Team Biden Fumes Over Report He’s Considering Dropping Out of Race

Talia Jane
·2 min read
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Biden told an unnamed key ally that he knows his campaign is on its last leg if he can’t convince the American public that he’s up for the job following his disastrous debate performance last Thursday, according to The New York Times. The details of the story have been largely overlooked as the White House fumes over the Times’ quickly spreading headline: “Biden Told Ally That He Is Weighing Whether to Continue in the Race.”

Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, rejected the Times’ headline, calling it “absolutely false.” Bates did not comment on the content of the article detailing the president’s understanding that he needs to prove his debate performance was an anomaly this week.

Twitter Screenshot Andrew Bates @AndrewJBates46: That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so.
Twitter Screenshot Andrew Bates @AndrewJBates46: That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so.

The report seems to be the first indication that Biden understands the stakes here. Publicly, the campaign has insisted that concerns over his debate performance are nothing more than misplaced anxiety from “the bedwetting brigade.”

“He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place,” the unnamed ally told The New York Times on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday, citing upcoming Biden appearances ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend that, according to the Times, “must go well.”

Biden is slated to participate in campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as an interview on Friday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Fallout from his debate performance has been prolific. In a private call with Democratic donors on Wednesday revealed by Semafor, discussions swirled around what would need to be done to push Biden to leave the race and the uphill battle to find a suitable replacement.

Dmitri Mehlhorn, adviser to LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, attempted to defend Biden remaining in the race by arguing that Kamala Harris is less popular than a “dead” or “comatose” Biden.

“Kamala Harris is more threatening to those swing voters than a dead Joe Biden or a comatose Joe Biden,” one Democratic donor said on the call. “So if Joe has to go, it’s gonna be Kamala and if it’s Kamala, it’s gonna be harder.”

A CBS poll conducted after the first presidential debate found an astonishing 72 percent of voters don’t think Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president. Following the debate, the razor-thin margins between Biden and Trump widened slightly, with Trump leading Biden by 41 to 38 percent, according to polling from USA Today/Suffolk University, and 41.8 to 40.4 percent, according to 538. A CNN poll published Monday found an eye-popping 75 percent of voters think Democrats have a better chance of retaining the White House if Biden isn’t the nominee. That’s a lot of bedwetters.