Following last Thursday’s presidential debate, President Biden has reportedly gone to his closest family members at the Camp David presidential retreat to evaluate his reelection bid moving forward from his disastrous performance against Donald Trump.
NBC News reported that the president, joined by First Lady Jill Biden and his children and grandchildren, would travel to the Maryland retreat late Saturday. According to the outlet, the trip was planned prior to the debate. Throughout Biden’s presidency, conservatives have continually raised concerns about his mental and physical health amid numerous gaffes and public slip-ups, often to be dismissed by Democrats. However, after the debate, it appears that many within the party have retreated from attempting to defend the perception of Biden’s faculties among voters.
Per NBC, many Democrats have lost faith in Biden as their presidential candidate, skeptical that he is capable of defeating Trump in November. Supposedly, top-ranking Democratic leaders, such as Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Nancy Pelosi of California, have held private conversations where they have voiced their concerns about Biden’s reelection bid. Despite these reports, the elected officials have publicly supported Biden.
According to a statement given to NBC by Ian Krager, a spokesman for Pelosi, “Speaker Pelosi has full confidence in President Biden and looks forward to attending his inauguration on January 20, 2025. Any suggestion that she has engaged in a different course of action is simply not true.”
Furthermore, Christie Stephenson, a spokeswoman for Jeffries, explained that the House minority leader has “repeatedly made clear publicly and privately that he supports President Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket from top to bottom.” Similarly, a spokesman stated on behalf of Jim Clyburn denied any reports that the representative had doubts about Biden’s viability as a candidate. “Any reports alleging that the Congressman has expressed anything other than firm support of President Biden are completely untrue,” he said.
However, NBC suggested that there is an “understanding” among prominent Democratic officials that President Biden should consult with his family as to whether he should proceed with his campaign and that calls from within his party to step aside would not be well-received. “The decision-makers are two people — it’s the president and his wife,” a source familiar with the matter said, per the outlet. “Anyone who doesn’t understand how deeply personal and familial this decision will be isn’t knowledgeable about the situation.”
Furthermore, Barrack Obama also stepped in, offering his former vice president support after the debate blunder. He suggested that everyone has bad nights, seeming to highlight his own poor debate performance against Mitt Romney in 2012.
“Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November,” he wrote.
There has been mockery of Biden from the right since the debate, such as with this compilation clip of Biden’s slip-ups posted by Trump:
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