1y ago

Hakeem Jeffries says he met with president; big Democratic donors reportedly freeze money in objection to Biden candidacy – live

www.theguardian.com

Hakeem Jeffries reportedly did not offer Biden his endorsement in private meeting – as it happened

The House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said he shared lawmakers’ “insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward” in a private meeting with Joe Biden yesterday.

The meeting came after more than a dozen House Democrats publicly called on the president to end his bid for re-election after his stumbling performance against Donald Trump in their first debate.

Jeffries had promised that he would talk to Biden after speaking with all of the 213 Democrats in the House of Representatives, and, in a letter to lawmakers today, he indicated that he has done so, without elaborating on Biden’s response.

Deep-pocketed Democratic donors are putting multimillion-dollar pledges on hold and saying they won’t hand over the money until Joe Biden abandons his re-election campaign, the New York Times reports.

Others are holding off on giving any more money to Future Forward, the largest Super Pac supporting the president’s campaign.

64 comments

Can people stop pretending like this movement is just a media manufactured story now? The refusal to look at the whole picture is astonishing.
- Thank you. In fact, polls have shown that, after the debate, there was little to no change in support among voters. I'm not entirely sure what's going on here.
  Frankly, aside from his weak position on Israel, my support for Biden has grown significantly in recent months. He was absolutely right yesterday - if his job performance were weak, he'd have reason to consider dropping out. He's very likely the best world leader in recent times.
  No president is going to be perfect - ever. I'll take a shitty debate performance and gaffes and all in exchange for what the guy has done and will do for this country.
  
  It's not about Biden's track record. It's about his ability going forward to run a very taxing campaign against a literal fascist while also performing the duties of the presidency.
  And the likely answer to that is "Not nearly as energetically as he needs to for me to not be playing Russian roulette the night of election day".
  
  Hard to believe this take is from .ml 😳
- Yeah, millionaires are mad they have to pay taxes and that’s the end of it
  
  Because Biden only started taxing them a month ago… he didn’t campaign at all on that back in 2020, and it’s such a total surprise to them!
  /s do you really think that if this was a planned ouster it would be this… unsubtle?
  If you think Biden can’t lose… I got a bridge to sell you.
Honestly, donors pulling money is the only way Biden will drop out.
- It might just turn me into a Biden supporter*, I hate how much influence rich fucks have on our politics
  *I was/am going to vote for him or whoever the Democratic nominee is anyway, but I have always thought Joe Biden was a racist-rehabilitating credit card company loving piece of crap and take every opportunity I can to point out that I think the Democratic party needs to do way better than this, but the whole reason we got stuck with President Biden in the first place is because of big money donors like this who think they know better than everyone else
  
  Wait the donors acknowledging they were dumb to stuck us with him is the reason you may turn into a supporter?
  Thats some logic
- Well the Dems care more about cash than voters
He needs to step down. I fought this for a while, but he's lost the confidence of his party, and you can't come back from that. Not in a few short months. Any path forward for Biden from here will be a monumental struggle to get the support needed to beat Trump.
- Who is the best replacement and how do we choose?
  EDIT: It was a collective "We," people. As in, all of us who aren't fascists. I'm well aware of how the democratic party chooses candidates.
  
  Harris is the obvious choice, though I would be thrilled if it went to someone else. The DNC, unfortunately, will have to discuss amongst the delegates who will get the final nod. What's important is that we have unity going forward - which is one of the reasons why it's so important for Biden to step down and get onboard with this.
  
  .
  
  Why are we still pretending that it's our choice?
  
  We don't choose - the DNC does.
  the choice of a nominee is party business — not state law, not federal law, and not constitutional law.
  https://www.factcheck.org/2024/07/qa-how-biden-can-be-replaced-as-the-democratic-nominee/
  
  Lighting round debate showdown at the convention, it’s gonna be great!
  
  Good or bad, no one is going to beat Trump except Biden. I'll take the last 4 years we've had, where he's had times that he seems out if it, but the country is doing a lot better and doesn't seem like we are at each other's throats. If he dies the day before election, I'll vote for his corpse.
People are really missing the point intentionally, it isn't about Biden's Ability to govern in the next presidential Term, but about his ability to convince the swing voters about that, and on that front he is failing, and keeps falling in polls after every public event, he is 6 points behind Trump in most swing States
- I think it is about both, candidly. Getting elected is priority one, but being able to effectively govern would be a pretty huge bonus, and that expectation is likely to influence voters.
Oh god, best of luck to you guys from Europe. I hope whoever opposes him is able to beat Trump.
- Given how many people I know who dislike Trump but aren't voting for Biden - we're fucked.
I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward
You wanna share that path forward with the rest of us?
To me, the issue is much more “what are we gonna do instead” than it is “naw man Biden totally isn’t old / it’s not a problem that he is”
- Now would be an excellent time to showcase organizational skills and leadership to propose a meaningful plan and execute it dutifully, exhibiting a capable governing party for all to see.
  Unfortunately, Jeffries’ big donor puppeteers haven’t thought that far ahead.

64 comments