Well, that didn’t take long.
President Joe Biden received a little respite from the endless calls for him to exit the race in the days after the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
As the Republican National Convention has rolled on this week, presenting a unified party ready to win in November, the scrutiny seems to be heating up on Biden as more of his previous allies turn on him. Now that the President has announced he tested positive for COVID-19, leading to a curtailed campaign schedule, some are starting to question whether the end of the Biden era is near.
Former Obama economic advisor Van Jones, speaking on a CNN panel, perfectly summed up the state of the race this week:
CNN's Van Jones: "A bullet couldn't stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden… The Democrats are coming apart. The Republicans are coming together." pic.twitter.com/kcWNUjcPOD
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) July 18, 2024
More of the dam broke this on Wednesday when Rep. Adam Schiff dropped a bomb on Biden’s desire to stay in the race, reports the LA Times:
Rep. Adam B. Schiff has called on President Biden to drop out of the White House race, becoming the most prominent Democrat in Congress to do so.
Wednesday’s statement from Schiff — the heavy favorite in his U.S. Senate bid and a frequent guest on cable news — brought a jolt to an effort that had grown quieter after the weekend assassination attempt on former President Trump.
The Burbank congressman cited “serious concerns” about Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November.
Schiff is just one of dozens calling for Biden to leave. It also appears that Nancy Pelosi is on board with kicking him out along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Their line of thinking is quite simple. Losing the presidency is one thing but with Biden on the ticket, Democrats might get wiped out in the House and Senate as well.
Then there was this report out on Wednesday where Biden said he might consider dropping out for medical reasons:
President Biden said in an interview released on Wednesday that he would re-evaluate whether to stay in the presidential race if a doctor told him directly that he had a medical condition that made that necessary.
In an interview with Ed Gordon of BET News, Mr. Biden was asked if there was anything that would make him re-evaluate staying in the race.
“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Mr. Biden said, according to a brief excerpt released by the network.
No sooner had this story hit the wires than the White House announced Biden had tested positive for Covid:
President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, the White House said.
The president, who was delivering speeches in Las Vegas, “is experiencing mild symptoms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Biden “will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” Jean-Pierre said.
Are the two related? Maybe, maybe not.
It’s a striking contrast to what’s happening on the national stage right now. Democrats have the long knives out ready to end Biden’s career as he fights for his political life. The only uniting thing on their side seems to be an understanding that Joe Biden is a sure-loser. Outside of that, picking a replacement that isn’t also as much of a sure-loser seems like a difficult task.
Things are getting increasingly grim for Biden hour by hour:
Exclusive reporting by ABC's @jonkarl: During Schumer's one-on-one meeting with Biden on Saturday, "Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic party, and better for the country if he were to bow out." pic.twitter.com/eI08ychFt8
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 17, 2024
Biden remains an unmovable object if he chooses. He could stay put, let the big money dry up, and march his party to a wipeout in November. That scenario is still entirely plausible until he signals otherwise.
On the other hand, there seems to be something happening and a slight change in his mood toward maybe considering whether it’s time to step aside. Still, however, he remains defiant it seems as does Jill Biden, the real person running the show in the Biden regime.
The deck is stacking up high against Joe Biden with all the top congressional Democrats now saying he should step aside.
That might not matter to Joe Biden, but maybe the money problem will turn his head:
President Joe Biden heard some hard words Wednesday from Jeffrey Katzenberg about his reelection chances.
The longtime Democratic donor and fundraiser spoke with Biden today in Las Vegas, Deadline can confirm, before the announcement came down that Biden had Covid again.
Due to the president’s proximity to Los Angeles, Katzenberg, a campaign co-chair, traveled to Vegas to meet face-to-face with Biden. In a small meeting with a handful of senior advisors, he laid out to the 81-year-old Biden how donors are drying up due to ongoing concerns about the president’s age.
The exec supposedly told Biden that the road ahead to another term could be very difficult, sources tell us.
No congressional support. No financial support. No real path forward. Joe Biden is in political dire straits. Democrats don’t want to forcibly toss him out but they can’t seem to make him leave on his own quite yet.
As Donald Trump takes the stage tonight in Milwaukee to a unified and enthusiastic Republican Party, Democrats are stuck in political roulette picking among the best of bad options for a party in total disarray.
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