Democrat donors and insiders are growing furious that First Lady Jill Biden won’t advise her husband to drop out of the race.
In recent days after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, it seems the person pushing most for him to continue running is his wife.
A chorus of Democrats are openly calling for the presumed Democratic nominee to be replace after stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought multiple times during his Thurday’s night debate with Donald Trump.
But Jill, 73, is insistent that President Biden, 81, continue running for reelection, according to hedge fund manager and market expert Dougie Kass.
And Biden is set to discuss the future of his re-election campaign on Sunday with his family at Camp David, NBC News first reported Saturday night.
A person familiar with the matter told the network Biden will only listen to his wife of almost 50 years.
‘The only person who has ultimate influence with him is the first lady,’ they said. ‘If she decides there should be a change of course, there will be a change of course.’
Some are now accusing First Lady Jill Biden of ‘elder abuse’ as reports emerge that she is insisting her husband continue running for president despite calls for him to drop out
Democrat donors and experts say it’s time for President Joe Biden, 81, to end his bid for reelection after his car crash debate performance on Thursday with Donald Trump where he on several occasions froze, lost his train of thought and stumbled over his words
His return to the presidential retreat comes after Biden already spent seven days before the debate at Camp David with advisers in debate prep sessions.
On Friday, Jill was mocked for saying at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina that her husband did extremely well at the debate and ‘answered all the questions.’
Some Republicans are going as far to accuse Jill of ‘elder abuse.’
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wy.) slammed the first lady for ‘rolling President Biden out on stage to engage in a battle of wits while unarmed.’
In private, according to The New York Times, the school teacher believes that Biden’s debate performance was just a ‘bad night.’
After the debate and calls for him to step down, NYT columnist Maureen Dowd predicted that Jill and White House staff ‘will build their protective wall ever higher and shoo away reporters.’
Biden also already had crisis talks with former President Barack Obama and his former White House Chief of Staff after the debate.
But top Democratic Party leaders, including Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are still offering public support for Biden despite reports of a different tune behind the scenes.
Some donors skipped Biden’s $250,000-per-head Hamptons fundraiser at hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein’s 18-acre beach estate this weekend after his car-crash debate performance.
‘Lots of people are blaming his wife… for not telling him [to step aside],’ one told the New York Post.
Jill had to help lead President Biden off stage and assisted him on a step off stage
Biden is expected to discuss the future of his re-election campaign Sunday with his family at Camp David – the 125-acre country retreat located in northern Maryland. Pictured: Biden walks to board Air Force One on Saturday night in New Jersey with Jill and granddaughters Natalie and Finnegan Biden
While Biden’s trip to Camp David was planned ahead of Thursday’s shocking performance, the getaway will serve as a break in the campaign trail with his children and grandchildren.
His retreat at the 125-acre country cabin in the hills of Maryland comes as his team keeps insisting that the idea of him dropping out of the race would only ‘lead to weeks of chaos,’ calling the concern of several Democrats the work of ‘bedwetting brigade.’
‘Any discussion about the campaign is expected to be informal or an afterthought, a source told NBC. ‘No one is sitting down for a formal or determinative discussion.’
‘That is the best possible way for Donald Trump to win and us to lose,’ Biden’s deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty argued in an email after the president’s Hamptons visit, which saw the president being faced with people holding signs bearing the same message: drop out.
‘First of all: Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee, period. End of story. Voters voted. He won overwhelmingly,’ Flaherty went on.
‘And if he were to drop out, it would lead to weeks of chaos, internal foodfighting, and a bunch of candidates who limp into a brutal floor fight at the convention, all while Donald Trump has time to speak to American voters uncontested.
At the Hampton’s event, the first couple were rubbing shoulders with a slew of moneyed donors – as the Times reported several ‘megadonors’ in Silicon Valley were trying to reach the first lady to sway her to convince Biden to bow out in favor of a younger candidate.
According to Anthony Scaramucci, who attended the fundraiser, Biden used a teleprompter when speaking to donors in the living room of the beach house.
There, a plane reportedly deployed by a rival Republican donor, brandished a banner bearing the pointed message ‘Bi-done!’ – an apparent jab at the president’s chances following his poor debate performance
Hours earlier, Biden and First Lady Jill arrived on Marine One at East Hampton Airport, for a fundraiser attended by several wealthy donors
‘Spotted flying over East Hampton this evening…’ Trump tweeted afterwards, as he continues to come out fighting against his aging rival despite uncertainty surrounding his own court cases
On Friday, Biden continued to defend his cognizance his debate performance the day before, speaking out at a rally in North Carolina. There, he told onlookers that he was still the party’s best bet at beating Trump, despite what millions saw on TV.
‘I know I’m not a young man, I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to.
‘But I know what I do know,’ he continued, before receiving a round of uproarious applause.
‘I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.’
‘I know, like many of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up,’ he concluded.
One Democratic House member who spoke to NBC News for its Saturday night piece about how the president will use the visit to reassess his reelection bid said they too believe Biden should drop out, but has yet to call for that publicly.
They said three colleagues expressed the same sentiment during votes on the House floor on Friday, as Biden continued to defend himself in North Carolina.
Afterward, an email from Biden’s team sent to supporters continued to defend the president, claiming that his dropping out would only ‘lead to weeks of chaos’
Members of the House have also not wavered publicly, and their aides have also rejected the idea they are having second-thoughts behind closed doors.
That said, the Democrats could be giving the president space as he mulls his next steps, with Camp David appearing to be a critical juncture in this decision making process as insiders say First Lady Jill holds the most influence out of her husband’s inner circle.
‘The decision-makers are two people — it’s the president and his wife,’ one of the sources familiar with the discussions told NBC of this already known dynamic.
They added: ‘Anyone who doesn’t understand how deeply personal and familial this decision will be isn’t knowledgeable about the situation.’
The statements echoed those from insiders aired earlier in the day, after The New York Times reported that in private, she viewed Biden’s bumbling faceoff with his old rival as merely ‘a bad night.’
In the interim, Biden’s top aides have told his staff to stay strong in meetings, airing the mission statement, ‘We’ll weather the storm, just like we always have,’ according to one senior administration official.
The Democratic National Committee’s official procedures for the convention, adopted in 2022, give the committee the authority to choose a new candidate if either member of the ticket dies or withdraws.
Biden also has the power to bow out of the race himself – by releasing all the pledged delegates he has accumulated.
That’s 3,894 of 3,937 so far, according to a tally by The Associated Press.