Axios’ Alex Thompson summarized this piece succinctly: “Democrats are in disarray.” After last Thursday night’s disastrous debate, Thompson went on CNN to explain how this is the Biden the White House has tried to hide from the public. Every time someone inquired about the president’s mental health, it was met with gaslighting and deflection.
For real this time, Dems are in disarray.
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 2, 2024
"This is a party in complete chaos with no good options going forward..."@AlexThomp goes behind the scenes of the Biden White House for @axios.
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) July 3, 2024
"The performance raised a deeper question beyond whether he can win...can he even do the job?"
He says Biden wants to stay, but… pic.twitter.com/1CHXDuM4IR
Every pivot the White House probably had primed to go this cycle got torched in 90 minutes last week, setting off a panic among Democrats unseen in years. Some want Biden gone; others are reportedly asking for donation refunds. Aides at the White House have also been leaking details about the president, notably that he’s only semi-functional between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The latest report shouldn't shock anyone—“everyone is freaking the f**k out.” It's the perfect sentence to describe the chaos. Yet, the official that arrogantly said that the same people panicking will be the ones asking for Christmas party invitations also captures the other side of this campaign: they truly think they’re going to win (via Axios) [emphasis mine]:
Leaks happening this fast don't happen because things get better. https://t.co/fYUq8pSrdR
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 2, 2024
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Quotes like this are really harmful to President Biden. The campaign and WH is filled with brilliant, thoughtful, dedicated people who are working their asses off. This just sounds petty, vindictive and childish. https://t.co/1f9rcQEEJ6
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) July 3, 2024
Biden's performance at the debate has left many of his own aides worried about his mental fitness, and angry about what they see as a lack of candor from Biden's senior aides.
"It's the first topic of every conversation," one White House official said. "Senior leadership has given us nothing. To act like it's business as usual is delusional."
Another official put it more bluntly: "Everyone is freaking the f*** out."
"The uncertainty after Thursday is palpable and anxiety is only increasing," a third White House official told Axios.
"People are looking for leadership and direction that they were told to trust, and hoped was there, but aren't yet feeling in what is now clearly a defining moment for this presidency."
[…]
Part of Biden's team sees the debate as just one bad night that will blow over, and points out that many of the president's critics previously have counted him out when he faced challenges.
One longtime Biden aide told Axios: "Davos Dems love to hedge their bets against us and get hysterical, like they did in 2019. And just like after 2020, they will come back with their DNC convention lanyards in their hands, begging for Christmas party invitations and then for a plus-one."
…Axios granted several Biden officials anonymity to describe the atmosphere in the White House and on the campaign in the days since the debate.
One Biden confidante told Axios: "For everyone who really cares about Biden and his legacy, the debate was just painful to watch."
"It's dark," said an official involved in the campaign. "It feels like there is zero leadership or information…
A rebound for Obama after his poor debate with Mitt Romney in 2012 was expected, and we could believe that it would happen since the 44th president had political skill. He also wasn’t 1,000 years old like Biden. The skeleton of this presidency is that the Delaware liberal, who led an unremarkable career and only ascended to the vice presidency because a younger, more talented Democrat picked him as his running mate, was never built to lead the country. Obama knew it. A global pandemic and the exposure of a dreadfully shallow 2020 Democratic field allowed Biden to “win” the 2020 election.
Even his closest aides credited the pandemic with the 2020 results. Biden likely would have been trounced by Trump, who was at the helm of a booming economy that was derailed by the pandemic and whose mental and physical limitations might have been laid bare if he had been forced to campaign publicly under normal circumstances.
Democrats are propping up a candidate they never truly liked or felt was a legitimate frontrunner, whose declining mental health and age have left them trapped in a no-win situation. Biden was never made of presidential timber when he was younger. It’s even more apparent now. You can’t spin or polish someone who was never it, and it’s far too late for Democrats to do anything about it.
Welcome to hell, liberal America.
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