Many of the Democratic Party’s top fundraisers are privately sounding the alarm after President Joe Biden’s disappointing performance in Thursday’s debate with Republican former President Donald Trump.
“Disaster,” said one Biden donor who planned to attend a fundraiser with the president in the Hamptons on Saturday.
“This is terrible. Worse than I thought. Everyone I talk to thinks Biden should quit,” the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity to recount private conversations.
Less than 20 minutes into the 90-minute debate hosted by CNN, CNBC began hearing from concerned Democratic campaign donors and fundraisers.
“The game is over,” said one longtime Democratic campaign consultant.
“Biden has to go. He has to go now, if he doesn’t go we are going to be overwhelmed,” the adviser said. They told CNBC they plan to approach Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison on Friday to discuss what happened at the debate.
An adviser to one of the Democratic Party’s largest donors called the debate an “absolute train wreck” for Biden. “Worse than… [Ronald] Reagan in 1984 or [George W.] Bush or 2004 [Barack] Obama in ’12,” they added.
Biden’s problems at the debate started early. As he discussed U.S. health care, he stumbled out the door, seemed to lose his train of thought at times and paused for long periods before the CNN host interrupted him.
“Making sure that we can make every lonely person eligible to do the things that I can do, I’m sorry, deal with everything that we have to do in dealing with COVID-19, look…” Biden said, trailing off.
“Look, what if, we finally beat Medicare,” Biden said, before CNN anchor and host Jake Tapper continued softly. “Thank you, President Biden,” Tapper said.
In the ensuing debate, the president repeatedly repeated himself or remained silent for several seconds during his responses. Biden’s voice was husky and quiet throughout the evening.
Biden campaign co-chairman Mitch Landrieu told NBC News it was because the president had a cold. “I think because of the way people analyze debates, they look at the physical performance first,” Landrieu said.
Even Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that Biden is not in ideal shape. “Yes, it’s a slow start, but it’s a strong finish,” she said on CNN Thursday night.
For example, in response to a question about border security, a top voter issue this election cycle, Biden’s sentences were grammatically difficult to understand.
“I will continue to take action until we have a total ban on this initiative as it relates to the more Border Patrol and more asylum officers that we are going to have,” Biden said.
Trump seized on the stumbling block. “I don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knew what he said,” the former president quipped.
Representatives for the Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
It will be extremely difficult to replace Biden now, with less than two months until the Democratic National Convention in August. The president would effectively have to withdraw from the race, leaving the decision on the nominee to convention delegates.
Kate Bedingfield, the former White House communications director who served in the Biden administration until 2023, said on CNN: “Joe Biden’s debate performance was really disappointing, and I don’t think there’s any other way to classify it. “
“His biggest problem was proving to the American people that he had the energy and the stamina — and he failed to do that,” she said.
