It appears as though the dam has finally broken in the calls for Joe Biden to step aside.
Three weeks after his disastrous debate performance, reports indicate that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and even former President Barack Obama are all pressuring the 81 year old to get out of the race, as top Democrats believe it is now a matter of when – not if – Biden drops out.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) to discuss the news and where it leaves the Democrat Party.
New Pushes
While there have been ebbs and flows in the pressure campaign against Biden, Axios is now reporting that “several top Democrats” believe the president will be persuaded by “congressional leaders and close friends” to step aside as the party’s nominee as early as this weekend.
That follows polling from the Associated Press that shows nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Biden out. Meanwhile, it is believed that Schumer and Pelosi have both paid visits to Biden to voice their concerns about his ability to defeat Donald Trump in November. Biden has allegedly heard a similar message from Jeffries, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) – a Pelosi pal – is now saying it publicly. As for Obama, he has allowed surrogates like George Clooney and former aides to speak on his behalf.
The Biden campaign remains indignant, telling Axios that “if the facts matter — and they should — here is one: President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November.”
Moving the Goalposts
This reporting comes as the forty-sixth president tested positive for COVID and is now self-isolating in Delaware. Before the diagnosis, Biden had raised eyebrows for his shifting messaging about what would cause him to suspend his campaign.
Initially, a defiant Biden told ABC News that he would step aside only if the “Lord Almighty” told him to do so. Then, he admitted he may reconsider his position if the data showed no path forward. But he remained adamant that no such data existed. “Unless they came back and said, ‘there’s no way you can win.’ Me,” he said at his ‘big boy’ press conference last week. “No one is saying that. No poll says that.”
Now, the scope has widened again. In a pre-taped interview with BET News released Wednesday, Biden said he would exit stage left “if I had some medical condition that emerged.” That leaves him more wiggle room than ever to change his mind.
What Comes Next
While Donalds admitted that he was one of the “last holdouts” who thought Biden would stay put, he now believes he will go. “He let the cat out of the bag that he mentally is not capable of four more years, let alone four months. That’s just the fact of the matter,” he said. “And because his lack of capabilities was exposed on the world stage, now the Democrats are running for cover.”
In his view, the Dems were well aware of Biden’s condition, but it was overlooked because he served as “a vessel for their agenda.” Now that the secret is out, he is just a liability. “They are embarrassed not for Joe Biden; they are embarrassed for themselves,” Donalds added. “This is why they’re getting rid of him so fast.”
Speculation continues to abound over who would replace Biden on the 2024 ticket, but Donalds does not see how the party gets around Vice President Kamala Harris due to her DEI credentials. With that in mind, he laid out what he thinks will happen next.
“The Olympics are next week, and I think Kamala Harris is probably going to go over to Paris. This is going to be one of the great repackagings of the next wave of American leadership,” he explained. “They’re going to try to repackage her the best that they can, and then when they have to do their little convention… they’ll do the handoff.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Rep. Donalds by tuning in to episode 841 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.