"I keep sending emails to my friends at the White House asking them to convince the president to leave, even though I know they won't respond. This is costing me good friendships." With these words, a Democrat who personally knows half of the U.S. government - he was even a classmate of some of its members - summarized the perspective of the increasingly numerous critics of Joe Biden's candidacy for the White House.
However, despite the lack of response, Joe Biden may be starting to give in. At least, that is the thesis of the media outlet that has done the most to push him out, which is not a Republican television or website, but the newspaper that is most closely aligned with the Democratic Party in the U.S.: the 'New York Times'. This morning, the newspaper reported that Biden is considering the possibility of withdrawing his candidacy, although he has not yet made a decision on the matter and could very well decide to continue. Biden is at his personal residence in Delaware, in isolation, after being diagnosed with Covid-19. Up to now, the president had refused to even consider the possibility of withdrawing his candidacy, which would open up a - possibly chaotic - process within the Democratic Party to find a replacement just three months before the elections.
Furthermore, other media outlets suggest that the resignation could come soon: the Axios portal indicates that some senior Democratic officials believe Biden could end his campaign this very weekend and CBS, citing two Democratic lawmakers, suggests that the controversy could be resolved in the next three to five days.
Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, assured some congressmen from her party that Biden could soon be convinced to withdraw his candidacy for the November elections, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper, citing three Democratic officials informed about private conversations between Pelosi and Biden, indicates that the legislator has taken on a discreet yet strong role as an intermediary between Democratic Party leaders and the president, who is facing increasing pressure to step back.
The situation on the war front is as follows: virtually all of the most powerful sectors of the Democratic Party - with the exception, curiously, of the left-wing faction, which had been the most critical of Biden for his centrism and his support for Ukraine and, above all, Israel - want him to leave. Among them is Barack Obama, who has stopped working behind the scenes to express his doubts about the president's re-election viability. According to 'The Washington Post', he has told people close to him that he must considerthe future of his candidacy.
But Obama is a man of the past, especially in U.S. politics, where the power of former presidents - with the exception, as always, of Donald Trump - disappears the moment they leave the White House. More concerning for Biden is that the Senate Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, have expressed concerns that his low popularity could drag down Democratic candidates in those two legislative bodies. Thus, the Republican Party could take control of the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.
The crisis has entered a new phase with the announcement that Biden has Covid-19 and his temporary withdrawal from public life, and with the contrast between the cult of personality display of Donald Trump at the Republican Convention and what supporters of the president's candidacy call a "circular firing squad," in which the executioners not only carry out the condemned's sentence but, in the process, end up killing each other. In other words: chaos where no one will win.
The critics' analysis is not only due to the fear of losing the elections, but also the conviction that these are easy elections to win if Biden were not the candidate. According to this theory, anyone with their mental faculties intact could win. To support this idea, they use statistics. Despite the beating Trump gave Biden in the debate, he only managed to gain a three-point lead in the polls on average, which falls within the margin of error. Following the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday, his lead has narrowed to one or two points, according to a Morning Consult survey.
Of course, Biden's supporters use these same figures to defend his continuation: if after a coup attempt and a civil war within the party, the president is still neck and neck with Trump, why create an unprecedented political vacuum in 168 years and topple a candidate on the eve of his coronation?
The other side in this battle is Biden's core group. They are few, but precisely for that reason, they can form a protective 'ring' around the president. There is the most influential person in Biden's life, his wife Jill, who encouraged him to run for re-election, and who many consider the true White House chief of staff, especially after Ron Klein - the true 'right-hand man' of the president - left his position after his mother's death in 2023.
Jill has taken a position similar to Nancy Reagan with her husband, Ronald, when doubts began to arise about his ability to hold office after crossing the psychological barrier of 80 years during his second term. Her stance is supported by the president's sister, Valerie. Joe, Jill, and Valerie have not forgiven Barack Obama for blocking Biden's plans in 2016 to run as a presidential candidate, paving the way for Hillary Clinton, which ultimately led to Donald Trump in the White House. So, in the Biden family, when Obama says something, it's almost synonymous with doing the opposite.
Outside the family 'ring' is once again Klain, who speaks with the president daily and trained him for the debate with Trump that has cast doubt on his political future. Also noteworthy are Mike Donilon, who, along with Jill, encouraged him the most to run for re-election, and Ted Kaufmann. This group all share the fact that they have been working - and in Jill's case, living - with Biden for four or five decades. Added to this is their age. The youngest, Klain, is 62, while Kaufmann is already 85; Valerie, 78; and Jill, 73. Their identification with the president and his with them is total.