Joe Biden is in big trouble.
First, it was the American people just savaging Biden in the polls for all his bad policies. He’s now hit his lowest numbers ever in the Real Clear Politics average. More recently, it’s been the media losing patience with the incompetence. We are even seeing his staffers fleeing the White House. Now, Democratic lawmakers and party officials are throwing him under the bus, some even on record, according to a report from the New York Times. And the fact that the Times is running the report says a lot, too.
They are upset that they are about to get trounced in the midterms, that there’s low enthusiasm for the base to get out and vote, and that Joe Biden is an anchor around their necks because of his failures.
Interviews with nearly 50 Democratic officials, from county leaders to members of Congress, as well as with disappointed voters who backed Mr. Biden in 2020, reveal a party alarmed about Republicans’ rising strength and extraordinarily pessimistic about an immediate path forward.
“To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality,” said Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Miami. Mr. Biden, he said, “should announce his intent not to seek re-election in ’24 right after the midterms.”
Imagine this in the Times:
To nearly all the Democrats interviewed, the president’s age — 79 now, 82 by the time the winner of the 2024 election is inaugurated — is a deep concern about his political viability. They have watched as a commander in chief who built a reputation for gaffes has repeatedly rattled global diplomacy with unexpected remarks that were later walked back by his White House staff, and as he has sat for fewer interviews than any of his recent predecessors.
“The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,” said David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama’s two winning presidential campaigns.
They’re looking for someone who isn’t Biden or Kamala Harris, and what’s hurting Biden is “a perception of weakness.” It’s not just a perception, it’s a reality.
Epstein and Medina rounded out the report with quotes from various party members expressing doubt about Biden’s future. Texas state representative Jasmine Crockett stated, “Democrats are like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Our country is completely falling apart. And so I think we’re lacking in the excitement.”
Former DNC chair Howard Dean implied Biden hasn’t achieved enough of what he has promised. “We need to have specific examples of how we’re dealing with things; it can’t just be pie-in-the-sky and kumbaya,” he said.
The report concluded with a quote from DNC member Sheila Huggins, a lawyer from North Carolina: “Democrats need fresh, bold leadership for the 2024 presidential race. That can’t be Biden.”
How out of touch and confused are they? The only hope that they see for the midterms? The Jan. 6 hearings, “perhaps the last, best chance before the midterms to break through with persuadable swing voters who have been more focused on inflation and gas prices.” But as we noted, they’re not doing so well in that effort, if the production’s ratings are any indication. They’re preaching to the people who they already have. People are going to vote on the issues that affect them, like the economy–and the Democrats just can’t see that.
Prepare for the tsunami.