President Joe Biden‘s untimely contraction of COVID-19 is seriously threatening his hopes of locking down the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination next month, let alone winning reelection against former President Donald Trump come November.
Biden was diagnosed during a three-day campaign stop in Las Vegas, Nevada, that was positioned to be counter-programming to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, this week. But his trip was cut short after he tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him to the sidelines as calls for him to step aside hound his reelection bid.
Biden’s Nevada trip had him slated to speak with key voting blocs that will be vital to a successful reelection campaign. On Tuesday, Biden made several pitches to black voters about why they should help him “finish the job” he started in 2020, and he was in the middle of a similar push targeting Latino voters Wednesday before coming down with COVID-19.
The president is currently isolating at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home, yet reports published Thursday morning indicate that Democratic power players are moving to push Biden to exit the race as soon as this coming weekend.
A number of top-ranking Democrats told Axios on Thursday morning that the president, despite his public commitment to staying in the race, is slowly coming to terms with polls showing his decreasing support among voters of both parties.
Now, those Democrats claim, Biden has also begun to realize that personally staying in the race could prevent Democrats from reclaiming a majority in the House of Representatives and hurt other down-ballot Democrats in the fall.
A second report from The Washington Post claims former President Barack Obama has begun privately telling allies he believes the president needs to reconsider his commitment to running in 2024.
Obama has reportedly rejected the idea that he’s the only person capable of convincing Biden to bow out gracefully and is solely concerned about protecting the president’s legacy.
Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, pushed back on those reports during a Thursday morning press conference, claiming the president “is not wavering on anything.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many times we can say this,” Fulks added. “President Biden is staying in this race.”
“The facts matter,” the Biden campaign said in a separate statement. “President Biden is the Democratic nominee, and he is going to win this November.”
Multiple veteran Democratic operatives declined to detail personal conversations held with Biden’s team but signaled to the Washington Examiner that the writing was on the wall.
“You can’t stop a boulder rolling down a mountain,” one strategist expressed bluntly.
“Sounds like it’s inevitable he’s going to pull the plug,” a second Democratic operative agreed. “It’s not a matter of if anymore. It’s how and when.”
“Nothing has changed [since the debate],” a third strategist told the Washington Examiner. “President Biden is a great man, but it’s time for him to step aside.”
A fourth veteran Democratic operative disagreed with the outlet’s report suggesting Biden would put in his notice over the weekend, citing a number of factors.
The operative said there’s no way such an announcement would come from Biden on Friday or Saturday because it would appear to be a direct response to the RNC, the president is still recovering from COVID-19, and the logistics necessary to organize and get on the same page campaign aides, Biden’s family, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears to be Biden’s likely successor.
“So, it could be this weekend, and these conversations are not starting from scratch,” the operative assessed. “But I would say, hypothetically, early next week.”
However, a fifth Democratic operative resisted the idea that Biden would soon end his campaign, arguing that rampant speculation would only weaken Democrats’ position in the general election.
“All of these rumors won’t move Biden to step down, and they’re weakening our eventual position against Trump,” that person told the Washington Examiner. “We look like the Tea Party without the balls.”
To his part, Biden has staunchly defended his decision to seek reelection, limiting the things that could push him out of the race to an act of God, his closest advisers frankly telling him he can’t win, a new medical condition that makes running impossible, and death.
Still, despite three weeks of frantic outreach to Democratic lawmakers, donors, and voters, a steady drip of Democratic lawmakers continue to call for Biden to step aside.
That number grew to 20 on Wednesday, when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called for Biden’s exit from the race in a press release.
Henry Katzenberg, a Hollywood executive, longtime Democratic power bundler, and informal adviser to Biden’s campaign, also reportedly told the president in private that top donors are no longer writing the high-dollar checks necessary to sustain a campaign from the convention through November.
Polling shows an overwhelming majority of voters believe Biden is too old to serve another term as president.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
A survey published Wednesday morning by the Associated Press found that 70% of respondents, including 65% of Democrats, believe Biden should allow someone else to accept the Democratic nomination next month.
A significantly smaller number, 57%, believe Trump should not be the Republican nominee, but 73% of Republicans surveyed want to see him atop the ticket.
