On Saturday, we reported that Joe Biden planned to discuss the future of his re-election campaign with his family on Sunday during a previously scheduled family gathering at Camp David. By Sunday afternoon, Bill O'Reilly claimed that "the decision has been made that the President will quit the campaign."
However, no other outlets confirmed this, and the New York Times reported that O'Reilly was wrong. The Times reported that Biden's family "is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week's disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday."
Mr. Biden huddled with his wife, children and grandchildren at Camp David while he tried to figure out how to tamp down Democratic anxiety. While his relatives are acutely aware of how poorly he did against former President Donald J. Trump, they argued that he could still show the country that he is capable of serving for another four years.
Mr. Biden has also been soliciting ideas from advisers about how to proceed, and his staff has been discussing whether he should hold a news conference or sit for interviews to defend himself and change the narrative, but nothing has been decided yet. Aides were burning phone lines over the weekend to prevent major elected officials and financial supporters from abandoning him.
One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice, said one of the people informed about the discussions, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations. Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows — scrappy and in command of the facts — rather than the stumbling, aging president Americans saw on Thursday night.
The report also noted that other family members were figuring out how they could be helpful to the campaign, with at least one grandchild expressing interest in engaging with social media influencers for the campaign. It sounds like they don't want Joe Biden to give up and are blaming Biden's staff for the disastrous debate.
For example, they questioned why longtime advisor and former chief of staff Ron Klain overloaded Biden with statistics and criticized his appearance at the debate. Despite this, the president himself was not upset and still trusted his advisers.
Related: DNC Insiders: Biden Was Set Up to Fail in a ‘Soft Coup'
Klain, Anita Dunn, and Bob Bauer did not comment on the debate preparation for the story, but Klain insisted that Biden would stay in the race.
“He is the choice of the Democratic voters,” Klain pointed out. “We are seeing record levels of support from grass-roots donors. We had a bad debate night. But you win campaigns by fighting — not quitting — in the face of adversity.”
However, Biden's grassroots support has paled in comparison to Trump's. Analysis of both campaign's fundraising reveals that Biden relies heavily on large donations. The campaign now faces the problem of big donors not willing to fund the campaign further.
"In the days since the debate, Mr. Biden has privately and publicly acknowledged that he did not do well, and he has been calling trusted advisers like Mr. Klain; Ted Kaufman, his longtime aide and friend; and Jon Meacham, the historian and informal adviser; as well as key donors and party figures," reports the New York Times. However, these communications are allegedly "more about checking in to see what people were saying, rather than to seek advice about reassessing his future."
Since the initial shock and awe after the debate, the panic over Biden's performance seems to have subsided slightly, especially after he had a more energetic performance at a campaign rally the following day. I suspect that the Biden family figures that all they need to do is wait out the initial panic wave. Whatever their strategy is, it sounds like the Bidens have decided to go all in.
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