Biden Candidacy, 20 July 2024

🚨 BREAKING TONIGHT: The New York Times reporting that President Biden is "increasingly accepting that he may not be able to" stay in the race.

AND that, with regard to dropping out, "[a]dvisers believe that Mr. Biden would not want to do it before Prime Minister Benjamin… pic.twitter.com/2FV4iUZX06

— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) July 20, 2024

… Netanyahu of Israel visits Washington on Wednesday."

Julie Kelly

Biden truly believes he is a great president. He truly believes the country is in better shape because of him. And he truly believes the country hates Donald Trump as much as he does.

Biden always has been a petty tyrant who believes his own spin about himself. He’s always been an angry vengeful blowhard who blames everyone else for his troubles. He always sees himself as the victim.

Which is why he’ll stay put.

My latest reporting...

+ President Biden is deeply frustrated in Delaware this weekend with those he perceives as unhelpful and who he believes are participating in an informal, somewhat slow-moving, misguided revolt against his candidacy

— Robert Costa (@costareports) July 20, 2024

… Biden and members of his inner circle believe both former Speaker Pelosi and former President Obama are privately underestimating his political appeal and the strength of his coalition, especially against Trump, and believe they and others are being too muted on Dem. dissent.

President Biden, as one friend puts it to me, is "old school" and believes if you "don't think he should run, you should run against him publicly" or otherwise be quiet and be supportive.

A flurry of rumors about Biden allies thinking hard about a Biden exit has infuriated many of Biden's most trusted associates, especially talk that historian Jon Meacham was maybe being tapped to write/or mulling an exit speech, which he denied to CBS News.

The key dynamic is that while Biden and many of his confidants are LISTENING to people's concerns about his viability, they also DETEST this process. They view the listening as good-faith openness to feedback, not as some willingness to leave the race due to private Dem. doubts.

Note: The discussions—in the inner circle, among lawmakers, among donors, among party elites—remain very fluid with the president's frustration the only constant. Truth of where things stand will be the president's own actions more than any particular nudge or shove.