Team Biden Turns on Its Allies in Effort To Deflect Growing Unease Among Democrats

As speculation swirls about President Biden’s future and the possibility of him stepping down as the Democratic nominee, the candidate’s administration and political team are attacking seemingly every ally they have who has so far deviated from the preferred talking points.Voters, however, seem to be on the side of those Democrats who want a post-Biden party as soon as possible. From the moment the debate began, it was clear Mr. Biden was not up to the challenge, and that whatever zingers or data points he could articulate would not make up for the first few minutes of blank stares, whispers, and his hoarse voice. After days of “bedwetting” by fellow Democrats — to use some pro-Biden figures’ term — the incumbent’s team is hitting back against critics. On Sunday, the co-chairman of Mr. Biden’s campaign, Congressman Jim Clyburn, went so far as to blame the president’s performance, in part, on one of the debate moderators — CNN’s Dana Bash. During an appearance on Ms. Bash’s show on Sunday, Mr. Clyburn told the anchor to her face that she could have done more to fact-check Trump.“I don’t like a debate where nobody will do any fact-checking,” Mr. Clyburn said. “[Trump] told 30 some-odd lies and nobody checked him on it. … If I asked you a question and you lie to me with the answer, I ought to follow up and give you what the facts are.”“That, to me, was not the way to plan the debate and whoever did that, agreed to that, really should think about what they’re doing,” Mr. Clyburn continued.“It was a debate agreed to by President Biden first,” Ms. Bash shot back. One of the few Democrats to mount a vociferous, unapologetic defense of Mr. Biden so far is a man who also faced calls to step aside after a disastrous debate performance — Senator Fetterman. In 2022, he suffered a serious stroke before becoming the Democratic nominee for Senate, and for months refused to debate the Republican nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz. When Mr. Fetterman did participate in a debate, he was — understandably, given his medical condition — often murmuring, confused, and failing to answer questions directly. He says that Mr. Biden can come back the same way he did. “There was that same kind of a freak-out after my debate, and, in fact, I might even say I had an even more difficult evening than the president,” Mr. Fetterman said. “He’s the only person that’s ever beaten Trump and I really believe Joe Biden will do that again despite all of the Democrats wetting the bed.”One of the more painful moments for Team Biden must have been the apparent betrayal from their favorite outlet, Crooked Media — an organization founded by Obama administration alumni who have spent the last eight years running a successful multimedia company raising money for Democrats across the country. President Obama’s chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, and speechwriter Jon Lovett all weighed the benefits on their podcast of Mr. Biden stepping down immediately. “We have to beat Donald Trump. We have to have a nominee who can do that,” Mr. Favreau wrote on X shortly after the debate ended. “And since we haven’t had the convention yet, it would be absurd if Democrats didn’t at least have a serious discussion about whether Joe Biden — who’s a wonderful human being and has been a great president — is up for the job.”The Biden campaign on Saturday was quick to make sure that Mr. Favreau and his colleagues were expected to get in line. “If you’re like me, you’re getting lots of texts or calls from folks about the state of the race after Thursday,” the Biden campaign wrote in a fundraising email after Mr. Favreau made his comments. “Maybe it was your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or some self-important Podcasters.”Voters, however, seem to agree more with the concerned Democrats who want to talk about Mr. Biden stepping aside than Mr. Fetterman and the Biden team who chalk it all up to “bedwetting.”In a CBS News–YouGov poll released Sunday, a majority of Americans — including a sizable number of Democrats — say Mr. Biden is both too old to be president and that he should immediately drop out of the race.

Team Biden Turns on Its Allies in Effort To Deflect Growing Unease Among Democrats

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