Anger brewed inside Fortress Biden over the weekend, as President Joe Biden, hit by poll after poll that said he had lost his connection to the voters, realized he could no longer win re-election, according to a new report.
According to NBC, Biden was “[i]solated, frustrated and angry. He felt betrayed by allies who turned on him in his hour of need.”
“He’s really pissed off,” NBC quoted what it said was “a person in touch with Biden’s inner circle.”
According to NBC, Biden spent the weekend with a handful of close advisers, which did not include Vice President Kamala Harris, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.
Multiple advisers explained that there was no path to victory for Biden.
Ever since his disastrous debate performance on June 27, Biden had been under fire, and in recent days the number of Democrats calling upon him to quit in the name of Democratic Party political fortunes in November had escalated.
“It became a no-win situation, a self-fulfilling prophecy,” former White House official Cedric Richmond said Sunday. Without money and support “it’s impossible to win, and he’s always put country and party first.”
NBC reported, Biden loyalists said the party did not stand by him as it should have.
“Here is a man who has always talked about dignity,” NBC quoted what it said was a longtime Biden ally as saying. “And what was happening to him in a very public setting was undignified. Where does the president go to get his dignity back?”
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As an indication of how closely Biden held his decision, a member of Biden’s campaign was reportedly informed by a news alert after the decision was announced.
“No one knew. Kamala didn’t even know,” the person said.
Minnesota Democratic Party chairman Ken Martin wants the transition to Harris to be fast.
“Everyone I’ve talked to right now agrees that we have to unify quickly,” he said. “The idea of having four weeks of turning the conversation inward is not something I’m particularly excited about. The quicker we can unify our party behind a ticket, the sooner we can get this campaign moving.”
The U.K.’s Daily Mail noted that some Biden supporters fumed after the decision became public.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said Biden had been “pushed out.”
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas was also outraged.
“I hope the geniuses that pushed the most consequential president of our lifetime out have a plan,” she said.
CNN analyst Bakari Sellers said the theory that Biden was jettisoned by party leaders has gained ground, according to Fox News.
“My phone is blowing up with people who are pissed off, and the reason they’re pissed off is because they feel like people from on high pushed Joe Biden out the door,” he said.
“A text that I just got from a friend was like, ‘If they pushed Joe Biden out the door, what are they going to do with Kamala Harris?’ They will probably try to push her, too,” he said.
