Many of the Democratic Party’s top fundraisers are sounding the following alarm bells President Joe BidenIt’s disappointing debate performance Thursday against the former Republican President Donald Trump.
“Disaster,” a Biden donor who plans to attend a fundraiser with the president on Saturday in Hamptons.
“This is terrible. Worse than I thought it could be. Everyone I talk to thinks Biden should drop out,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to recount private conversations.
CNBC starts hearing from worry Democracy campaign donors and fundraisers for less than 20 minutes in the 90-minute debate hosted by CNN.
“The game is up,” said a longtime Democratic campaign adviser who has been fundraising for congressional leaders for more than a decade and helped raise money for Biden’s 2020 White House campaign.
“Biden has to leave,” the adviser said. He has to leave now and if he doesn’t leave, we will be crushed.” They told CNBC they plan to approach Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison on Friday to discuss what happened at the debate.
An adviser to one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors called the debate an “absolute train wreck” for Biden. “Worse [Ronald] Reagan in ’84 or [George W.] Bush in ’04 or [Barack] Obama in ’12,” they added.
The problems for Biden at the debate started early. He staggered out of the gate, seemed distracted at times, and paused for a long moment before a CNN moderator interrupted him while he was discussing U.S. health.
“Making sure we can get every individual qualified to do what I did with Covid, sorry, with dealing with everything we have to do, let’s see….” Biden said, voice lowered.
“Let’s see if we finally defeat Medicare,” Biden said, before CNN host and moderator Jack Tapper gently moved on to another topic. “Thank you, President Biden,” Tapper said.
Several times later in the debate, the president repeated himself or left a few seconds of silence in the middle of his answers. Throughout the evening, Biden’s voice was hoarse and soft.
Biden’s campaign co-chair, Mitch Landrieu, told NBC News that this was because the president had a cold. “I think because of the way people analyze the debate, it will first be about physical performance,” Landrieu said.
Even Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that Biden was not in top form. “Yes, it was a slow start,” she told CNN late Thursday. “But it was a strong finish.”
For example, when answering a question about border security — a top issue for voters this election — Biden’s sentences were grammatically difficult to understand.
“I will continue to act until we have a complete moratorium on the entire initiative regarding what we’re going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers.” , Biden said.
Trump took the stumble. “I don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he even knows what he said,” the former president quipped.
Representatives for Biden’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Replacing Biden on the ticket now would be extremely difficult, with less than two months to go until the Democratic National Convention in August. The president would have to fall out of the race, leaving the decision on who would be nominated to the delegates at the convention
“This was a really disappointing debate performance by Joe Biden. I don’t think there’s any other way to criticize it,” Kate Bedingfield, former White House communications director in the Biden administration until 2023, told CNN.
“His biggest problem is proving to the American people that he has energy and stamina – and he hasn’t done that,” she said.
