The Biden campaign blasted Donald Trump’s speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday and insisted the president is staying in the race, despite mounting pressure to drop out.
“Tonight, Donald Trump rambled on for well over an hour and failed to mention Project 2025 even once,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement, referring to the Heritage Foundation effort that has nothing to do with the GOP presidential nominee. “He failed to mention how he had inflicted pain and cruelty on the women of America by overturning Roe v Wade. He failed to mention his plan to take over the civil service and to pardon the January 6th insurrectionists.
“He sought to find problems with America, not to provide solutions. But after all, it was Donald Trump who destroyed our economy, ripped away rights, and failed middle class families,” she continued. “Now he pursues the presidency with an even more extreme vision for where he wants to take this country.”
Though even top Democrats are urging Biden to step aside, O'Malley Dillion argued Biden is staying put, running “for an America where we defend democracy, not diminish it. Where we restore our rights and protect our freedoms, not take them away.”
She said Biden is "more determined than ever to defeat Donald Trump and his Project 2025 agenda in November.”
“The stakes have never been higher. The choice has never been more clear,” O'Malley Dillon noted.
He failed to mention the thing that you made up as his agenda? Lol
— Gary (@plzbepatient) July 19, 2024
The Biden campaign's response comes as Democrats are giving Biden the 'Julius Caesar' treatment.
Democrats — both those who continue to back the president and those who want him to step aside — are deeply unsure about the path ahead. But even amid that haziness, there is a growing sense of inevitability that Biden will not be the nominee — especially with Speaker Emerita NANCY PELOSI, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES in apparent alignment against his continued candidacy.
“People who have known this man for 30, 40 years are stabbing this man in the front and the back,” one former senior Biden campaign and administration aide told us. “They are JULIUS CAESAR-ing this man.”
It’s not just leadership. Frontline Democrats in competitive races have been among the most vocal in calling for him to step aside. Last night, Sen. JON TESTER (D-Mont.) became the second sitting senator to publicly call on Biden to end his campaign. (Worth flagging: “Tester gave Schumer a heads up on his call for Biden to drop out, a person with knowledge of the situation told POLITICO. Schumer told Tester to do what he thought was right, the person added,” Jordain Carney and Ursula Perano report.) And with Congress coming back next week, we’re hearing that many members are prepared to make the final push when they return — if Biden lasts that long, of course.
“I don’t see how [Biden] can outmaneuver the sustained attacks,” one veteran Democratic aide close to the White House told Playbook. “It feels like the ending is near.” (Politico Playbook)
On Thursday, the Biden campaign pushed back on reports indicating the president could back out of the race as soon as this weekend.
Joe Biden is his party’s nominee. He’s the President of the United States. He’s running for reelection. Baseless conjecture from anonymous sources isn’t a scoop. Tonight a convicted felon will talk about how he’ll make people’s lives worse if he gains power. Let’s focus. https://t.co/RZBb9k6g9d
— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) July 18, 2024
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) July 19, 2024