In a stunning turn of events, doubts about President Joe Biden's fitness for office have surfaced among members of his own party following his recent debate performance. Senators Peter Welch and Jared Huffman, neither of whom are known critics of Biden, expressed concerns about his viability as a candidate after the debate. Representative Ro Khanna urged Biden and his advisers to make a clear assessment on the damage done to his candidacy and figure out how to move forward in a winning campaign. Congressional Democrats remain reluctant to call on Biden to withdraw from the race due to uncertainty about who could replace him effectively.
Biden's debate performance was widely panned, with some major Democratic donors discussing removing him from the ticket against his will and replacing him at the Democratic National Convention. Ron Conway and Laurene Powell Jobs, among others, were contacting Jill Biden to persuade her husband not to run. A Silicon Valley donor who had planned to host an intimate fund-raiser featuring Mr. Biden decided not to go through with the gathering because of the debate performance. Another major California donor left a debate watch party early and described it as 'utter disaster'.
Despite these concerns, former President Donald J. Trump has outraised Biden in each of the last two months, erasing his once gaping financial advantage. The crisis in the donor class comes at a crucial moment for Biden's campaign as he faces reelection.
In an internal discussion before the debate, Dr. Jill Biden assured party donors that her husband was prepared and ready to go. However, Joe Biden appeared unprepared and struggled to articulate his arguments during the debate, stammering and staring blankly at times. The debacle was described as 'a disaster' by even Biden's closest allies.
President Biden's decision to run for a second term was made alone, with input from a small group of lifelong loyalists including Dr. Jill Biden, his younger sister Valerie Biden, and 85-year-old Ted Kaufman. This tight inner circle will ultimately decide whether or not Biden will step aside following the debacle.