are willing to put on more than a passing performance to take on Trump.
Pelosi has told some members of her caucus that Biden could be persuaded to step down “soon,” Washington Post reported, following earlier reports the move could take place this weekend.
Democratic insiders know that every day counts. Donald Trump is scheduled to give his prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, and there is a rush to stop the bleeding before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
A number of key developments were remarkably left out of the press for days, including Schumer’s extraordinary trip to Biden’s Delaware beach house for a meeting.
“The dynamics have clearly changed over the last week. Things were frozen, of course, during the horrific shooting of President Trump. Things were frozen a little bit. They picked up again,” former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted on MSNBC.
Still, Psaki, who rose to prominence during the Obama campaign and administration and has been a source of some of Biden’s most vocal critics, said: “My understanding from talking to people close to him is that he has not made a decision.”
Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary refused a stunning report that Biden would announce his decision to withdraw from the nomination as early as this weekend.
“This fan fiction is incorrect,” he posted.
