At a Camp David gathering on Sunday, President Biden's extended family urged him to ignore the growing number of voices asking him to quit the race -- and many of his loved ones blamed his disastrous debate on his advisors. According to Politico, the two who most forcefully encouraged the 81-year-old Biden to continue were his wife Jill and his son Hunter -- the two people whose opinion he reportedly values most.
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| En route to Camp David from the Hamptons, Joe and Jill Biden exit Marine One on Saturday with granddaughters Natalie (19) and Finnegan (23) |
The reports will strengthen a growing sense that Jill Biden is putting her own interests above that of her humiliated and failing husband. As one Democratic advisor told the New York Post over the weekend, "Jill Biden likes being First Lady...she doesn't want to give that up."
Meanwhile, Hunter, who doesn't exactly have strong reputation for sound judgment, is said to long for Americans to see a version of his father that -- as paraphrased by the Times -- is "scrappy and in command of the facts." Much as he once was in denial about his drug problem, Hunter now seems incapable of admitting that that version of his father is gone forever:
Imagine the mental decline coming for Joe in the next 4 years.pic.twitter.com/p9UiyfEK2a
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 30, 2024
Biden family members are said to have blamed the debate debacle on three advisors: Anita Dunn, her husband Bob Bauer -- who played the role of Trump in practice sessions -- and Biden's former chief of staff Ron Klain, who was in charge of the debate training. Aides to Biden denied these reports from multiple outlets.
With Biden having spent a full week at Camp David gearing up for the debate, his family members and others are claiming the team worked the 81-year-old too hard, and tried to pack him full of too many statistics. They even fault advisors for a debate-night makeup job that transformed his summer-tanned face to one that was pale and unhealthy-looking. Relatives also blamed debate-host CNN for not "fact-checking" Donald Trump and not telling Biden which camera would be on him as he blankly stared a thousand miles into space with his mouth agape.
A very important PSA about senior abuse. pic.twitter.com/jIxPKc7Qb6
— MAZE (@mazemoore) June 28, 2024
John Morgan, a top donor and friend of Biden's brother Frank, was not at the family meeting, but joined the delusional pile-up on Biden's advisers, telling the Times that the week-long debate prep -- which involved rehearsals at various times of the day -- was excessive:
"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.' I believe that the debate is solely on Ron Klain, Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn."
Unlike his family, the president is said to still hold confidence in the trio. Klain assured the Times that Biden will see the race through, saying, "He is the choice of the Democratic voters...We had a bad debate night. But you win campaigns by fighting — not quitting — in the face of adversity."
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| Husband-and-wife Biden adviser team Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer (via ABC News) |
Of course, Biden is "the choice of Democratic voters" largely because the Democratic National Committee made sure he was the only choice available. A post-debate CBS News poll found that just 54% of registered Democrats think Biden should be in the race. The poll found 41% of Democrats think Biden lacks has the requisite mental and cognitive health. More importantly, 72% of all voters give him a failing grade on mental health.
The family gathering at Camp David was reportedly scheduled before the debate, with the expectation that it would be a celebration of his performance and an opportunity for the extended Biden family -- including his children and grandchildren -- to be photographed by famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.
🚨Zoomed in video of Jill Biden leading Joe off the debate stage.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 28, 2024
This is insane. pic.twitter.com/QJhkfetdWz
In the wake of a historically-horrendous performance that's prompted many liberal pundits and the New York Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial boards to urge Biden to quit, the gathering morphed into a summit meeting in which Biden and his family discussed the future of his campaign.
In one of the more pathetic vignettes illustrating the Biden family's failure to grasp the depth of Biden's political woes, the Times reports that "at least one of the president’s grandchildren has expressed interest in getting more involved with the campaign, perhaps by talking with influencers on social media."
That should do it!
(Article by Tyler Durden republished from Zerohedge.com)