Tipsheet

Top Dem to Donors: Biden Is Going to Wipe Us Out

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 16, 2024 2:35 PM

The plot to oust Joe Biden is back on after being in stasis after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. No one wanted to get overly political except for the trolls on Twitter and most major news networks. Hill Democrats, the most vocal ‘dump Biden’ contingent in the Democratic Party, and now one top Democrat is telling donors that the party faces total annihilation of the future spokesperson for Depend diapers remains at the top of the ticket (via NYT): 

Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is running for Senate, warned during a private meeting with donors on Saturday that his party was likely to suffer overwhelming losses in November if President Biden remained at the top of the ticket, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Schiff’s remarks at the meeting.

If Mr. Biden remained, not only would he lose to former President Donald J. Trump, he could be enough of a drag on other Democratic candidates that the party would most likely lose the Senate and miss an opportunity to win control of the House, Mr. Schiff said at a fund-raiser in New York. 

“I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose,” Mr. Schiff said during the meeting, according to a person with access to a transcription of a recording of the event. “And we may very, very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House.”

Mr. Schiff’s remarks underscore the depth of the concerns in the president’s party about the prospects for downballot Democrats if Mr. Biden remains in the race, even if most senior Democrats are still unwilling to express such dire warnings in public. 

Schiff took to the Sunday morning talk shows a couple of weeks ago, when the push to remove Biden was gaining in intensity, with a less-than-full-throated endorsement of the president, which shocked some commentators. Now, the rebellion is back as Democrats barrel toward this virtual roll call, which is another fiasco for the party. Some delegates want more time to decide on Biden’s nomination. At the same time, other Democrats demanded that the president and his campaign deliver more than just talking points after Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate, which sparked this panic. Right now, Biden’s crew is phoning delegates to shore up support and ensure they remain loyal.