Four months before the US presidential election, Joe Biden is playing for his political survival with every public appearance. The 81-year-old White House occupant faces a new test on Thursday, July 11, when he gives a press conference, an exercise he is not very fond of. At 11:30 p.m. (Paris time), at the conference center hosting a NATO summit in Washington this week, the Democratic president will have to show repartee, express himself clearly and confidently, without notes and without a teleprompter.
That’s all he lacked on June 27, during a debate that turned out to be catastrophic for him against his Republican opponent Donald Trump. Despite the doubts that arose about his ability to win on November 5 and then govern for four years, the Democrat says he “firmly determined to stay in the race.” Joe Biden is convinced: the basic voter supports him, and the discussions surrounding his candidacy are nothing more than the wild ideas of “elites” politicians, major donors and opinion journalists, he said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday.
However, calls for the US president to step down are increasing. Franceinfo takes stock of these defections within his camp.
Democratic elected officials
Vermont Senator Peter Welch is the first Democratic senator to explicitly call on Joe Biden to “withdraw from the race” to the White House “for the good of the country”in a column published Wednesday by the Washington PostThe day before, one of his colleagues, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, had said that Joe Biden would lose if he remained in the race and would drag down with him the Democratic parliamentarians running for the legislative elections which will be held at the same time as the presidential election, in November. “Donald Trump is, I think, on the path to victory and it could be a landslide, with the Senate and the House.”he told CNN, adding that the White House had not “nothing done” to demonstrate the existence of a battle plan to win in November.
The same day, online news outlet Axios reported that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had privately signaled to donors that he was open to replacing Joe Biden. However, in a statement released by his office that evening, he said he supported the president and was “determined to ensure that Donald Trump is defeated in November.”
Several Democratic representatives in the House of Representatives have also expressed their concern about Joe Biden’s candidacy: nine of them have publicly called for the American president to throw in the towel, according to the count, as of Thursday, of the New York Times. Pat Ryan took this step on Wednesday, on behalf of “of the future of our children and our grandchildren”.
A prominent figure in the party in the 21st century, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also urged the US president to “take a decision”, on MSNBC. Implying that the one he has already taken, namely to stay in the race, is necessarily not the right one. Others on the contrary, numerous according to the accounts of the New York Timesare lining up behind him. This is particularly the case for two figures from the left wing of the party, who do not share the same political line as Joe Biden, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, reports NBC.
Hollywood personalities
Defections have also appeared in the world of cinema, until now a powerful media and financial relay for Joe Biden. “I like Joe Biden. But we need another candidate”wrote actor George Clooney on Wednesday in the New York TimesThis Democratic Party supporter recalls having participated in mid-June in a fundraising evening for the American president: “It’s terrible to say, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago is not the (…) Joe Biden of 2010. Or even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we saw in the debate.” June 27 failure against Donald Trump.
Director Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, Misery, Men of honor) went in the same direction on Wednesday on X. “We love and respect Joe Biden,” but “democracy is facing an existential threat. We need someone younger”.
Interviewed on the famous talk show on Wednesday The Viewactor Michael Douglas said for his part “very very worried”adding that George Clooney’s arguments were “valid”Producer and heiress Abigail Disney said on CNBC on July 4 that she plans to suspend her donations to the Democratic campaign as long as Joe Biden remains in office.
The New York Times Editorial Board
On June 28, the day after the first Biden-Trump debate, the editorial board of the American newspaper New York Times called on the president to withdraw from the race. In an editorial titled “To serve the country, President Biden must leave the race”the daily described Joe Biden as being “the shadow of a leader”after the 81-year-old president “failed his own test” during the debate against Donald Trump.
“Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds opened by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden could perform today would be to announce that he will not seek reelection.”wrote the editorial board, which brings together renowned columnists and is supposed to reflect the values of the media.
Campaign Donors
While in the United States, the majority of resources available to presidential candidates come from donations from their supporters, the NBC channel quoted on Wednesday a source close to Joe Biden’s campaign, according to whom fundraising is now “disastrous”. “The flow of money has stopped completely”adds another source close to the case to the channel.
Speaking to NBC, Joe Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt, however, refuted the idea of a drop in financial resources. “As far as fundraising from citizens goes, this beginning of July has been the best for the campaign”she assured. “On the big donor side, we also had people who maxed out [légal] since the debate.”
After his failed debate, Joe Biden nevertheless tried to reassure the most generous donors. “I didn’t have a good night, but neither did Trump”said the Democratic candidate during one of the collections organized in the states of New York and New Jersey at the end of June. “I understand your concern after the debate”he further declared, while launching: “I will fight more.”