Key Biden backers are increasingly frustrated, a week after the president’s disastrous debate with Donald Trump.
The Washington Post reports that a group of 168 Democratic Party supporters, including major donors and academics, have sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to withdraw from the reelection race. While several media outlets have reported mounting pressure on Biden from within the party, the incumbent remains resolute.
Doubts about Biden’s mental and physical capacity to lead the country for another four years have intensified since his shaky performance in last week’s televised debate against Republican rival Donald Trump. Biden appeared frail and confused throughout the encounter, something he and his campaign attribute to a cold and travel-related fatigue.
The Post quotes the letter as “respectfully” calling on Biden to “withdraw from being a candidate for reelection for the sake of our democracy and the future of our nation.”
The letter cites “threats posed by a second term of Donald Trump” and advises Biden to “cement your legacy by passing the torch – just as George Washington did.”
The 168 signatories include Christy Walton, the billionaire daughter-in-law of Walmart’s founder, as well as billionaire investor Mike Novogratz and Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, among other high-profile business executives and academics.
In an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings argued that “Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous.”
The article notes that while Hastings was one of the first major Democratic donors to publicly express his frustration, many of his peers are privately voicing similar concerns.
On the same day, another prominent Democratic Party donor, Charles Myers, the chair of Signum Global Advisors, told Bloomberg Surveillance that Biden has “four to five days” to prove his fitness to continue the reelection campaign.
However, the president has dismissed all suggestions that he should step aside.
“Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can, as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running… no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving,” the politician insisted during a call with campaign staffers on Wednesday.