Joe Biden Under Scrutiny – Donald Trump Nomination July 15-18

Every day is a test for Joe Biden with his presidential campaign in question.  Every word he utters, every step he takes, President Joe Biden now has the eyes of a worried world on him, watching for another faltering performance like his June debate that would spark fresh calls for him to leave the 2024 presidential race.  Biden, a career politician, has a history of saying the wrong thing.  As president, he has taken fire for saying the United States would defend Taiwan militarily if the Asian country were invaded by China, and for calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator.”  President Biden continues to defy the pleas from a growing number of Democrats to step down from the Democratic ticket.  His closest advisors, and especially four of them – First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti – are advising the President to ignore the pressure and stay in the race.  Biden’s big test came Thursday July 12, when he held a solo press conference at the NATO summit, his first time facing the press alone since November.  Biden, 81, took a number of questions from reporters for the first time since last month’s unfortunate debate performance. This solo press conference plan caused alarm among Democrats on Capitol Hill and raised more concerns about whether he should be the party’s 2024 presidential nominee. The president has declined to agree to take an in-depth neurocognitive test and it didn’t help his case when, at an event before the press conference, he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin,” to the shock of other world leaders. The president has always been prone to gaffes, but on Thursday night, he could little afford them. As he began to take questions at the press conference, the president stumbled almost immediately. Mr. Biden was asked what concerns he has about the ability of Vice President Kamala Harris to beat Trump if she were at the top of the ticket. Biden said…”Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was qualified to be vice president,” he responded.  CBS News reported last night that dozens of Democrats are prepared to issue statements in the next 48 hours calling on Mr. Biden to step down. 

After Thursday’s news conference, Biden’s next big interview will be with NBC anchor Lester Holt on Monday.  In the two weeks since the ill-fated June 27 debate, Biden had another disappointing performance in an ABC News interview, reinforcing some Democrats’ concerns over his ability to beat Republican rival Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election or serve another four years.  The past week has brought a steady drip of elected Democrats calling on Biden to end his campaign, citing concerns that he could not only lose the White House but cost the party control of both chambers of Congress.  Opinion polls have found Trump widening his lead over Biden.  Representative Hillary Scholten from the swing state of Michigan joined that chorus on Thursday.  “This is not about the past, it’s about the future. It’s time to pass the torch,” she wrote on social media. “It is essential that we have the strongest possible candidate leading the top of the ticket — not just to win, but to govern.” She became the tenth House of Representatives Democrat to appeal to the president to withdraw from the race.  The first Democratic Senator to explicitly call for the president to step aside, Peter Welch, extended the same call Wednesday night.  Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declined to say definitively whether he should step aside or remain as the party’s standard bearer. Biden has seen his fundraising advantage over Trump disappear in recent months, and some high-profile Democratic donors, including actor George Clooney, are calling on him to step aside.  Hollywood star Clooney, a Democrat who co-hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden last month, withdrew his support with a damning opinion piece in the New York Times saying Biden was not the same man he was in 2020.  It’s going to be a bloodbath citing growing anger among lawmakers and donors, as well as growing pressure on down-ballot candidates. Democrats would also have to figure out how to hand the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris or give others like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a chance to make their case.

We hear reports that some of the pressure on President Biden to withdraw is orchestrated by former President and Democrat Party elder Barack Obama, suggesting to step aside for the preferred candidate of Obama and his supporters, former First Lady Michelle Obama.  Other sources tell us they think the preferred candidate is likely current Vice President Harris.  Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has stayed neutral as both sides work to gain her support.  As for Joe Biden, every appearance will be examined, in perpetuity, analysts said. Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said Biden is in “highly unusual” territory for an American president.  “If it’s a little mistake, slurring a word or something, I think people would just let it pass. But if there is anything approaching what we saw at the debate, the Democratic Party would be thrown into turmoil again,” Sabato said. Even if Biden never repeats his debate behavior, he faces a risk that momentum to push him aside could still grow.  Any shift could happen within weeks. Democrats are organizing a virtual convention in late July to nominate Biden ahead of the formal DNC Convention nomination in Chicago that starts August 19.  Some Democrats have suggested that putting Biden into the public eye more often would help ease concerns.  Biden has held an average of 10.5 press conferences per year, compared to 22 per year for Trump and 35.5 for George H.W. Bush.  In 2021, Biden had 158 exchanges with reporters.  He has had just 38 this year.  Looming ahead for Joe Biden, is another debate against Trump scheduled for September 10. 

Former President Donald Trump will be officially nominated next week at the Republican National Convention, a four-day event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, aimed at firing up the party’s base in the final stretch to the November 5th presidential election. The political gathering will feature televised speeches by rising Republican stars and Trump’s choice for a running mate, while also highlighting the party’s stance on topics such as abortion, immigration and the economy.  The main action for the quadrennial event will be held from July 15-18 at the Fiserv Forum, an arena that is the home of the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team. More than 50,000 people, including hundreds of journalists from around the world, are expected to attend.  Party delegates from all 50 states and six U.S. territories will officially select nominees for president and vice president at the convention.  The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently renounced any connection with Project 2025, a plan Democrats have been attacking to highlight what they say is Trump’s extreme policy agenda for a second term should he beat President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.  But Trump said on his Truth Social platform he had nothing to do with the plan. “I know nothing about Project 2025.  I have no idea who is behind it,” he wrote.  “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying,” he continued, adding some of their assertions were “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”