Nearly two weeks of waiting, days of preparations and almost an hour of questions and answers have not been enough to clear up the mystery over whether US President Joe Biden should run for re-election. At the end of the press conference at the NATO summit, things remained more or less as they were at the beginning. Biden appeared in much better shape than in the disastrous debate against Donald Trump on June 27, but his mistakes do not help to dispel the spectre that his 81 years of age are too heavy to win the election and face a hypothetical second term. The US president resumed the electoral campaign on Friday, but without dispelling the doubts of the Democrats about his candidacy. On Thursday he met with the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, to discuss the steps to follow.
Biden had two name-dropping sessions on Thursday that are rapidly circulating on social media, mutating into memes and amplifying their effect. At the NATO summit, he introduced the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as “President Putin” and at the press conference he referred to his number two, Kamala Harris, as “Vice President Trump.” Except for those lapses and the occasional dialectical stumble, he generally answered questions with conviction and arguments, showed his knowledge of foreign policy and reiterated his willingness to continue as a candidate.
With both, the press conference ended, in bullfighting terms, with whistles and applause. Supporters and detractors found arguments to reaffirm their positions. “Great performance by the president in the press conference with a very forceful economic message about lower prices and economic growth,” tweeted his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, who on Friday highlighted a recently published survey that places Biden ahead of Trump: “With yesterday’s press conference and this new survey, it is time to end the madness and unite around the Democratic candidate and the only person who has defeated Trump,” he wrote.
Instead, Colorado Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen joined the lawmakers who are calling for Biden to step down, even if he does so, like others, with all his heart. “I have deep admiration and love for Joe Biden and everything he has done for our country, which is why this decision is so painful, but my son and my constituents cannot suffer the consequences of inaction at this critical moment,” she explained in a statement. Nearly twenty of the 213 Democratic members of the House of Representatives have asked Biden to hand over the baton. More than 60 have shown their support. The vast majority remain silent.
Members of Biden’s campaign went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to try to convince lawmakers of Biden’s chances. On Friday, it was learned that Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, met with Biden at the White House after the press conference for the NATO summit.
Jeffries himself revealed this in a letter to his party’s congressmen. “Over the past few days, House Democrats have engaged in thoughtful and extensive debate about the future of our country, at a time when freedom, democracy, and the economic well-being of ordinary Americans are at stake. Our discussion has been candid, lucid, and comprehensive,” he says. “In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of ideas, honest perspectives, and conclusions about the way forward that the group has shared in our recent time together,” he adds.
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Division has gripped Democrats with less than four months to go before the election and just over a month to go before the Chicago convention at which the party’s nomination is due to be made official. The uncertainty is causing Biden’s campaign finances to suffer.
Several prominent donors have announced in recent weeks that they are withdrawing their support for the president. They include Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings; hotel magnate Stewart Bainum Jr; Abigail Disney, heiress to the Disney family fortune; philanthropist Gideon Stein and many others who are less well-known. On Friday, The New York Times The paper reported that two sources say several prominent Democratic donors have told Future Forward — an organization the paper calls the largest pro-Biden political action committee — that some $90 million in contributions to the firm are on hold if Biden becomes president. The donations are from billionaires, many of them worth more than $10 million, the paper said, but it did not clarify whether they include any of those that have already been publicly suspended, such as those from Reed Hastings, a frequent contributor to the organization. The Hill The New York Times reported two months ago that Democratic operatives were criticizing Future Forward’s management of the funds. An advisor to the committee told the New York newspaper that the group expects the flow of money to resume when the current uncertainty is over.
While there are more and more voices calling for Biden to be replaced, there are also many who are asking him to stay. While billionaires are withholding funds, the IAM union, which brings together 600,000 members from different sectors, mainly related to transportation, reiterated its support for Biden on Friday: “We must re-elect Joe Biden to continue building an economy that works for everyone. We remain firm in our support and urge all working families to support the only candidate who fights for us,” they say. This message fits into Biden’s narrative that it is elites who want to remove him from the candidacy, but that he has the support of the bases.
Many are warning that appointing a new candidate now could be political suicide for the Democrats and hand Trump a big victory. In the elections on November 5, the Republicans not only aspire to return to the White House, but also want to maintain control of the House of Representatives (in which its 435 members are up for renewal) and conquer the Senate (where 34 of the 100 senators are elected and the seats at stake favor a reversal).
After the NATO summit, which went off without any surprises or news, Biden is resuming his campaign trail as if the doubts about his candidacy were no longer present. His agenda for this Friday includes a campaign event in Detroit, the most important city in Michigan, one of the decisive states for the presidential election. Next week he will have events that combine presidential and electoral activity, one of the great advantages that the White House tenant has for re-election.
Biden will mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act on Monday during a visit to the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. There he will discuss his administration’s progress in promoting civil rights and his vision for ensuring them for all communities.
On Tuesday, he will give a speech at the 115th National Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Las Vegas, Nevada, in another of the key states. His speech will focus on his government’s commitment to “promote racial justice and equity for all Americans, including blacks,” according to a White House source. And from the black vote to the Latino vote. On Wednesday, he will speak at the UnidosUS Annual Conference, where he will highlight “historic achievements” of the Biden-Harris Administration for Latinos in health, education and business matters, according to the same source.
He will also give another interview to NBC News on Monday. With uncertainty surrounding how he will handle himself, the president is managing to boost ratings for the news networks. As he continues to race for re-election, his every move will be subject to careful scrutiny.
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