Benny Johnson tweeted, “Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni caught doing a Joe Biden impression at NATO summit
Remember when the corporate media told us ‘world leaders don’t respect Trump!’
Every one of them would do anything to get Trump back now.”
Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni caught doing a Joe Biden impression at NATO summit 😂
Remember when the corporate media told us ‘world leaders don’t respect Trump!’
Every one of them would do anything to get Trump back now.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 11, 2024
A handful of President Joe Biden’s closest allies, including three people who are directly involved in efforts to re-elect him spoke to NBC News and said that they now see his chances of winning as zero — and the likelihood of him taking down fellow Democratic candidates growing via NBC News.
“He needs to drop out,” one Biden campaign official said. “He will never recover from this.”
For a couple of weeks, Biden has struggled to stabilize his campaign following a late-June debate debacle. His ongoing clean-up effort, which is scheduled to include top aides meeting privately with Democratic senators and a presidential news conference Thursday, has done little to reassure lawmakers and party officials.
The set of Democrats who believe he should reconsider his decision to stay in the race has grown to include aides, operatives, and officials tasked with guiding his campaign to victory.
It has been noted that those who spoke to NBC News said the sentiment that he should exit and leave the Democratic nomination to someone else — most likely Vice President Kamala Harris — is widespread even within the ranks of the campaign and the outside Democratic entities supporting it.
“No one involved in the effort thinks he has a path,” said a second person working to elect him.
A third person close to the re-election campaign said the present situation, the questions swirling around Biden’s cognitive abilities, the dearth of fundraising and more polls showing Biden dropping in support and other candidates faring better — is unsustainable. This person also said they didn’t see how the campaign could win.
All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity as they don’t want to be seen as further damaging a candidate they appreciate for his victory over then-President Donald Trump in 2020 and his policy wins in the White House. However, a couple of two others close to Biden told NBC News that while they haven’t given up all hope of a turnaround, they see that as an increasingly unlikely outcome. And they believe the goal of defeating Trump in November should take precedence over backing Biden.
“The question for me, and a lot of us, is: Who is the best person to beat Donald Trump?” another person working to elect Biden said. “There are a lot of us that are true blue that are questioning our initial thoughts on that.”
Ultimately, the decision rests with Biden on whether he stays in, and the president has been insistent this week that he’s not going anywhere.
