Democrats are in a worst-case scenario after last night's NATO summit press conference. While President Biden may have accidentally called Trump his Vice President, and introduced Zelsnsky as Putin - he also failed to melt into a puddle of incoherent nursing home gibberish.
What's more, a defiant Biden made it abundantly clear that he's not pulling out of the race and haters can get off his lawn. During last night's presser, Biden acknowledged that the only way he'll step aside is if his advisors prove to him that he can't possibly win against Donald Trump - but then leaned into the microphone and dramatically whispered "No one's saying that," adding "No poll says that," apparently unaware of virtually every poll in existence (notwithstanding PBS, of course).
"I believe I’m the best qualified to govern," Biden insisted. "And I think I’m the best qualified to win." Except that's not true either.
Top Democrats, meanwhile, ratcheted up calls for Biden to step aside following last night's display, while Democratic donors are putting multimillion-dollar pledges on hold until the president abandons his re-election campaign, according to the NY Times.
The frozen contributions include multiple eight-figure commitments, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. The decision to withhold such enormous sums of money is one of the most concrete examples of the fallout from Mr. Biden’s poor debate performance at the end of June.
On Friday, another House Democrat asked Biden to call it a day.
"Please pass the torch," said Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO):
Hours before Biden's presser, his top advisers met privately with Senate Democrats in a session that reportedly got "heated" at times, as a majority of Senate Democrats don't think he can win reelection.
Within moments of the news conference ending Thursday night, multiple House Democrats released statements calling on Biden to step aside. Biden world expects more Democrats to come out in opposition to the president in the coming days.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Biden isn’t the best candidate that Democrats can put forward against Trump. Himes told MSNBC he purposely waited until the NATO summit was over to make his announcement:
“The hard reality is — and I am far from the only Democrat who believes this — that the numbers, the trajectory, what Americans feel in their bones right now, suggest not only that Joe Biden would lose this race but that we would lose the Senate and the House.” -Punchbowl News
That said, Punchbowl says that Biden's performance 'bought him time.'
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), meanwhile, said he's shared lawmakers' "insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward" during a Thursday meeting with Biden, after more than a dozen House Democrats publicly called on Biden to end his campaign following his disastrous debate performance last month.
Jeffries had promised to talk with Biden after conferring with the 213 Democrats in the House, writing in a Friday letter:
On behalf of the House Democratic Caucus, I requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with President Joe Biden. That meeting occurred yesterday evening. In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.
Trump, meanwhile, has been capitalizing on Biden's gaffes from last night.
So, total chaos.