President Joe Biden may be starting to turn the tide against the efforts of some Democrats to force his withdrawal from this year’s presidential election.
Biden has been under increasing pressure to step aside as the Democratic nominee following a lackluster and at times confusing performance during his June 27 presidential debate with former President Donald Trump, although he has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race.
At least 10 House Democrats have called for Biden to make way for a different candidate following debate-fueled questions about his fitness for office, while many others in the party have openly expressed doubts on whether he should continue.
The Democratic resistance to the president’s reelection efforts, however, appeared to take multiple hits on Tuesday.
New York Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, who on Sunday reportedly argued in favor of Biden stepping aside during a private call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, appeared to reverse course in comments to reporters.
“He is the best candidate, he is the only candidate,” Nadler said. “He said he’s going to remain in. He’s our candidate and we’re all going to support him. I hope we’re all going to support him.”
Biden also received considerable praise for delivering a powerful and gaffe-free speech focusing on U.S. support for Ukraine at the beginning of this week’s NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night.
CNN’s chief national correspondent John King, who previously said that there was “a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party” following Biden’s debate performance, on Tuesday said that the president had delivered “a very strong speech” that was “forcefully delivered.”
“President Biden just delivered a rousing speech at the NATO 75th Anniversary Celebratory Event in Washington, resulting in a standing ovation,” Democratic activist Chris D. Jackson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “World leaders love our president!”
“WOW! The speech President Biden just gave at the NATO summit was fantastic ‘We chose unity over disunion, progress over retreat, freedom over tyranny, hope over fear!’ President Biden is the leader we need. He’s meeting the moment,” wrote pro-Biden influencer Harry Sisson.
Former Republican Congressman David Jolly praised Biden for delivering what he called an “incredible” and “amazing” speech during an MSNBC appearance on Tuesday.
“This was an amazing moment for President Joe Biden,” Jolly said. “To demonstrate for the United States, for detractors within his own party … what the American presidency and American leadership is all about.”
“This was an incredible moment for Joe Biden,” he added. “This is exactly his strongest suit and he played it in front of the world. This was a cool night, this was a very good night for America to lead on the world stage.”
Republican criticism of the speech was relatively muted at the time of publication. The “RNC Research” X account shared a four-second clip from the speech of Biden clearly saying “five additional strategic air defense systems” while suggesting that he had been unintelligible in a caption.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Biden campaign via email on Tuesday night.
Nadler’s apparent reversal on Tuesday followed a closed-door meeting among House Democrats on the president’s political future. He was far from the only Democrat to express support for the president following the meeting, which saw “lopsided” debate in favor of Biden remaining in the race, according to The Hill.
Representative Stephen Lynch told the outlet that the meeting represented “a turning point” for Democrats, arguing that the debate was in the rearview mirror and “it’s time to move on.” Lynch said that “many more members” had decided to back Biden since last week.
However, Biden is not out of the woods yet, with some Democrats opposed to his candidacy remaining steadfast after the meeting. In comments to Politico, Representative Juan Vargas criticized the anti-Biden Democrats as a “circular firing squad” participating in “the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill emerged from the meeting to add her voice to those calling for Biden’s exit on Tuesday, releasing a statement urging the president to “declare that he won’t run for reelection” and “help lead us through a process toward a new nominee.”
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-starts-turn-tide-rebel-democrats-1923058
