David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, July 19, 2024, p. 25
Milwaukee. Democratic Party leaders are stepping up efforts to get Joe Biden to drop his re-election campaign and hand over the nomination to someone more likely to beat Donald Trump, major US media reports say, fuelling speculation of an imminent change that could shake up the electoral process.
As is often the case in Washington, and with the White House leader so far resisting private urgings from Democratic leaders — from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — those conversations are now leaking to the media. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers she believes President Biden can be convinced to drop out of the presidential race soonthe newspaper reported The Washington Post.
The former House speaker has reportedly been arguing to Biden and his team that polls indicate he has no way to win the November election, and that he is further endangering Democrats in other races. To date, only 21 Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for Biden to drop out of the race, with many more saying so privately.
The White House has repeatedly rejected these reports, saying the chief executive is determined to defeat Trump. But the media continues to report a continued hemorrhage of support, even reporting that former President Barack Obama privately said that his former vice president needs to be removed. seriously contemplate abandoning the contest.
The pace of those calls picked up dramatically yesterday, with several influential political analysts suggesting Biden could announce he’s dropping out of the race as early as this weekend or early next week, and debate brewing over whether he’ll hand over the legacy to his vice president, Kamala Harris, or allow the Democratic Party to hold an open national convention where multiple candidates could compete.
For now, the head of state is at his beach house in Delaware, recovering from Covid. All indications are that he will have to respond publicly to all this growing and incessant chorus in the coming days.
