Several Democratic congressmen reportedly called on President Biden to “step aside” during a private phone call over the weekend. The representatives allegedly claimed the party should support Vice President Kamala Harris in light of Biden’s recent performance on the debate stage against former President Donald Trump.
Co-founder of Punchbowl News, John Bresnahan, took to social media, where he wrote that Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Mark Takano (D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Adam Smith (D-WA) had urged the president to remove himself from the race. “NEWS from @heatherscope @JakeSherman & me: Reps. Jerry Nadler, Mark Takano, Don Beyer and Adam Smith said Biden should step aside as Democratic nominee during a private leadership call this afternoon. Most said Kamala Harris should be the nominee,” Bresnahan wrote.
Furthermore, Jake Sherman, the founder of Punchbowl News, also posted on X claiming Rep. Beyer said verbatim that President Biden was in a “very fragile” state. The congressman further asserted that Biden’s difficulty cogently expressing his thoughts was cause for concern, rendering Harris a more viable candidate to take on former President Trump.
Sherman wrote, “Here are some of Beyer’s exact, word-for-word quotes from the call: “He’s clearly very, very fragile. Fragile physically, although his handshake is very firm. Also really has trouble putting two sentences together.” … “I also believe Kamala is in a great position to win in November, probably a much better position than Joe.” … “My perfect world is Joe — in deciding after talking to Leader Jeffries, Majority Leader Schumer, others — steps aside now, let Kamala run as the incumbent, which I think makes her even stronger. With that, I’m a team player. I’ll do whatever the team wants.”
Biden’s recent performance in the presidential debate has proven to be a disaster for the campaign. Moreover, according to a post-debate report from The American Tribune, it has caused the Democratic Party to descend into an “aggressive panic.” CNN host John King claimed that Biden’s showing in the debate had caused high-ranking members within his party to lose faith in him as a candidate.
King stated, “Anderson, this was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now as we speak, there is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party. It started minutes into the debate and it continues right now. It involves party strategists; it involves elected officials; it involves fundraisers. And they’re having conversations about the president’s performance, which they think was dismal, which they think will hurt other people down the party in the ticket and they’re having conversations about what they should do about it.”
He added that the conversations being had by high-ranking members are weighing different options to replace Biden, stating, “Some of those conversations include should we go to the White House and asked the president step aside? Others are, other the conversations are about should prominent Democrats go public with that call. But because they feel this debate was so terrible, they do say in moments in a debate later, the president got better and got his footing. But then at the end, even his closing statement was a little halting.” Watch King’s commentary below:
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