President Joe Biden's family has told him to continue campaigning for a second term in the White House despite his dismal debate performance, with some family members criticizing how Biden's staff prepared him for last week's head-to-head showdown with presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Biden spent Sunday at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, with first lady Jill Biden, his children and grandchildren.
The trip was originally planned to be for a shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz ahead of the upcoming Democratic National Convention, but it also doubled as an exercise in figuring out how to calm unrest within the party following Thursday's dismal showing.
The family knew how badly the 81-year-old Trump ran against them, but they also believe he is the best person to defeat the Republican Party and is capable of serving another four years in office, according to the Associated Press, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions.
The Associated Press added that Jill Biden, the man Biden listens to most in the world, and her son Hunter were among his most vocal supporters.
Biden's family has also urged him to stay in the race, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter, and some family members have privately expressed outrage over the way his staff prepared him for Thursday night's event.
Calls for Biden to resign have continued since Thursday, when the president spoke huskily and gave staccato and sometimes confusing responses.
A CBS News poll conducted two days after the debate found that nearly three-quarters of American voters don't think Biden should run for president, including 46 percent of Democrats.
“Unfortunately, Biden should withdraw from the race for the good of the nation he has served so well for half a century,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in an editorial Sunday. “President Biden now needs the shadow of retirement.”
The day after the debate, the New York Times editorial board also called on Biden to resign.
Presidential Records
The president has stepped up his campaign activities since the debate, delivering an impassioned campaign speech in North Carolina on Friday in which he vowed to keep fighting, before taking part in six campaign events in four more states.
The Biden campaign has reported raising $33 million since the debate, including $26 million from grassroots donors.
While no major party officials have called for Biden to resign, prominent Democrats, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, have spoken out in support of Biden, and continued to speak out in his defense as Biden met with his family.
“I think Joe Biden has no problem leading for the next four years,” said James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and Biden aide. “Joe Biden should continue to run on his record.”
Raphael Warnock also endorsed Biden.
“Bad debates happen,” he said on NBC's “Meet the Press.” “The question is: Who is Donald Trump standing up for, other than himself and people like him? I support Joe Biden, and it's our mission to get him across the finish line in November.”
Warnock, like Clyburn and other lawmakers, highlighted many of the 77-year-old Trump's lies during the debate, including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, immigration issues and the results of the 2020 election.
“Every time his mouth was moving, he was lying,” Warnock said of Trump, who was convicted in May on 34 charges in a criminal trial over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Still, other Democrats remain open to choosing a different presidential nominee, which at this point in the delegate selection process would likely mean Biden would have to decide to pull out.
Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, told MSNBC that “very honest and serious and rigorous conversations” were taking place within the party.
“Whether he's the nominee or whether someone else is the nominee, he's going to be the keynote speaker at our convention. He's going to be someone we can rally around to move forward,” Raskin said.
Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who served with Biden in the Senate for more than two decades, called the debate “a disaster from which Biden will never recover.”
According to an email to supporters obtained by The Associated Press, Harkin suggested that Democratic senators running in key elections and “perhaps all sitting Democratic senators should write Biden a letter asking him to release his delegates, step down and select a new nominee at his convention.”
The incident was first mentioned in Iowa journalist Julie Gamack's Saturday column, “Iowa Potluck.”
“These are dangerous times and there are bigger things to consider than Joe Biden's ego or his desire to remain president,” Harkin concluded.
