It looks like Joe Biden is going to survive and will remain the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 2024 despite growing concerns within the party about his capability to handle the job. Biden may take a victory lap for surviving what was undoubtedly the most shaky period of his candidacy, but his candidacy is severely weakened.
The Democrats may have conceded defeat already. According to a recent report, the movement to replace Biden on the ballot is disintegrating, and Democrats who wanted him to drop out are conceding they've lost the battle.
On Monday evening, a House Democrat critical of Biden admitted that Democrats are "becoming resigned to Biden holding all the cards here, and us having no real say in the matter."
"As someone who wanted the reckoning and is really disappointed that it's over, trust me: it's over," this Democrat added.
"I think there is a pretty strong consensus we need to close ranks," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said.
Reading between the lines, the Democratic Party will publicly put on a united front, but in reality, the coalition is in disarray and is no longer convinced that Biden has what it takes to win the election. Biden's recent debate performance in Atlanta was a stark reminder of his vulnerabilities, and the subsequent efforts to instill confidence in him haven't done so.
But if he won't leave on his own, Democrats don't have a choice, do they? The media's reaction to Biden's performance was brutal. Donors have stopped writing checks. Elected Democrats, who once only voiced their concerns anonymously, were compelled to speak out publicly. Worse yet, the media, perhaps in an attempt to help force Biden out, reported on the efforts to conceal his physical and mental decline from the public.
In other words, Democrats have opened Pandora's box, and it can't be closed now. They seem to know how this is going to turn out.
One Democrat involved in the meeting told Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News that the meeting "felt like a funeral" and that there was no consensus about Biden.
INSIDE THE ROOM -- The House Democratic Caucus meeting about President Joe Biden's political standing is starting to empty out.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 9, 2024
One House Democrat supportive of Biden told me it "felt like a funeral."
There is definitely no consensus on Biden. Lots of talk about how difficult…
It sounds to me like Democrats realize that they are stuck with Biden and have to put up a united front, but they know they're headed for defeat in November. Think about it: they're running a candidate who many in the party have tried to convince to drop out. There's no way to recover from that. Biden was hoping that the debate would have taken the age and mental decline issue off the table. Instead, this debate will haunt him for the rest of the campaign.
Kadia Goba, a reporter for Semafor, said one Democrat involved in the meeting revealed that the morale of the Democratic caucus is at historic lows. "When I asked if they’d compare it to a funeral like others have, they said, 'That is an insult to funerals.'"
