Biden family urges President to stay in the presidential race despite low performance at presidential debate with Donald Trump.
Joe Biden’s family has reportedly urged him to stay in the presidential race following a disastrous debate performance last week, according to various reports in the US media.
This comes as senior Democrats and donors have expressed frustration with how his staff prepared him for the event.
On Sunday, the president gathered with his family at Camp David, where discussions were said to include questions about his political future. This meeting occurred amidst increasing pressure on Biden following a debate performance that exposed his vulnerabilities and led pundits, media, and voters to call for him to step aside.
During the meeting at Camp David, which included his wife, children, and grandchildren, Biden’s family encouraged him to demonstrate that he is still capable of serving another four years, according to the New York Times. Despite acknowledging his poor performance, they reportedly believe he remains the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.
The Associated Press reported that the strongest voices urging Biden to resist the pressure to drop out were his wife, Jill, and his son Hunter, who recently became the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a felony. A jury found Hunter guilty of lying about illegal drug use when purchasing a handgun in 2018.
The trip to Camp David had been previously scheduled to accommodate a photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Biden’s relatives also reportedly criticized how his closest advisers prepared him for the debate.
During the debate, Biden, sounding hoarse, delivered a shaky performance, stumbling over his words several times and occasionally failing to complete sentences. His opponent, Donald Trump, made several false claims, including insisting that he won the 2020 election, which Biden did not effectively counter.
Following the debate, there was a growing narrative that the rigorous preparation, which saw Biden sequestered at Camp David for six days, might have been detrimental. John Morgan, a Florida-based attorney and major Biden fundraiser, commented, “It is my belief that he was over-coached, over-practiced.”
Critics argued that Biden’s preparation should have focused more on the larger vision he needs to present to the country. One individual who appealed to Biden’s top aides before the debate told Reuters, “My only request was to make sure he’s rested before the debate, but he was exhausted. He was unwell. What a bad decision to send him out looking sick and exhausted.”
Calls for Biden to step down have intensified since a post-debate CBS poll showed a 10-point increase in the number of Democrats who believe Biden should not be running for president, rising to 46% from 36% in February.
Biden’s approval rating has been declining since he took office, and concerns about his age and handling of domestic and international crises have grown more intense following Thursday’s debate.
On Sunday, prominent Democrats appeared on talk shows, acknowledging Biden’s subpar performance while continuing to support him. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, admitted that Biden had suffered a setback but described it as “nothing more than a setup for a comeback.”
Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Baptist minister, compared Biden’s debate performance to his own experiences, saying, “There have been more than a few Sundays when I wish I had preached a better sermon. But after the sermon was over, it was my job to embody the message, to show up for the people that I serve. And that’s what Joe Biden has been doing his entire life.”
However, not all Democrats seemed to agree. When asked on Sunday whether the party was considering a new candidate for 2024, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin told MSNBC, “There are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party, because it is a political party and we have differences in point of view.”
Raskin added, “Whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he’s going to be the keynote speaker at our convention. He will be the figure that we rally around to move forward.”
In summary, while Joe Biden’s debate performance has led to increased scrutiny and calls for him to reconsider his candidacy, his family and many senior Democrats continue to back him, urging him to demonstrate his capability to serve another term and highlighting his lifelong dedication to public service.
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