Anger and frustration mounted inside Joe Biden’s inner circle as well as with the president himself amid a cacophony of calls for him to drop out after a dismal debate performance last month and a collapse in polling.
According to sources who spoke to NBC News, Biden felt “[i]solated, frustrated and angry. He felt betrayed by allies who turned on him in his hour of need.” The network quoted someone within the inner circle who said of Biden: “He’s really pissed off.”
The outlet said Biden spent the weekend with several close advisers and family, but Vice President Kamala Harris, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon were not among them.
The report also said that multiple advisers warned that Biden had no path to victory. “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.”
Loyalists to Biden also were frustrated that members of the Democratic Party called on him to step aside instead of rallying behind him, the outlet reported.
“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?”
CNN analyst Bakari Sellers said that he had been in contact with several Democratic lawmakers and operatives who were angry at the way Biden’s exit from the race played out, per 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 added.
Biden, who has not been seen in public since last week and certainly not since he announced via social media that he would end his reelection bid, triggered new health concerns and conspiracy theories when he called into now-VP Harris’ HQ on Monday to show his support for her candidacy.
“I know yesterday’s news was surprising, and it was hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do,” Biden told his former campaign staffers in Wilmington, Del. “I know it’s hard because you’ve poured your heart and soul into me to help us win this thing, help me get this nomination, help me win the nomination and then go on to win the presidency.”
Biden, who called from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., said, “I think we made the right decision.” He added: “The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all.”
“And by the way, I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna be out there on the campaign with her, with Kamala. I’m going to be working like hell, both as a sitting president, getting legislation passed, as well as in campaigning,” Biden said, according to the New York Post. “You know what? We still need to save this democracy and Trump is still a danger to the community, he’s a danger to the nation.”
Biden added: “I’ll be doing whatever Kamala wants me or needs me to do.”
But, according to sources, it was the manner in which Biden spoke that was alarming. Biden’s voice, in a video of the call obtained by The Post, was raspy and his speech somewhat slurred, potentially indicating an advanced state of dementia or other mental decline.
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