The fire is spreading in the Democratic ranks. A calamitous televised debate against Donald Trump was enough to dismantle Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. After the shock of the first few hours, then the anonymous panic of party officials, a new milestone was reached on Tuesday, July 2. While polls are showing the first signs of damage in public opinion, elected Democrats are openly considering the possibility of the president withdrawing from the race.
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House leader Hakeem Jeffries had urged his group to exercise restraint. The recommendation did not hold. Texas lawmaker Lloyd Doggett opened the fight. He advised the president to take “the painful and difficult decision to withdraw”. No one else, at this point, has spoken with such candor. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Washington state House representative in a Trump-supporting district, represents the new generation of Democrats. She has succumbed to a strange fatalism. “We all saw what we saw, we can’t undo it and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump.”she told a local channel.
The White House’s handling of these moods has been as flawed as the debate itself. For five days, Joe Biden has not bothered to personally reassure party leaders or governors, who are nevertheless critical relays. The latter will not be received until Wednesday. Nancy Pelosi, 84, elected from California and former speaker of the House, validated her camp’s questions. “I think it’s legitimate to ask the question, is this an episode or a condition?” she said on MSNBC about Joe Biden’s performance in the televised debate. For his part, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) said “horrified” by this performance. According to him, the Democrats want to know if “It was a real anomaly or the state he is in these days”.
General feverishness
Another longtime Biden ally in Congress, James Clyburn, 83, betrayed his own doubts on MSNBC. He was a Biden advocate for black voters in South Carolina in 2020 and still supports him. But he already seems to be looking ahead. His concern: to stop speculation about a surprise internal alternative in an open convention. “This party must not do anything in any way to circumvent Mr.me [Kamala] Harris. We have to do everything we can to put her forward, whether she’s in second place or at the top of the ticket.” The taboo is therefore lifted.
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