While Joe Biden recovered from a reported COVID illness at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, he and his staff initially remained closed, adamant that he would remain in the presidential race despite his disastrous performance in the debates, interrupted television interviews and falling poll numbers.
Meanwhile, his former opponent, Donald Trump, was on a roll, having survived an assassination attempt and roused much of the country with his cry of “Fight, fight!” moments after a sniper shot him in the ear. This, and a successful Republican convention in Milwaukee that presented a united party, seemed to reinforce the sense that the momentum was squarely on the Republican side.
Despite all this, the President refused to step down gracefully, vowing to fight on as his power-hungry wife Jill and cowardly son Hunter doggedly urged him to hold on to the perks of the office. But finally, finally, even Old Joe saw the writing on the wall.
He had no chance anymore.
Politico described the fateful evening and revealed how it was the influence of Biden’s relatively unknown advisers that ultimately turned the tide.
Early Saturday night, Biden told senior aides that the campaign was “moving full steam ahead.” But later that evening, after a lengthy discussion with his two closest aides, he changed his mind.
Steve Ricchetti, who has accompanied Biden since his time in the Senate, drove to his home on the Delaware shore on Friday. Mike Donilon arrived on Saturday. The two men, who had stood by Biden in key decisions about the 2016 and 2020 presidential candidacy, sat some distance from the president, who still tested positive for Covid, and presented damning fresh information in a meeting that would hasten the end of Biden’s political career.
In addition to presenting fresh policymakers’ agendas and updates on a fundraising effort that has stalled significantly, they also released the campaign’s poll results, released this week, showing Trump’s prospects of winning in November have vanished, according to five people familiar with the matter who, like others interviewed for this article, were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The game was over.
His decision was met with many positive comments from Democratic politicians and the media, who called his withdrawal from the election campaign “heroic” and “patriotic.” However, the way he announced his momentous decision once again showed his true colors: he did not even inform most of his staff personally.
The only other people in the residence besides Biden when he rose to prominence on Sunday were first lady Jill Biden and two other trusted advisers: deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and assistant to the first lady Anthony Bernal. At 1:45 p.m., he told a slightly larger group of close advisers that he had decided the night before to end his candidacy for another term, read his letter aloud and thanked them for their service. A minute later, before other campaign and White House staff could be notified, he posted the historic letter from his campaign account on the social media site X.
Biden’s announcement surprised the White House and his campaign aides, who insisted until the afternoon that he would stay in the race.
“We’re all getting it via tweet,” said one Democrat. “None of us understand what’s happening.” https://t.co/VHphH6HPNL
– POLITICO (@politico) July 21, 2024
Related: Incredible report on how White House and campaign staff learned of Biden’s resignation
Debunking the remaining myth: Biden was never a “decent man”
It wasn’t just the slow realization that he couldn’t win that caused Biden to resign, it was the power of Consigliere Pelosi that helped turn the tide. It’s beyond me why this extremist, octogenarian politician from California has so much influence, considering she regularly spits poisonous bile on cable news talk shows, often looks like she’s had a few glasses of Chardonnay, and constantly makes that weird sucking motion with her lips (who else in American history has tore up the State of the Union address of a sitting president in the House of Representatives?), but their influence on Capitol Hill is apparently still enormous.
Top Biden aides were bracing for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to go public this week and possibly even release Democratic poll results that highlight Biden’s dire political situation. Pelosi had been working behind the scenes to encourage others in the party to take collective action that might finally persuade the president to end his campaign.
“Nancy made it clear they could do it the easy way or the hard way,” said a Democrat familiar with private conversations who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “She gave them the easy way for three weeks. It was going to be the hard way.”
The Democratic power brokers — led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Pelosi, former President Barack Obama, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — finally got what they wanted. They pushed Joe aside in the most undemocratic way imaginable.
However, they should perhaps have heeded the aged adage, “Be careful what you wish for,” because they are quickly realizing that the path forward is extremely complicated, and unless the party quickly and fully embraces Vice President Kamala Harris as Joe’s successor, it is likely to be extremely combative.
The race is far from over, and jaw-dropping events seem to be the norm this July. Still, if you’re a Republican, you’re very confident that we can take back our country and stop progressives from ruining the country even further.
Buckle up – this wild ride is far from over.
