- Donors have been concerned about Joe Biden's ability to beat Donald Trump since his debate performance.
- Some donors told The Washington Post that the night reflected how the president has performed at recent donor events.
- Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings told The New York Times that another candidate is needed to beat President Trump.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, one of the Democratic Party's largest donors, has called on President Joe Biden to step aside from the campaign and give another candidate a chance to beat former President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported.
“Biden needs to step aside so strong Democratic leadership can defeat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” Hastings said in an email to The Times.
A Netflix spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, and Hastings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While he is the first to call for Biden to step down, he is not the first major Democratic donor from Hollywood to voice his concerns.
In a recent conversation with Tina Brown at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel expressed frustration over whether Biden, 81, could run for president. Trump is 78.
“I'm angry at the founding fathers. They set 35 years as the start date, they just didn't tell us the end date,” he said.
Hollywood backers are important to the Biden campaign, which said it raised more than $30 million at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles in June spearheaded by former President Barack Obama, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. It's unclear whether more Hollywood donors will follow Hastings' lead and call for Biden to step down.
Hastings was one of the first major Democratic donors to publicly voice private concerns since the June 27 debate between Biden and Trump, a disastrous performance that saw the president stumble over his words and struggle to finish his thoughts.
Donors who spoke to The Washington Post on condition of anonymity said Biden's debate performance mirrored small-group interactions at donor events, where the president struggles to communicate.
An anonymous business executive who helped organize a fundraiser in Chicago last year told The Post he was shocked that Biden's team refused to allow donors to ask the president any questions.
“I told them my donors don't care about photos, they want to talk to the president. The Biden campaign just wouldn't allow it,” the business executive told The Washington Post. “It was clear that they were manipulating the president in a way that he'd never done before: If they're going to write a big check and have an event with the president, donors expect to be able to talk to the president.”
Biden's campaign is engaged in extensive damage control to convince donors and voters that he is still fit for office.
The campaign on Tuesday ignored $127 million in windfall revenue from June, including $38 million made within four days of the Biden-Trump debate.
In an email to BI, a Biden campaign spokesperson noted that various media outlets have reported statements by administration insiders, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, that highlight Biden's commitment to the election.
“We will not back down. We will follow the president's instructions. We will fight, and we will win,” Harris said in a call with Biden's campaign staff, The New York Times reported.
Not all donors agreed with Hastings. Noah Mamet, a former ambassador to Argentina during Obama's second administration and a major Biden campaign donor, maintained his unwavering support for the president in a text message to BI and called the attacks on Biden “self-defeating.”
“President Biden has reaffirmed his commitment to seeking reelection. He knows the stakes. He knows that Trump is an existential threat to our country,” Mamet wrote. “Until he says he is not the nominee, we Democrats need to rally around him and work harder to secure a victory, remove Trump, and preserve our democracy beyond November.”
He pointed to a recent Supreme Court decision giving the US president a presumption of immunity for his “official” actions as an example of what's at stake in this year's election.
Still, some big donors aren't convinced Biden is the best candidate.
During a call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Speaker Chuck Schumer, several major Democratic donors urged Biden to step aside and choose another candidate, people familiar with the call reportedly told the Post. Wednesday report.
Hastings has been a major supporter of the Democratic Party in recent years, donating millions of dollars to the party during the Trump administration.
He and his wife, Patty Quillin, have donated more than $20 million to the party in recent years, according to the Times.
The couple donated at least $1.5 million to support Biden during the 2020 campaign and $100,000 to his 2024 campaign last year, according to The New York Times.
A Biden campaign spokesperson did not address Hastings' public call in a statement to BI.
