Jill Biden has indeed encouraged President Joe Biden to stay in the 2024 election race despite increasing pressure for him to step down following a poor debate performance.
The source reported that the First Lady, who has been married to Joe Biden since 1977, has expressed her support for continuing the campaign, stating they would “stay in the race.”
“Her thinking, according to people close to her, was that it was a bad night. And bad nights end,” it reported.
Sources close to President Biden have indicated that the upcoming three or four days will be critical in determining whether his position remains viable.
This follows concerns raised after he repeatedly struggled to speak coherently during the debate.
Most of President Biden’s closest advisers have tried to remain optimistic about the debate, asserting that he can recover any lost ground throughout the rest of the campaign. They also point out that he delivered a stronger performance at a rally on Friday.
The debate on Thursday occasionally descended into farce, with President Biden and former President Donald Trump arguing about their golf handicaps and the quality of Biden’s golf swing.
Even on lighter topics, Biden had difficulty expressing himself clearly and sometimes drifted off topic completely.
A new poll reported by Axios suggests that 60 percent of US voters believe Biden should drop out of the race. Additionally, an editorial 9f the same source has called on the president to withdraw from the campaign.
“There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency,” the source said in an editorial.
Jill Biden
If President Biden is seriously contemplating dropping out of the race, Jill Biden and his younger sister Valerie, his closest political adviser, would play crucial roles in guiding him to make such a significant decision, according to US media reports.
“Jill is the final and most important voice. She knows him and loves him with a passion. She also knows everything about him. Most big decisions are made with Valerie and Jill in the end,” John Morgan, a top Democrat donor, told the source.
If President Biden decides to drop out, Vice President Kamala Harris could potentially replace him, though there are concerns about her popularity.
Other options include Gavin Newsom, the charismatic governor of California, who has expressed support for Biden remaining in the race.
Experts suggest that it would be nearly impossible for the Democrats to oust Biden at this late stage of the campaign, indicating that the decision ultimately rests solely with the president.
President Biden’s disastrous debate performance has unsettled top Democratic donors. According to reports, one donor directly asked the campaign team if the president would be dropping out soon.
“They’re [Biden’ team] saying, ‘we just had one bad night…what they’re missing, a vital point they’re missing, is it’s not just one bad night. There’s no fixing this,” one Democrat donor told an US news site.
There is also concern that some Democrat party donors may pull funding if they feel there is no hope of Mr Biden recovering from the debate.
“The biggest problem is donors. If the money dries up, everybody will start to panic,” another source said.
Some Democrats have openly criticized President Biden, with Jay Surdukowski, an activist and lawyer from New Hampshire, declaring,
“Biden is toast – calling it now.”
Ahead of a meeting with donors in The Hamptons on Long Island, some attendees reportedly felt that the First Lady was to blame for not encouraging her husband to stand down.
“Everyone going is extremely disappointed. Everyone paid in advance … so it could be an opportunity to encourage him to drop out,” one guest told the New York Post. “Lots of people are blaming his wife … for not telling him [to drop out].”
The First Lady’s role in President Biden’s decision-making is considered so critical that Democratic donors are urgently seeking phone calls or meetings with her.
James Carville, an adviser who worked on former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, noted that Biden relies on a very close circle of family and friends for key campaign decisions.
He pointed out that the closest advisers to Biden, such as Ron Klain and Anita Dunn, are younger than the president and might find it difficult to deliver unwelcome messages, telling,
“They’re not peers.”
