White House Scrambles to Respond to Report That Biden Is Seriously Considering Quitting
Will President Joe Biden withdraw from the presidential race?
Many Democrats began saying he should do so following the president’s disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week.
During the debate, Biden’s seemingly declining mental faculties were put on full display. The president constantly mumbled, made incoherent statements, lost his train of thought, sounded hoarse and overall did not appear to be cognitively well.
Despite Democrats’ calls for him to step down, for the last several days, the messaging from Biden’s camp has been adamant that he wishes to see this election cycle through to the finish line.
A report from The New York Times on Wednesday said this may no longer be the case.
It said the president told an anonymous source (referred to by the Times as an “ally”) in the last 24 hours that if he is unable to salvage his reputation in the coming days, he will consider stepping down.
“He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place,” the ally said.
The source said the next few events on Biden’s schedule, including a Friday interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and multiple campaign stops, must go well for him to recover from the debate debacle.
The White House strongly denied the report’s authenticity shortly after it was published Wednesday.
“That claim is absolutely false,” White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a post on X.
“If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so,” Bates said.
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. https://t.co/SRTYIVTy7v
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) July 3, 2024
According to Politico reporter Elena Schneider, Biden vowed during a campaign call Wednesday afternoon that he will not drop out.
“Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running … no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win,” the president said, according to Schneider.
President Biden on campaign call that just wrapped, per person on the call:
“Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running…no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.”
— Elena Schneider (@ec_schneider) July 3, 2024
The “ally” was not the only anonymous source cited by the Times.
According to the Wednesday report, a “top adviser” also came forward to say Biden is aware of his current predicament.
That person said the questions about his well-being vex the president, who believes he is mentally sharp and “doesn’t get how others don’t accept that.”
Given the post-debate poll numbers, Democrats should be worried as we get closer to the November election.
A Wednesday CBS News/YouGov poll of likely voters found Trump topped Biden 50 percent to 48 percent nationally.
In battleground states, the presumptive Republican nominee’s margin grew even wider to 51 percent over 48 percent for the president.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
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