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Joe Biden’s problems got even worse on Sunday as he completed a short campaign swing through battleground state Pennsylvania.
Congress remains out of session until Monday, when many lawmakers will face their first real pressure to answer questions about the president’s future. But already the first hints of a landslide were visible as Democrats issued statements calling on the president to step aside — or at least have a serious conversation about doing so.
That list got longer on Sunday. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the head of the House Democratic caucus, convened a call with his members as the weekend drew to a close.
As news of the call leaked late on Sunday afternoon, it was revealed that Biden had officially lost the support of a House Democratic leader. Though behind closed doors, Rep Jerry Nadler becomes the highest-ranking member of the House Democratic caucus to call on Biden to step aside, and several others did on Sunday after the call wrapped including Mark Takano and Adam Smith. Don Beyer, a congressman from swing-state Virginia, also undercut the president’s message so seriously that a spokesman had to issue a statement clarifying that Beyer was continuing to support the president’s campaign so long as it lasted.
“He’s clearly very, very fragile. Fragile physically, although his handshake is very firm. Also really has trouble putting two sentences together,” said Beyer on the call with Jeffries and other Democrats, according to Punchbowl News.
He added: “I also believe Kamala is in a great position to win in November, probably a much better position than Joe.”
Beyer’s spokesman clarified that the congressman “supports President Biden and said so on this call”, and argued that “any reporting to the contrary is a misunderstanding of what he said”. The congressman in his own remarks also made clear that he was a “team player” and would support whatever decision the president made.
In the Senate, Biden has seen the same drip-drip of dissent from his party. While no senators are publicly calling for the president to step aside yet, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia is reportedly circulating a letter to his colleagues which would urge Biden to do so. Two senators, Bernie Sanders and Alex Padilla, indicated that they would not participate in such discussions.
Monday’s return to Capitol Hill is likely to drive up those numbers.
“The s*** is going to hit the fan on Monday, when Congress returns,” one House Democrat said to Axios for a piece published on Sunday. “People are scared about their own races. But they’re also worried about the country, and about democracy.”
But the damage is already done: Biden now faces a more fractured Democratic Party heading in to November than Trump ever faced at any point in this year’s Republican primaries, which he (like Biden) won handily. And reports indicate that the incumbent president is turning to his family to provide a bubble of affirmation as his critics become louder and more numerous.
Axios separately reported on Sunday that Biden’s own connection to felony convictions, his adult son Hunter, has seemingly become a liaison between his father and the outside world — a barrier deciding who does or doesn’t get to speak to the president.
It was that reporting that make Padilla’s revelation that he had received a call from Biden on Saturday more notable. He claimed that the president had shared the campaign’s internal polling with him, and denied that those internals showed a “bleeding” of support.
“He as he is as pumped and as eager as I’ve seen to make sure he’s taken this campaign seriously,” said the senator.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reported on Sunday that a number of those Democrats “publicly vouching for Biden, at the behest of the White House and campaign, privately say there’s no path” to the president remaining the nominee or beating Trump in the fall.
Democrats are poised to host their nominating convention in August, meaning the president’s detractors have roughly a month to convince him to step aside before it likely becomes too late for another candidate to run.
Biden has maintained publicly that he will not drop out. His campaign has turned its fire on the media, accusing reporters of misunderstanding the stakes of the election.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the most likely choice to pick up the reins if Biden steps aside, made that point on Saturday at the Black culture gathering Essence Festival held in New Orleans during a nearly 30-minute interview in which she only directly mentioned Biden once.
“The press has not been covering it as much as they should,” Harris claimed. “[The Supreme Court] told this individual convicted of 34 felonies he will be immune from [criminal prosecution for] the activity he told us he is prepared to engage in if he gets back into the White House.”
