My colleague Brittany Sheehan wrote on Saturday about how the family was supposed to be talking about the future of Joe Biden’s campaign during their time in Camp David this weekend.
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According to one of the sources who leaked that report:
The decision-makers are two people — it’s the president and his wife Anyone who doesn’t understand how deeply personal and familial this decision will be isn’t knowledgeable about the situation.
The campaign said the family meet-up had been planned before the debate, and there wasn’t going to be any “formal or determinative discussion.”
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Report: Biden Expected to Meet With Family at Camp David to Discuss the Future of His Campaign
Now there’s a new report from the NY Times that the family has told Joe to stay in the race:
President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday.
Mr. Biden huddled with his wife, children and grandchildren at Camp David while he tried to figure out how to tamp down Democratic anxiety. While his relatives are acutely aware of how poorly he did against former President Donald J. Trump, they argued that he could still show the country that he is capable of serving for another four years.
Oh, guess who’s encouraging him to stay in, according to this report?
One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice, said one of the people informed about the discussions, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations.
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Campaign officials are talking about doing a press conference or interviews to argue his case.
But there’s infighting going on among the Democrats, over who’s to blame for the disaster and how to move forward:
The anger among Democrats was made evident on Sunday when John Morgan, a top Democratic donor, publicly blamed the advisers who managed the president’s debate preparations, citing by name Ron Klain, Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer.
“Biden has for too long been fooled by the value of Anita Dunn and her husband,” Mr. Morganwrote on social media. “They need to go … TODAY. The grifting is gross. It was political malpractice.”
He elaborated in a subsequent interview. “It would be like if you took a prizefighter who was going to have a title fight and put him in a sauna for 15 hours then said, ‘Go fight,’” he said. “I believe that the debate is solely on Ron Klain, Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn.”
Members of Mr. Biden’s family were likewise said to be focused on the president’s staff, including Ms. Dunn, a White House senior adviser, and her husband, Mr. Bauer, the president’s personal attorney, who played Mr. Trump during debate rehearsals.
That makes a lot of sense, and it’s something I’d been thinking might happen. They drilled him so much, that he imploded even more than he normally would have. That doesn’t change the fact he wouldn’t have imploded if he didn’t have these issues. He wouldn’t have needed all the preparation.
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Here’s Ron Klain’s reply to that:
Other reports are still trying to downplay that there was even any consideration of him stepping aside going on, saying they were all meeting for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz:
I think that all translates to Situation Normal All Fouled Up, continuing.
I also thought Jill wouldn’t be able to give it up, and I think that’s where we’re at now. Unless there’s some better deal that they can offer, she’s going to continue despite people calling it elder abuse.
It’s shameful, but there it is.
Related:
Jill Biden’s Ex-Husband Goes There: ‘She’s the One Who Wants to Be President Now’