AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
After his disastrous debate performance, President Joe Biden is “expected to discuss the future of his re-election campaign with family at Camp David on Sunday,” NBC News reported Saturday night.
Biden will be traveling to Camp David for a pre-planned trip with his wife, Jill Biden, as well as his children and grandchildren, NBC reported. In the days that followed the debate, Jill Biden has remained publicly supportive of Biden’s candidacy, though she conceded at a fundraiser that it wasn’t his best performance.
Biden’s frail showing at the showdown with former president Donald Trump sparked intense panic among Democrats. A flood of prominent media figures, many of whom are generally supportive of Biden, called on him to drop out of the race ahead of the Democratic convention.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who has been a reliable defender of the president, suggested he consider dropping out. “To serve his country, President Biden should leave the race,” argued the New York Times editorial board. Several of the paper’s top columnists, including Tom Friedman, a personal friend of Biden’s, concurred. On Saturday, New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote that staying in the race “would be an act not only of self-delusion but of national endangerment.”
The Biden campaign has remained defiant in the face of tremendous pressure. A campaign email sent on Saturday offered supporters advice on how to explain the debate to “your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or some self-important Podcasters” — potentially a jab at the hosts of Pod Save America, former Obama administration staffers who deemed the debate a “fucking disaster” for Biden and have suggested he withdraw from the race while there’s still time to nominate a replacement.
If re-elected, the 81-year-old president will be 86 by time he leaves office.
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