Reports suggest that President Biden is facing a mutiny within his campaign.
Multiple campaign aides have told NBC News that President Joe Biden has no chance of recovering from his disastrous performance in the recent debate and should withdraw from the race.
The 81-year-old Democrat has been under intense pressure from the media, donors, and celebrity supporters to step down after his poor showing in the June 27 debate against Republican challenger Donald Trump.
“While we acknowledge that the debate presented a challenge,” stated Jen O’Malley Dillon, campaign chair, and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, campaign manager, in a memo to staff leaked to NBC on Thursday, “Joe Biden and this campaign have overcome setbacks in the past.”
However, others were less optimistic. “He needs to drop out,” one Biden campaign official told NBC anonymously. “He will never recover from this.”
“No one on the team believes he has a path to victory,” said a second campaign aide.
Another campaign worker described Biden’s chances of winning the November election as “zero.” Several aides have expressed concern that the president’s performance could negatively impact down-ballot races, potentially costing Democrats seats in Congress.
Biden appeared on a friendly MSNBC show on Monday, stating that he was “not going anywhere” and would remain the party’s nominee. However, NBC sources reported a “widespread” feeling within both the campaign and the party that the Democrats should nominate someone else, such as Vice President Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, CNN revealed that Biden’s aides have been scripting and staging cabinet meetings. According to the outlet, the last full cabinet meeting took place on October 2 last year.
The White House responded with a statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who described the approach to cabinet meetings as “standard practice for any administration.” CNN sources, however, claim that this was not the case under President Barack Obama, when Biden served as vice president.
Last week, it was reported that a Parkinson’s Disease expert has visited the White House at least eight times in the past year. If anyone questions the president’s health or fitness, however, Biden’s aides “beat the s**t out of” them and insist they “stay on message,” according to a top Democrat close to Biden’s inner circle, as reported by CNN.