Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to drop out of the presidential race ahead of November’s presidential election. For the first time, a senator from his party has called on Biden to drop his bid for re-election to the presidency. In particular, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Vermont Senator Peter Wells urged the US president to “withdraw from the race” for the White House “for the good of the country”. He is the first member of the US Congress to do so openly.
It is recalled that a day earlier his colleague, Colorado Senator Michael Bennett, predicted that Biden would be defeated in November and expressed concern about dragging other Democratic candidates into the congressional elections that will be held simultaneously in less than four months.
At the same time, the American news site Axios reported that the leader of the majority of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said in his private discussions with donors to his faction that he is open to the possibility of not being the leader of the party’s vote in the November presidential election for President Biden, although he publicly assures that he is “with Joe”. However, he was quick to emphasize, denying the report, that “I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring that Donald Trump is defeated in November”, which “I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately”.
Democratic senators meet with Biden associates
Democratic senators plan to have breakfast today with aides and close advisers to the president.
At least nine members of the House of Representatives, the other chamber of Congress, have also publicly called for Biden to resign. Veteran Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer was the latest to do so.
George Clooney: I love Joe Biden, but we need another candidate
Another rap for Biden came from Hollywood: “I love Joe Biden. But we need another candidate,” wrote actor, director and producer George Clooney, a “longtime” supporter of the Democrats, in an op-ed published in the New York Times.
George Clooney, who describes the president as a “friend,” hosted a fundraiser for him in mid-June. And “it’s shocking to say this, but the Joe Biden I met with three weeks ago is not … the Joe Biden of 2010. Or even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the man we saw in the debate” on June 27 with Donald Trump, which was nothing short of disastrous for the Democrat. On the night of the telefight, the 81-year-old president was confused and looked terribly tired.
Clooney went on to speak of other parts of the film establishment that have so far offered Biden considerable media and financial support, reflecting the erosion of support for him even among staunch Democrats.
Citing a source from the Biden campaign, NBC said the impact of the telefights on fundraising was already “devastating.”
Intervention by Nancy Pelosi
On MSNBC, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains influential, also pressed the White House occupant. “It’s up to the president to decide whether he’s going to run” in November against his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, Pelosi said on the network favored by many Democrats. But “time is of the essence,” she added.
For his part, the US president believes the issue is now closed. In a letter to his party’s lawmakers on Monday, he said he was “determined” to remain in the race.
Today is Biden’s long-awaited press conference
Biden, who has stepped up his activities in recent days in an effort to stoke concerns about his energy and stamina, spoke yesterday at an event of the AFL-CIO, the largest labor confederation in the United States, and later attended the NATO meeting in Washington.
On the sidelines of the session, Biden will hold a long-awaited press conference today, in which attention will be focused mainly on his mental clarity.
The same goes for the interview he will give on NBC on Monday.
The “verdict” of the polls
Polls after the June debate show Donald Trump maintaining or widening his lead over his Democratic rival. A Cook Political Report study of 21 polls gave the 78-year-old Republican 47 percent of the vote nationally, compared with 44 percent for Biden.
Kate Bedingfield, a CNN commentator who worked on Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, stressed yesterday via X that the president’s current team absolutely must present its “strategy” as the numbers are now threatening.