Biden campaign official: He’s not dropping out
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4745458-biden-debate-2024-drop-out/
Biden campaign official: He’s not dropping out
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4745458-biden-debate-2024-drop-out/
40 comments
He needs to put our country first. But I don’t know what I expected
Republicans love this news. Axelrod on CNN said the Republican nightmare is that they replace Joe.
Democrats are fucking up by not encouraging promoting and training younger members.
I don’t think he will drop out, but they’re obviously not going to say anything else unless and until he does. You can’t say “well, it’s something he’s considering!”
If it happens, it won’t happen immediately. It will need to wait at least a week so he can cite health reasons
Well enjoy the non-stop questions about the 25th amendment for the next 4 months.
>“The chatter is very distracting, and it’s going to be very consuming for the campaign,” former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki said on MSNBC. “Should he be replaced? They’re going to be answering that question instead of breaking through on attacking Trump.”
This is the issue that worries me the most. If the best way Trump is defeated in 2024 was people focusing on him and his horrible policies, he just got the best gift of a distraction imaginable.
And going forward, every single mistake or gaffe Biden makes, we’re going to hear these renewed calls for dropping out and a hyper-focus on his age.
It’s not going to “fade away” as so many users are suggesting other political elements do. Whether justified or not, that’s simply not the case here and not how the media is going to treat it.
Here’s a reminder of what the Biden campaign told people in 2019:
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/11/biden-single-term-082129
>Biden signals to aides that he would serve only a single term
>Advisers weigh the merits of a one-term pledge by the 77-year-old former vice president.
>According to four people who regularly talk to Biden, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters, it is virtually inconceivable that he will run for reelection in 2024, when he would be the first octogenarian president.
>“If Biden is elected,” a prominent adviser to the campaign said, “he’s going to be 82 years old in four years and he won’t be running for reelection.”
>The adviser argued that public acknowledgment of that reality could help Biden mollify younger voters, especially on the left, who are unexcited by his candidacy and fear that his nomination would serve as an eight-year roadblock to the next generation of Democrats.
>By signaling that he will serve just one term and choosing a running mate and Cabinet that is young and diverse, Biden could offer himself to the Democratic primary electorate as the candidate best suited to defeat Trump as well as the candidate who can usher into power the party’s fresh faces.
>“This makes Biden a good transition figure,” the adviser said. “I’d love to have an election this year for the next generation of leaders, but if I have to wait four years [in order to] to get rid of Trump, I’m willing to do it.”
Then just months after taking office:
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-5a8fd26a4a9ffa9b47c5de52fface72d
>Biden: ‘My plan is to run for reelection’ in 2024
I think he should drop out. With that being said, expecting him to commit to it 11 hours after one bad debate is pretty ridiculous. Give him time to talk it over with people, review internal polling.
Last night was rough. The post debate analysis on MSNBC and CNN led me to think that the back bench (Whitmer, Pritzker, Newsom) said they were not interested in stepping in based on polls.
I say that because CNN and MSNBC anchors and head opinion folks were initially openly attacking the president’s performance and noting strategists “panic” (their words). Within an hour there were short interviews with VP Harris and how the president continues this campaign.
Frankly I would not be surprised if the bullpen of the party is not interested in stepping into a cobbled together campaign, having to change vision for that group, reset before the convention, and have to deal with a virtual convention because a low level staffer couldn’t read a calendar on the legal required dates for ballot access.
2016 version 2 incoming
If true, Trump will be the next president.
There is no way Biden is capable of serving another 4 years. And the Dems knew it and hid it and are to blame when Trump is back in office.
This should have been an easy debate to counter Trumps constant lies and Biden came across as not knowing what was going on.
He may or may not drop out. But Biden’s campaign officials aren’t going to be the first ones to tell us it’s going to happen.
Big mistake. Now is the time for bold action.
No one in the DNC braintrust saw this coming? Ive been dreading the debate since it was announced. Im voting against Trump, not for Biden. Fucking embarrassed for my country.
I don’t think he’s stepping aside and it’s going to be an absolute disaster. I don’t see how Biden will have the energy to rally. Last night was the result of a week of rehearsal and rest. He cleared his schedule. Trump will absolutely rally nonstop, especially in the swing states.
The difficulties that Biden had were not a lack of preparation, he couldn’t hold his train of thought. It’s really fucking serious, I can’t believe they’re trying to spin this like it was just a bad night.
He struggled to literally step down the tiny steps from the stage. It’s absurd.
His campaign said he had a cold, but he went to a waffle house afterwards? I think they’re just flat out lying about the cold, which is pathetic.
I just had a bad feeling as soon as he started talking. I really couldn’t clearly hear a lot of what he was saying, like he really needed to clear his throat immediately. Last night just reminded me of that sinking feeling in the 2016 election night.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that this was Trump’s largest audience post-presidency.
Unlike all of us here and the pundits on TV, nobody has seen this man speak in years. He came back 4 years later and still talking about the exact same bullshit that lost him the election last time.
We all have our misgiving about Biden, but we had them before 2020 as well. Stop pretending like Trump is suddenly a different candidate that voters will flock to.
My line of the night:
“There are a lot of young women, to be raped by their, by their in laws, by their by their spouses, by their brothers & sisters.”
As soon as he said that.. it was a wrap on his campaign.
Biden must drop out immediately. People hate Trump but they also don’t want to vote for a guy who looks like he could drop dead at any moment. Those people will just stay home in November and Trump will win.
People were hoping for just a decent, average performance from Biden. They didn’t get it and this whole farce only helped trump.
I’m voting for Biden because the GOP is terrifying, but he REALLY should drop out. If we lose this election to trump im absolutely blaming the DNC for not getting a better candidate. This should have been the easiest layup and all I’m seeing are people talking about how senile he is.
If Biden doesn’t drop out after this, history will view him as complicit in ensuring the re-electing Trump and all the carnage that will follow.
The most painful thing about watching this debate (as someone who thinks Biden is good person all things considered), he has absolutely no self-awareness in this moment and the fatal risk he exposing America to by running again.
Get Obama to the White House and have him say to Biden plainly “do you want your legacy to be Trump dictatorship? Because it’s guaranteed unless you step down”
If Democrats had the balls to run Newsom or even Whitmer, even this late in the game, I think they would both beat Trump. But even if they lose, it wouldn’t be as demoralising as proceeding with Biden to a certain defeat.
If the Democrats lose this election they are finished as a political party, notwithstanding that the GOP will probably ban other political parties after they take power again
The best thing for America would have been if a meteor fell on top of a certain building last night.
Always a good sign when your presidential candidates PR team has to assure people he’s not dropping out… after a debate. Lmao
We’ll see. I don’t think he survives this. His support within the party has almost certainly collapsed. It will take a few days but I don’t think Biden’s ego is big enough where he’ll refuse intense pressure from his allies to retire. His health seems to be failing and no changes in strategy or an ad blitz will fix that. People were already uneasy about his age and after last night, that concern is going to be too engrained and widespread to make his reelection viable.
The man is a spent force. Is it fair, given he’s up against? No. But politics are rarely fair. He’ll step aside. Just give it a few days for everything to play out.
The DNC needs to be completely burnt down and rebuilt from the ground up with people who have a fucking clue. It’s too late now to make much difference, but we’ll need it to try to dig out of this hole when it becomes possible in several decades.
What a bunch of fucking morons.
Feeling a bit depressed this morning. Historically it feels like 1939, and across Europe and America the countries are falling into far right rhetoric and will soon vote these parties in. The inevitability of it is creating dread, the left wing parties just aren’t resonating right now sadly.
At least in the UK, where I live, the far right have been in power for 8 years and shown how truly inept they are, so at least the country will buck the trend to more progressive politics.
RBG vibes here Americans… stupid fucking people running this guy
Why did his campaign ask for this weird summer debate before the convention, while he’s polling behind the convicted felon, and then have him go up their stammering through simple questions looking sad and confused for two hours if not to have us ask the question, “is this guy really capable of doing this for another 5 years?” while democrats still have time to do something about it if the answer is “no.”
Thing is you have a performance like that in your 40’s, your 50’s, your 60’s…hell, in your 70’s…you could say “that was an off night, let’s redo” & conceivably come back & do better.
But…when you’re in your 80’s, & when the trope doing the rounds about you is that you have lost your sharps & are too old…& You literally could do nothing more to prove them right other than by keeling over right there on stage…it is incredibly unlikely anyone will believe you’re coming back bigger & better, no matter your stubbornness or self-belief.
Not many older people say “I’m done, take my licence off me” when the capacity to self-determine is gone & they can no longer drive safely, especially when it’s in relation to others, let alone the whole country. Others have to step in to bring that about, because it’s in the best interest of EVERYONE.
It is the same here, & Obama & Michelle should talk to Jill & take the keys off him, persuade him to pass the torch with dignity. This should not be his choice anymore.
Van Jones reaction was the most telling. He was sad, because he lives Biden, but even he knows time is up.
Irrespective of last nights debate, I, like just all voters, already know by now who I am voting for. The debate did not change that for me or anyone else. We have only ourselves to blame as these are the 2 that were voted for in the primaries which historically have low turnouts. That is why voting matters.
I will still vote for the one who actually cares about our democracy instead of the one whose only policies are revenge, enriching himself, and kissing Putins ass. I prefer a president who isn’t a traitor or a convicted felon. Democracy is at stake, not ones date of birth.
If he loses it’s gonna be 100% on the DNC, just like in ‘16
He’s not dropping out until he does. That will be their official line. What are they really going to say, even if it’s true: “Yea, he’s thinking about it”? Of course not.
Something I don’t see being mentioned a lot is that there’s political math they’re doing. Part of the reason why incumbent presidents don’t get primary challenges and generally win re-election is that incumbents are guaranteed to get a certain amount of the vote purely for the fact that they’re incumbents.
They think he’s the most likely candidate to win with the sitting president “bump”. I’d challenge that thinking though: if Americans are still willing to elect this walking zombie over convicted felon, Donald Trump, I don’t think that “bump” really matters here.
Even before last night I don’t think the threat was ever Biden voters suddenly switching to Trump.
I imagine the end result will be people just staying home and not even bothering to vote.
Apathy will get Trump elected not popularity.
if you saw what happened to Dianne Feinstein towards the end you don’t want to lock in for another 4 years.
“We’re going to risk putting a rapist in the white house because we’re too afraid to ask an 80 year old to retire”
FFS Dems.
The age issue was already a larger issue than even abortion with everyone I talk to in my life. And not just Biden, but Trump too.
Literally anyone I talk to, doesn’t matter their political party, even fringe co-workers I don’t interface with often, inevitably bring up how: “This is all we get? These are the only two choices? Two grandpas?”
Like being “fit to lead” health wise is just the base base base issue. It’s also VERY symbolic, and I think people just overlook that sometimes because the health stuff stands out as more immediate.
This isn’t just age—it’s a symbolic refusal to give the next generation their shot. Boomers clinging onto power; refusing to step down. RGB contributed to the fucking of the Supreme Court by not retiring sooner, as an example.
The Dems do legitimately have a real opportunity to strike out against this issue. They can have Biden step down, and replace him with a young rising star. They can campaign on: “it’s finally time to pass the torch”, and it will destroy Trump easy because then he WILL look old as absolute shit next to literally anyone in their 30s/40s.
The normal “are they too young?” question would be VAPORIZED because in contrast to Trump, the script would flip.
Hell, they could take an even bigger risk and make the nomination a woman. Just double dip—combat the age issue and also strike right at the abortion issue in one move.
It makes way too much sense though, which is why it will never happen. The Dems could take a risk for once, but they fucking won’t. They’ll let their pride and their age get in the way.
I fear we’re heading into Hilary 2.0
How can anyone in the Biden camp still argue Biden is the best candidate?!
He couldn’t even muster enough energy to call out Trump on his incessant LIES. There were so many lies.
And Biden could barely complete a sentence the entire night