NPR: “Biden, 81, has been insistent that he would continue his campaign even after debating Trump — a performance that alarmed a few Democrats worried about his ability to run, win and govern. He has said he had a cold and jet lag, and has been working since to try to demonstrate he is still up to the job. “
Since the debate, Joe Biden has been discussed non-stop on news outlets as the person needing to get out of the race, as the person less able, qualified, up to the job.
The BBC: California Governor Gavin Newsom, who spent the weekend stumping for the president, said the same at a rally in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on Saturday. “It’s the hypothetical that gets in the way of progress in terms of promoting this candidacy,” Mr Newsom said. “It’s exactly where the other party wants us to be, is having this internal fight, and I think it’s extraordinarily unhelpful.”
“We’ve got to stop talking about this,” Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan said on CNN on Sunday. “We’ve spent a whole week. Republicans are having a great time. I mean, we need to get back to talking about Donald Trump and his performance.”
Inquiring minds want to know when that will happen. ..
AP reports “In an effort to “get on the same page,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is convening lawmakers for private meetings. … He planned to gather on Monday some Democrats whose bids for reelection are most vulnerable.
A private call Sunday including some 15 top House committee members exposed the deepening divide as at least four more Democrats — Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state and Rep. Mark Takano of California — privately said Biden should step aside. Separate reporting about this meeting is not available yet so cannot be confirmed.
Still other members, including Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, both leaders in the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke forcefully in support of Biden, as did Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Another Democrat, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, said it was “time to quit the hand-wringing and get back to door knocking. “Padilla spoke with Biden over the weekend, and urged his campaign to “let Joe be Joe.”
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi Pelosi spoke up last week, saying Biden’s debate performance raised “legitimate” questions he needed to answer, but she has remained supportive of the president. And Biden called her last week when he reached out to other party leaders.
NPR, in an article updated yesterday, lists the nine members calling for him to step down. However, almost every headline from major news sources is about Democrats and calls for Biden to drop out. There are no headlines so far about the numbers supporting Biden, about Trump’s cognitive issues when questioned about Epstein and Project 2025. The missing nature of reliable Trump news, rather than loyalist Trump rally speeches, is a concern for voters who look to the press for facts rather than propaganda.
Biden said Democratic voters had spoken during the primaries — and that it was their decision to make, “not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors.”
Said President Biden: “This was a process open to anyone who wanted run. Only three people chose to challenge me. One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for being too told and was soundly defeated,” he said, apparently referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., respectively.
