The rebellion against Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy is growing, and now Bill and Hillary Clinton are joining the behind-the-scenes conspiracy with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.
Well-connected advisers to Obama and the Clintons are commissioning polls and lobbying Democratic donors to hold on to their dollars in an effort to put Biden out of the running.
But the president’s allies are fighting back, joining their boss in digging in their heels about staying in the race. Biden, his White House and his reelection team have repeatedly said he is in the running to stay.
The coup, however, was born out of concern that Biden, after his disastrous debate performance, would be unable to defeat Donald Trump in November. But it has its roots in decades-long, simmering resentments between Obama, the Clintons and Biden.
They have long had close ties: they share staff, have passed legislation, and campaign for each other. But they have also been competitors for years, each taking turns being irritated by the attention and recognition the other receives.
As Biden digs in his heels and rumors about him grow, it seems the intraparty battle will not stop. The intrigues and twists that are playing out on a Machiavellian level are far from over.
The question is how long this can go on before the whole thing collapses.
“Something has to be done because we are in hell right now,” said Democratic strategist Jim Manley, a well-connected former operative who knows all the players in this modern Shakespearean drama.
Joe Biden said the only way he would drop out of the presidential race is if his staff told him: ‘There’s no way you can win’
Biden has made it clear that he is in the race to remain.
During his press conference on Thursday night, he said he would only withdraw if his staff told him “he can’t possibly win.”
The uprising is aimed at showing him that. They want to use polls and financial pressure to take him out.
David Axelrod, Obama’s former campaign manager, has long been skeptical of Biden’s chances for a second term.
The debate, which saw Biden fumble for words and stare straight into the camera, was a breaking point for many, who feared the president would never repair the damage.
“If what he said at the end of his press conference is true, it appears that Biden’s team has not been very forthcoming with him about what the data shows: the age issue is a large and potentially insurmountable problem, and his chances of winning are very, very slim,” Axelrod wrote on X after Biden’s press conference.
The rebellion is a ‘growing’ network of ‘ruthless’ assistants, Axios reported calling it “the unofficial committee to undo the president.”
The advisers have worked for Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, using their collective experience and Rolodexes to turn party members against Biden.
“The Super Friends are gathering,” a Democrat in the House of Representatives told Politico.
“There’s a group of people who are going to plead their case to everyone in the White House and tell him to step aside. If he doesn’t, we’re going to get beat up.”
Democrats are increasingly fearful that Biden will not only cost them the White House but also drag down his fellow candidates, giving Republicans control of the House and Senate.
Moreover, sSeveral major Democratic donors have told Future Forward, the largest pro-Biden super PAC, that about $90 million in pledged donations will be put on hold as long as Biden remains ahead in the presidential race, the New York Times reported.
However, Biden’s re-election team claims there is a path to victory through what they call the blue wall: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
And, they claim, if they can survive the past two weeks, they can survive anything.
“If we can get through these two weeks, we can do anything,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told staffers on duty on Thursday, according to Axios.
“What you’re seeing in the public polls over the last few days is what we’re seeing in our polls. What we’re seeing is that this is still a race with a margin of error,” she said.
And former Obama adviser Tommy Vietor called reports of a coup “completely false” and “a little crazy.”
“Someone is spreading a conspiracy theory that there is a coordinated effort by former Obama staff to get rid of Biden. It is totally false (and a little crazy),” he wrote on X.
Barack Obama is said to be one of the Democratic seniors planning to knock Biden out of the race
Bill and Hillary Clinton aides are said to be joining the uprising against Biden
But there is still talk about the best decision for the Democratic Party if someone other than Joe Biden is at the top of the ticket.
Biden remains stubbornly in the race, supported by family members Jill, Hunter and Valerie. The only way to get him out is by combining pressure from donors whose money keeps the party going with intervention from party leaders: Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
If Biden can be convinced that his candidacy will destroy Democrats on Capitol Hill and give Trump unlimited power, he may be able to step aside.
But Hillary Clinton and Obama may not be the right messengers to make that clear.
Biden, Obama and Clinton have long been in competition with each other: they all ran against each other for the Democratic nomination in 2008, which Obama ultimately won.
In public, they would all pull together, just as Obama and both Clintons stood behind Biden after his debate debacle.
Privately it’s a different story.
Biden is said to still be angry with the duo over the 2016 election. Obama convinced him not to run that cycle, clearing the way for Clinton, who lost to Trump.
Meanwhile, Obama is said to be frustrated that Biden passed legislation he couldn’t pass, such as the infrastructure bill, and Clinton is angry that Biden defeated Trump.
But they are all still concerned about Biden’s low poll numbers. Trump has led the race for months, and Biden’s debate performance has done little to boost confidence in his candidacy.
The uprising is “a bit of a reckoning, but I think the majority of them really believe that Donald Trump is an existential threat and that something has to change,” Manly said.
The best chance to stop Biden from running is Schumer and Pelosi. If they can convince Biden, their lawmakers fear that losing reelection with him as the party’s leader might change the president’s mind.
Nancy Pelosi, pictured above with Barack Obama and Joe Biden at the White House in 2022, is one of the few people who could tell Biden to resign
Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama in April 2007 when they were all running for the 2008 presidential nomination
Pelosi has been at the center of the story for some time now.
She’s the one lawmakers have gone to with their concerns about the president, and she has a strong relationship with Biden, strong enough to deliver the coup de grace.
And she also has the balls to tell him to resign.
“She’s the f***ing power broker. She’s the battle axe,” one Democratic lawmaker told Axios of the former speaker.
Pelosi has already publicly called on Biden to reconsider his position on entering the race.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether or not to run. We all encourage him to make that decision. Because time is running out,” she said on Morning Joe on Wednesday.
