The rebellion against Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy is growing and now Bill and Hillary Clinton are joining the behind-the-scenes conspiracy with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.
Well-connected advisers to Obama and the Clintons are commissioning polls and pressuring Democratic donors to hold on to their dollars in an effort to pressure Biden out of the race.
But the president’s allies are fighting back, joining their boss in his stance to stay in the race. Biden, his White House and his re-election team have repeatedly said he is in the race to stay.
The coup, however, stems from concerns that Biden, after his disastrous debate performance, may not be able to beat Donald Trump in November. But its roots lie in resentments that have been brewing for decades between Obama, the Clintons and Biden.
They have long-standing, interconnected ties to each other — they’ve shared staff, passed legislation and campaigned for each other — but they are also longtime competitors who take turns chafing at each other for the attention and credit the other receives.
As Biden digs in and rumors mount against him, partisan fighting shows no sign of stopping and plots and twists reach Machiavellian levels.
The question is how long this can continue before everything implodes.
“We have to give on something, because we’re in hell right now,” said Democratic strategist Jim Manley, a well-connected former staffer who knows all the players in this modern-day Shakespearean drama.
Joe Biden said the only way he would drop out of the presidential race would be if his staff told him “there’s no way you can win”
Biden has made it clear that he is in the race to stay.
At his Thursday night news conference, he said the only way he would back out would be if his staff told him “there’s no way you can win.”
The rebellion has focused on showing him precisely that, plotting to use poll numbers and economic pressure to force him to resign.
Former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod has long been skeptical of Biden’s chances of winning a second term.
The debate, in which Biden fumbled for words and stared into the camera, was a breaking point for many who feared the president would never recover from the damage.
“If what he said at the end of his press conference is true, it appears that Biden’s team has not been very candid with him about what the data shows: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern and his chances of victory are very, very slim,” Axelrod wrote in X after Biden’s press conference.
The rebellion is a “growing” network of “ruthless” helpers, Axios He called it the “unofficial committee to deselect the president.”
Aides have worked for Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, using their combined experience and agendas to unite party members against Biden.
“The Super Friends are reuniting,” one House Democrat told Politico.
“There’s a group of people who are going to make their case to whoever they can get in the White House to get him to step aside, and they’re going to kick our asses if he doesn’t.”
Democrats are increasingly terrified that Biden will not only cost them the White House but drag down their fellow candidates as well, handing Republicans control of the House and Senate.
In addition, sSome top Democratic donors have told Future Forward — the largest pro-Biden super PAC — that roughly $90 million in pledged donations are on hold as long as Biden remains at the top of the presidential ticket, the New York Times reported.
But Biden’s re-election team maintains there is a path to victory in what they call the blue wall: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
And, they argue, if they can get through the last two weeks, they can get through anything.
“If we can get through these two weeks we’re in, we can get through anything,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff on duty Thursday, according to Axios.
“What we’re seeing in the public polls over the last few days is what we’re seeing in our polls. What we’re seeing is that this is still a race with a margin of error,” he said.
And former Obama adviser Tommy Vietor called reports of a coup “totally inaccurate” and “a little crazy.”
“Someone is spreading a conspiracy theory that there is a coordinated effort by former Obama staff to oust Biden. It’s totally inaccurate (and a little crazy),” he wrote on X.
Barack Obama is said to be one of the veteran Democrats plotting to oust Biden from the race.
Bill and Hillary Clinton’s advisers are reportedly joining the rebellion against Biden
But rumors continue to circulate that the best decision for the Democratic Party is to have someone other than Joe Biden at the head of the ticket.
With Biden stubbornly staying in the race, backed by his relatives Jill, Hunter and Valerie, the only way to oust him may be a combination of pressure from donors whose money keeps the party running and an intervention by the party elders: Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
If Biden can be convinced that his candidacy would destroy Democrats on Capitol Hill and give Trump unfettered power, he may step aside.
But Hillary Clinton and Obama may not be the right messengers to deliver that message.
Biden, Obama and Clinton have long been competitive: They all competed against each other for the 2008 Democratic nomination that Obama ultimately won.
In public, they would all stand together, as Obama and both Clintons supported Biden after his debate debacle.
In private the story is different.
Biden is said to still hold a grudge against the duo over the 2016 election. Obama convinced him not to run that cycle, clearing the way for Clinton, who lost to Trump.
Meanwhile, Obama is said to be frustrated that Biden has passed laws he couldn’t pass (like the infrastructure bill) and Clinton is resentful that Biden beat Trump.
But everyone remains concerned about Biden’s low poll numbers. Trump has been leading the race for months and Biden’s debate performance did little to seal confidence in his candidacy.
The rebellion is “a bit of a reckoning, but I think the majority really believes that Donald Trump represents an existential threat and that’s something that has to change,” Manly said.
The best chance to convince Biden not to run for office may lie with Schumer and Pelosi. If they can convince Biden that his lawmakers are worried that if he leads the party, they will lose reelection, that could make the president think twice.
Nancy Pelosi, seen above with Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House in 2022, is one of the few people who could tell Biden to resign.
Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama in April 2007, when they were all running for the 2008 presidential nomination.
Pelosi has been at the center of the story for a while.
She is the one lawmakers have turned to with concerns about the president, and she has a strong relationship with Biden — strong enough to deliver the killing blow.
Plus, he has the balls to tell him to resign.
“She’s the fucking power broker. She’s the hatchet man,” one Democratic lawmaker told Axios of the former House speaker.
Pelosi has already publicly urged Biden to reconsider his stance on staying in the race.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether he’s going to run or not. We all encourage him to make that decision, because time is running out,” she said on Morning Joe on Wednesday.
