The truth is that President Joe Biden’s interview with George Stepanopoulos was never going to be the magic bullet his allies hoped it might be.
If his debate with Donald Trump last week was the final nail in his political coffin, the days that have followed it have seen a metric ton of earth heaped on top of it.
Now that the president’s decline cannot possibly be denied, the dam has broken.
Biden, as it turns out, can no longer recall the names of longtime family friends or keep up with his peers across the globe.
What to know about the calls for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race:
- President Biden’s poor performance in the first 2024 presidential debate left some Democrats unsure of his fitness for office and future as the party’s candidate.
- More than a dozen congressional Democrats have joined in calling for Biden’s exit from the race. Former Biden supporter George Clooney echoed these calls in an op-ed published in the New York Times just weeks after he helped lead a record-breaking fundraiser for the Democrat.
- Democratic voters have continued to raise concerns about Biden’s nomination since the debate, with speculations and suggestions for replacement nominees running rampant.
- Biden’s former running mate Barack Obama has reportedly been trying to pressure him to drop out, and had prior knowledge of Clooney’s op-ed. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly told Biden he could not beat former President Donald Trump this time around.
- As the Democratic National Convention approaches, California delegates for the Democratic Party are reportedly in disarray as debate over the president’s chances of re-election threatens to tear the party apart.
- However, the Biden campaign has denied any plans for Biden to bow out and for Kamala Harris to step in as the Democratic nominee. Sources close to the president believe he might not be willing to drop out, while other sources claim he is “receptive” to giving up on a second term.
His staff is leaking like a faucet, elected Democrats are openly calling for him to step aside, and the media institutions that had been insulating him from criticism are now holding nothing back.
In a bombshell piece for New York magazine, Olivia Nuzzi wrote Biden had been struggling through noticeably bad and enjoying some good days at least as far back as 2020.
“Good days” aren’t good enough for a commander-in-chief.
But even if they were, the following question still stands: Where are they?
According to Biden’s team, last Thursday was a bad night; this Friday night was another.
During his conversation with Stephanopoulos, the president failed to enunciate more than two sentences’ worth of words distinctly and reprised the blank stare that so alarmed the country during the debate.
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His relaxed grip on reality was exemplified by more than just his appearance and delivery.
Asked if he had watched the debate, a confused Biden replied, “I don’t think I did.”
Asked about Virginia Senator Mark Warner’s effort to get him to stand down, Biden seemed to suggest that Warner was jealous because he had run against him for the Democratic presidential nomination.
That never happened.
He went on to insist against every shred of available evidence that the presidential race was a “toss-up,” blame his debate performance on crosstalk, and defend himself by testily suggesting that Stephanopoulos had conducted bad interviews over the course of his career.
The post-interview analysis on ABC was grim.
Jonathan Karl reported that “nothing” about it had calmed the nerves of his party’s political class, and it even raised “new concerns.”
Martha Raddatz said that the most glowing review she had heard was that it “wasn’t as bad” as one Democrat expected.
A third panelist delivered the most crushing blow of all: That the “movement against him” was only “growing” on Friday night.
Nothing short of a home run could have revived Biden’s campaign.
If the debate was a three-pitch strikeout, his sit-down with Stephanopoulos was a weak ground out to first base.
Good days are what Biden and his inner circle are clinging to.
Can you remember the last one?