A new report claims that former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is one of the architects of the ongoing plot to force Joe Biden out as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in the 2024 election.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the claims were made by Politico, which asserts that Pelosi is afraid of the harmful impact that Biden’s unpopularity will have on down-ballot candidates, especially as Democrats seek to regain control of the House in November.
“The speaker does not want to call on him to resign, but she will do everything in her power to make sure it happens,” an anonymous source told Politico. Pelosi is one of several Democratic leaders, alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has privately urged Biden to withdraw from the race.
“There’s nothing subtle about Nancy,” said a second anonymous source. “She starts with the question: ‘What’s it take to win?’ Then works backwards.”
Although Biden initially remained stubborn against calls to withdraw, he has allegedly softened to the idea as he considers the possibility of endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his successor. He also said in a recent interview that he would consider stepping aside if he developed a serious medical condition; the following day, he announced that he had contracted the Chinese Coronavirus.
Calls for Biden to step down began in earnest after his historically poor performance against President Donald Trump in the first debate of the general election last month. After giving slow, stammering, and incomprehensible answers and occasionally losing his train of thought for long, awkward pauses, concerns began to spread rapidly about his clear cognitive decline, as well as the 81-year-old’s physical capabilities.
Biden’s popularity has only further declined following President Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt on Saturday, which saw his public image and approval ratings soar as he showed defiance and courage in the immediate aftermath of a near-death experience. Concerns had already been expressed privately to Biden by multiple Democrats even before the events on Saturday, with internal opposition intensifying in the following days. Another prominent Democrat who has called on Biden to withdraw is Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the frontrunner for the U.S. Senate election in California.
Recent reporting from Axios suggests that Biden may have already succumbed to the pressure and plans to announce his exit from the race as soon as this weekend, although Biden campaign spokesman have repeatedly and angrily denied such reports. The Washington Post further claimed that former President Barack Obama has quietly expressed serious reservations about Biden’s future, which marks a major shift from his public support for his former vice president in the immediate aftermath of the debate.
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place in Chicago from August 19th to August 22nd.
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