Democrats react to Joe Biden's interview with George Stephanopoulos
By: Rachel Barber (USA TODAY)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Rachel BarberUSA TODAY
President Joe Biden's post-debate interview Friday divided prominent Democrats, with some showing support for his reelection campaign and others joining calls for him to end his 2024 bid for the White House.
Some Biden allies came to the president's defense, applauding his performance in his sit-down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. But after the interviewed aired, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., became the fifth House Democrat asking Biden to step aside in a statement Saturday. She joined a growing number of people within his party asking he reevaluate his campaign, including Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. Discussions about the future of Biden's candidacy are expected over the next days and weeks. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is reportedly organizing a group of Democratic senators to ask Biden to drop out.
"Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week's debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of forceful response from the President himself following the debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump," Craig said. "This future of our country is bigger than any one of us. It's up to the President from here."
One of Biden's most ardent supporters, Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said the threat former President Donald Trump poses is why the party should rally behind the president right now.
"He clearly laid out the truth tonight — under Trump, all of our progress will be stymied and our democracy would be at risk," Clyburn said in a social media post Friday evening. "Joe Biden is who our country needs and his presidency has laid a foundation upon which we can continue our pursuit of a more perfect union."
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., told Politico after the interview aired that she found the president's answer about whether he would agree to take a cognitive test unnerving. Biden said he didn't need one and serving as president while running for reelection is its own sort of cognitive test.
"I found the answer about taking a cognitive test every day to be unsettling and not particularly convincing, so I will be watching closely every day to see how he is doing, especially in spontaneous situations," Chu said.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, was one of the first Democrats to say there would be discussion about Biden's future in the race following his performance in the first presidential debate. After Biden dismissed his low poll numbers in the interview with Stephanopoulos, Axelrod took to X, formerly Twitter, to respond.
"The president is rightfully proud of his record. But he is dangerously out-of-touch with the concerns people have about his capacities moving forward and his standing in this race," Axelrod said. "Four years ago at this time, he was 10 points ahead of Trump. Today, he is six points behind."
More:Biden claims race is 'toss-up' in ABC interview. Here's what latest polls say.
Political consultant Bill Burton, who served as a deputy press secretary in the Obama White House, penned a CNN opinion column published Saturday arguing Vice President Kamala Harris is the "only viable alternative" for Democrats so late in the race.
"If you think our ticket has problems in the Black community right now, imagine pushing our nation's first Black woman vice president aside for the fantasy of riding a blank slate to victory," Burton said.
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat representing Biden's home state, is sticking with the president. He shared a clip from the interview and praised Biden, saying he has made "remarkable progress" and would deliver more in his next term.
"I can't wait to help him continue to take the fight to Trump and win in November," Coons said Friday.
Rachel Barber is a 2024 election fellow at USA TODAY, focusing on politics and education. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, as @rachelbarber_
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Nothing quite like the truth!
And therein lies the Democrats' real problem.
They are basically "stuck" with Biden or Harris.
You and Bill Burton are right. Even if Joe stays in the race, they need Harris to look as presidential as she can to assure voters that she is ready to replace Joe at anytime over the next four years.
I saw a good point from Matthew Yglesias. Anyone who would still vote for Biden for President will vote for Harris, because Biden voters already have to assume Harris would become President during Joe Biden's second term anyway. Harris, as a candidate, offers more upside and variance than Biden and since Biden is losing, Democrats need that.
So expect Democrats to dump Biden for Harris.
I would be happily amazed if that happens.
But personally, I am not confident Biden voters have thought that far ahead, what with being so wrapped up in defeating Trump and magically saving democracy.
Who would have ever thought that 4 months out from an election it would be all about Biden.
It is only ALL about Biden ( right now) because the idiots in the mainstream media have made it ALL about Biden.
Certainly not Biden voters or the Democratic Party.
His performance at the debate really is the culprit, maybe they should have asked CNN for a morning start time.
Of course, all the lies told about how healthy and "with it" Joe is over the last few years were designed to steer attention away from Biden.
Apparently, he doesn't like NOT being in the spotlight.
is that the very same 'mainstream media' that has been shilling for Biden for years now?
Running a candidate who’s brain melted down for all the world to see on national television will do that.
Trump is mentally ill. I dont think I've ever seen you acknowledge that.
Have you ever acknowledged that Biden is unfit for office?
Funny but I though Joe made it all about Biden right now with his performance in the debate followed by his performance in the ABC interview.
You got it right!
Joe Biden wanted the debate. Joe Biden challenged Donald Trump to debate. Joe Biden got the stage he wanted, the moderators he wanted, the debate rules he wanted. The debate was deliberately set up to up as a split screen presentation so that Donald Trump could not hide uncouth behavior and rude attempts to distract Biden.
Trump just stood there in his happy place. Biden even tried to goad Trump by commenting on Trump's appearance, Trump's personality, Trump's character. Of course it's Trump's fault because Trump didn't follow the script used to prepare Biden. Biden was so locked into a pre-programmed debate script that he couldn't adjust to the real-time debate. Biden couldn't deliver the canned talking points without being prompted by Trump or the moderators.
Biden even got the interview he wanted to recover from his own debate performance. And Biden used that interview to deny what everyone saw, deny the polls, deny the concerns about his campaign, deny the questions about his fitness to serve. Biden is denying that he is an unpopular President. None of this has anything to do with Trump.
Democrats are now talking about replacing Biden because of the need to beat Trump. But the facts are that Democrats need to consider replacing Biden just to survive the election. The Democratic Party is leaderless at the moment. There is no leader to hold the party together. Right now Democrats want to follow the expedient path of rallying the base against Trump. But the risk in following that path is that Donald Trump could become the leader of the Democratic Party, too. Just remember what happened with Ronald Reagan; even Joe Biden quotes Reagan more than he quotes Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton, or Obama.
Donald Trump ain't Democrats biggest problem.
For a select few, Trump is the worst human being in history, and nothing will ever change their mind. I am convinced those folks would settle for an orangutan for President if it kept Trump from winning.
Donald Trump is the most powerful political voice in the country, at the moment. (And he can't string three words together into a coherent thought.) Like it or not, Trump has led a challenge to the neoliberal status quo of the last 40 years and won. There's no denying that Donald Trump steered the country (and Europe) in a new direction. In that respect, Donald Trump has become as consequential as Ronald Reagan.
It's gonna require real political leadership to compete with Trump. The rallying cry of 'orange man bad' won't chart a future course for the nation. The lack of leadership in the Democratic Party means we're going to see Trump Democrats just like we saw Reagan Democrats.
The really odd thing is that Joe Biden is presiding over the end of an era while Donald Trump presided over the beginning of a new era. So, do we want to be stuck in the past or step into the future?
“For a select few, Trump is the worst human being in history,…”
Not only a ‘select few’, just those that see the danger his election poses. He may not be the ‘worst human being in history” (hyperbole noted) but he is demonstrably the most potentially damaging candidate for the highest office in our history.
Donald Trump is a traitor by the most commonly accepted definition of the word.
It is not hard at all to convincingly demonstrate this. People who want a traitor to be president of the United States should flock to Trump.
What he could do in the future is only part of it. It is also what he HAS done.
Sorry, I find the Trump hysteria comical at times.
Given the definition supplied by you, Biden fits it to a tee regarding his mess on the border.
Are you going to vote for Traitor Joe?
If trump has already won why are we having an election?
The border is a policy matter, trying to overthrow the government is not. Sitting on your hands while the nations capitol building is under siege is not.
Well, mainly because the election Trump won was in 2016 and because we typically have Presidential elections every four years.
I used your preferred definition.
Maybe you want to switch now that Joe meets your criteria for traitor.
You actually think the politics of Clinton and Obama are going to come back? (Those are the two, and only two, Democrat Presidents between Reagan and Trump.) Joe Biden certainly hasn't defended the legacy of Clinton and Obama; Biden is being challenged by the far-left caucus in his own party.
Trump made it permissible to question and challenge the status quo of the Reagan era. Biden has tried to appropriate Trump's new politics the same way Clinton appropriated Reagan's new politics. But Joe Biden is a northeast politician and doesn't really know how Democrat politics works. Only a southern Democrat like Bill Clinton could pull it off.
If Democrats want to beat Trump then the party needs to return to its southern roots. Otherwise we're entering a new era of Trump Democrats.
Your comments imply that you do not understand the difference between a failure of duty and a deliberate attempt to steal a presidential election through fraud, coercion, lying, and incitement.
One is incompetence / bad policy. The other is an unconstitutional and illegal campaign to disenfranchise voters, violate the presidential oath of office, and violate the laws of the land that the PotUS is supposed to enforce.
If that is what you took away from my comment, I suggest reading it again.
Biden is supposed to protect our borders. He failed. Traitor!
If you think the long term future of our country is trumpism I either feel sorry for you , or the country.
[✘]
I dont know why you think Biden fits the definition that I gave but I cant account for other peoples mistaken opinions.
"Illegal immigration" has been taking place for around 100 years. The way that is dealt with is a POLICY matter.
Every president of the past 100 years has dealt with some level of illegal immigration, and none of them "solved" it. To call one president that did not solve it a "traitor" is absurd.
And I don't know why you supplied a definition if you don't want to apply it equally.
The President had a duty to protect our border. People trusted him to do that. He failed.Which, according to your preferred definition, makes him a TRAITOR.
That response illustrates that you cannot or will not understand the distinction between a failure of duty and a deliberate attempt to steal a presidential election through fraud, coercion, lying, and incitement.
NONE of the last dozen or so presidents have stopped illegal immigration, so I guess they were all traitors.
I am done with you on this topic.
Your post is simply your interpretation of something I didn't write.
But at least they TRIED!
Well, the polls obviously prove the political landscape has shifted. Hillary Clinton didn't change the political landscape; she ran on the legacy of Clinton and Obama. Joe Biden didn't change the political landscape; he ran on preventing change. If you want to claim the political landscape evolved on its own, okay. But Donald Trump is practicing politics in that new political environment. Democrats up and down the ballot are not.
Politics just ain't the same as they were under Obama. And Democrats have not led the country into this new era of politics; Democrats have been dragging their feet. The politics of free trade, globalism, and interconnected dependency doesn't hold the political center any longer. The promises of neoliberal collectivism never materialized and failed to overcome global terrorism, global recession, and global pandemic. Self reliance and self determination are in vogue again.
Joe Biden is presiding over the end of an era. Donald Trump presided over the beginning of a new era. Democrats have blamed Donald Trump for the new era in politics but that means Trump gets the credit for ending the old era. So, yes, this is the Trump era because Democrats have said so.
yes, a categorical difference between trying to stop it/ignoring it/ and Biden's "the borders are now open, I'll do everything possible to let you stay" approach.
What Biden has done with the border fits the preferred description of a traitor.
I don't even understand how anyone can possibly deny it.
when did he say that?
the idea that biden is a traitor because he didnt follow someones idea of border security is ridiculous
The idea that trump is a traitor because he did absolutely nothing to stop an attack on the capitol is not
not to mention him trying to steal the election
This is YOUR definition:
Biden has a CLEAR duty to protect our borders.
Whether it was his "policy" that led to the millions of aliens entering, many illegally, or not, he is clearly violating the trust people put in him to at least TRY to secure the border.
According to your definition, Biden is a traitor.
Ending the 'Remain in Mexico' policy and restarting the policy of 'Catch and Release' are definitely policy set forth by the Biden administration so I think it's fair to blame him for the policy and to blame him for the millions who are in the country illegally since he took office.
People want to split hairs over illegal immigration and which party didn't do anything to end it but it's a simple fact that neither party wants to end it. With illegal immigration each side can use it as a cudgel against the other side. IMO securing the border is separate from fixing the broken immigration system. The first can be fixed by policy and Executive Orders, the other requires Congress to act. As the parties run Congress, don't expect them to fix anything soon.
When he told illegals to immediately surge the border when he was elected.
you can blame him for whatever you want . His border policies do not make him a traitor.
If only there was something in the presidential oath about defending the constitution and the country...
Then you should start using a different definition of traitor.
It is amazing to watch democrats freak out over something that has been obvious to the rest of the world for years. Maybe if left wing media hadn’t spent All their resources investigating the type of flags the wife of a supreme court justice flew years ago they might not have been caught so flat footed by the revelation Biden is not mentally competent.
Trump hatred has blinded many, sadly.
You claim to refuse to vote for Trump even though he is the presumptive nominee of your party. If you believe you have sound reasons for not voting for Trump why do you presume that others are not voting for Trump out of blind hatred?
Well, mainly because I have read literally thousands of posts proving it to me.
And why is it necessary to keep repeating what I have so clearly stated? Do you think people who read my posts are confused into thinking I would ever vote for Trump or Biden?
The problem with democrats picking a VP who is only a bad insurance policy against impeachment, the presidency may become a train wreck and you may actually need insurance.
too late to file a claim now!
LOL!
The photo used for this article is worth if not a 1000 words then at least 100. I'll be surprised if someone comes up with 10 worth anything ...