When President Joe Biden insisted Friday that he was not abandoning his re-election campaign, he ruined the year he ran.
During an appearance in Wisconsin, Biden sought to respond to growing speculation that he would drop out amid growing discontent among Democrats.
Even as he spoke, an aide behind Biden carried a sign that read “Pass the torch, Joe,” according to the New York Post.
“There’s been a lot of speculation: What is Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out?” Biden said as he tried to create a scenario in which he would be the victim of a campaign to oust him.
Yet another mistake by Biden.
Why do they allow him to speak like that? https://t.co/I8ChthIsuV— floridanow1 (@floridanow1) July 5, 2024
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“Here’s my answer: I will run and I will win again,” he said.
“I am the nominee of the Democratic Party,” Biden said. “You voted for me to be your nominee, no one else.”
“Some people don’t seem to care who you voted for. Guess what? They’re trying to get me out of the race. Let me say this as clearly as I can: I’m still in the race,” Biden said.
Should Biden resign from the presidency?
“I will beat Donald Trump,” he said. “I will beat him again in 2020.”
Friday’s mistake followed one on Thursday noted by Britain’s Telegraph newspaper.
“By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, the first black woman … to serve under a black president,” she told WURD radio.
Now Biden is proud to be the first black woman…
Look, I don’t know what you want from him. Trump told us he was totally injured and only had half his head left. https://t.co/sv5FlIFSl8 https://t.co/6AmRzmvVzh image.twitter.com/zMSVWcnyhj
— Joe Rambo (@BrainStorm_Joe) July 5, 2024
A post by Ben Smith on Semafor suggested that the problems with Biden run deeper than words and that the president may not be in the loop when policy decisions are being made in the White House.
Smith did not name his source, except to say that he was an official with regular access to the West Wing, was not in Biden’s “inner circle” and was “a serious person.”
“Even to some members of the West Wing policymaking process, it is unclear which policy issues reach the president and how. Major decisions go to an opaque circle that includes White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients (who speaks to the president regularly) and come back finished,” Smith wrote.
“I’m very proud of the policies. I’m speaking out because I’m incredibly upset and scared for the country and I’d like to do what I can,” Smith was quoted as saying by his source.
Smith said White House advisers are concerned about the “lack of information to the president” and “worried about the possibility of decisions being made ‘without him.’”
