Supreme Court to decide Trump’s immunity decision TODAY as Biden fights to save re-election campaign: Follow live updates from US politics

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior Political Reporter

Democratic Party leaders desperately pleaded with rank-and-file members of the caucus not to abandon President Joe Biden despite his disastrous debate performance.

During a secret call after the CNN debate in Atlanta on Thursday, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez sought to calm concerns about the president’s viability as their candidate in 2024.

But those on the call say leaders are misleading them and asking them to ignore obvious signs of mental decline. They believe Biden, 81, may no longer be the best for the job.

With the Democratic Convention just a month and a half away, many party members, strategists and donors are wondering if they should look for a replacement.

Joe Salazar, an elected member of the Democratic National Committee from Colorado who was on the call, said:

I was hoping for a more substantive conversation rather than ‘Hey, let’s go out and just be entertainers,’ without actually addressing a very serious topic that played out on American television for millions of people to see.

Several things could have been said to address the situation. But we didn’t get it. They were gaslighting us.

Joe Biden feels “humiliated” and “painfully self-conscious” of his image following his calamitous debate performance, as he prepares to discuss the future of his re-election campaign.

The president has retreated to Camp David with his wife, children and grandchildren to take a break from campaigning and weigh his options. NBC News reported for the first time.

Insiders described Biden’s mood as “humiliated and lacking confidence” following his confrontation with Donald Trump, in which he stumbled over his words and lost his train of thought several times.