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Why the Dem Panic over the Debate is Getting Worse

A tepid response and a series of new polls are raising fears at the highest levels of the party.

Dan Pfeiffer

Jul 3

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The debate over Biden’s debate performance is heated on both sides. Biden’s defenders make the case that we shouldn’t abandon someone who has been a great President for three-plus years over “one bad night.” They argue that even discussing the prospect of the President stepping aside hurts Biden and helps Trump.

The folks who think Biden’s debate performance is a reason to consider stepping aside look at the state of the polls and what happened Thursday night and worry that staying the course is tantamount to electing Trump.

Both sides have been aggressive in advancing their cases. My podcast co-hosts and I are enmeshed in this conflict because of our very raw, late-night debate reaction pod. The Biden Campaign kinda, sorta attacked us in a fundraising email referencing “self-important podcasters.” Now, “self-important podcaster” is redundant and a fair hit. But as a lifelong staffer to my core, becoming a part of this story in this way makes me deeply uncomfortable.

I get it. Everyone is scared because the stakes of this election are too high — something made even more evident by the Supreme Court's expansion of presidential power in their ruling on Monday. There are no easy answers. However, everyone on both sides of this internal fight operates in good faith. Everyone wants to beat Donald Trump and save democracy. They are only disagreeing about how best to do that. If President Biden remains our nominee — the most likely scenario by far — everyone will immediately come together and do everything they can to help him.

The debate is forcing us to have this conversation. It’s worth noting that political elites, pundits, and self-important podcasters are late to the game. Voters have been screaming about their concerns—fair or not—about Biden’s age for years now. The party avoided this conversation in late 2022 and early 2023 when the President declared he was running for reelection.

A few days ago, it felt like the Biden operation quelled the uprising. His improved performance at the North Carolina rally combined helpfully with some internal polling, supportive statements from Democratic elders like Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and a new ad.

On Monday night, he delivered a well-received, pugnacious national address about the Supreme Court ruling.

On Tuesday, the ground shifted again. Former Representative Tim Ryan and Congressman Lloyd Doggett became the first prominent Democrats to call for Biden to step aside. In an interview on MSNBC, Pelosi said:

I think it's a legitimate question to say, 'Is this an episode or is this a condition?'... of both candidates.

And in a truly baffling move, Representative Jared Golden, who represents a very Trumpy district in Maine, wrote an op-ed declaring:

After the first presidential debate, lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee. Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise. It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.

Finally, Senator Tammy Baldwin, running in a tough race in Wisconsin, changed her schedule to avoid appearing with Biden at a rally on Friday.

While it’s way too early to say the damn is breaking, something has fundamentally changed in this story over the last 24 hours. Here’s my take on why:

1. Biden’s Absence from the Scene

The President attended a rally on Friday and followed that up with a fundraiser in New Jersey. After his Monday night statement on the Supreme Court, Biden made remarks after a briefing on extreme weather. The remarks were good and went after folks — including Trump — who deny Climate Change. However, the President is not responding aggressively in private or public to his debate performance. According to multiple reports, Biden had not reached out by phone to Congressional leaders or Democratic governors (the White House has since scheduled meetings with both for the coming days).

Where’s the press conference? A round of interviews with the morning shows or White House Correspondents? Why not sit down with 60 Minutes for a big interview to air this weekend?...