The pressure for President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race has been mounting over the past few weeks — and there doesn’t appear to be an exit ramp in sight.
Ever since the president’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate on June 27, a growing number of donors and Democrats have been calling for him to step aside.
On Friday, that mounting pressure may have finally hit a breaking point.
The president’s largest super PAC, Future Forward, has put a whopping $90 million in campaign funds “on hold” according to The New York Times.
Sources tell the Times that the funds will remain on hold as long as Biden remains at the top of the Democrat ticket.
It seems that Biden’s latest “big boy” news conference did little to engender confidence in his fellow Democrats.
(It probably didn’t help much that it became known as the “big boy” news conference as if Biden having to answer questions is akin to a little boy going out into the world without a diaper for the first time.)
According to the Times, three more House Democrats called for Biden to end his campaign following the news conference.
And now, his campaign may be losing $90 million.
Will Democrats replace Biden with Kamala Harris?
Make no mistake: $90 million is a huge amount of money for a presidential campaign.
In total, the Times reports that the Biden-Harris ticket has raised roughly $240 million.
So, $90 million isn’t a drop in the bucket, it’s over a third of that bucket.
It’s a significant portion of the campaign budget that any presidential nominee would need going into November.
This is doubly the case for Biden, whose well-chronicled issues both on-stage and on ballots have been hounding him for some time now.
Even in the 2020 race, the dementia-riddled candidate (even back then the symptoms were apparent) made fewer live appearances than the typical candidate.
His aides know for him to have any chance, they need to keep Biden locked away in political Tupperware, which makes his campaign heavily reliant on paid advertising.
Having $90 million fewer dollars makes that game plan a whole heck of a lot more difficult.
But will it be enough to force Biden out, as donors hope?
Maybe. But don’t underestimate the Biden family’s lust for influence and power.
As it often does, that may be what does them in in the end.
