As President Joe Biden isolates at his Delaware beach home after testing positive for Covid-19, he is growing increasingly isolated from many corners of his Democratic Party as he faces deepening questions about whether he should continue his reelection campaign.
The announcement of Biden’s positive test on Wednesday came as calls from his party for him to step aside in the 2024 race are growing louder. CNN reported that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told the president that polling shows Biden cannot defeat former President Donald Trump in November and that continuing his run for the presidency could destroy Democrats’ chance to take back the House.
Following Biden’s campaign-changing performance in last month’s presidential debate, his age and health — which have long been his biggest political weakness, dating back to his third run for the presidency starting in 2019 — have been under the microscope. In the last week, multiple incidents have been held up as signs that Biden is not sharp enough to convince voters that he could defeat Trump, let alone serve another four years as commander-in-chief.
An interview with BET that taped on Tuesday and aired in full late Wednesday night is the latest moment that’s being scrutinized by nervous Democrats. In that interview, Biden said that only a “medical condition” would convince him to leave the race — a statement made just one day before he tested positive for Covid.
He stumbled while referring to Black members of his administration, describing Lloyd Austin as the secretary of defense rather than saying his name.
“For example, look at the heat I’m getting because I named a, uh … the — secretary of defense, a Black man. I named Ketanji Brown, because of the people I’ve named,” Biden said, also referring to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom he appointed to the high court.
The White House said Wednesday the president had “upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise” as a result of his Covid infection. Video of the president leaving Las Vegas showed him slowly walking up the steps to enter Air Force One, including pausing on the second step to gather himself before continuing into the plane.
Additional video shot by pool reporters who met Biden in Delaware late Wednesday also shows the president appearing to have difficulty getting situated in his SUV for the drive to his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home, where he is planning to isolate. The video shows Biden taking half a minute to get into the SUV and requiring the assistance of Secret Service agents to get situated in the car. The president was not wearing a face mask while he was interacting with the agents, despite having Covid. He eventually did put on a mask.
Earlier on Wednesday, while visiting a local restaurant, the president appeared to mistake Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford for the state’s governor. While speaking to a guest, Biden pointed to Ford and asked, “You know the gov?” Individuals nearby laughed at the statement, but it was unclear whether Biden was joking.
CNN has reached out to the Biden campaign and White House for comment on the moment in Nevada and the president’s arrival in Delaware.
Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks on Thursday said the campaign is “not working through any scenarios” where Biden is not the presidential nominee.
“The vice president is a part of the Biden-Harris ticket. Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee,” he said during a DNC news conference in Milwaukee when asked if the campaign was working on any plans should Vice President Kamala Harris take the lead.
Asked if Biden’s receptive to conversations about leaving the race, Fulks replied, “The president has said it several times, he’s staying in this race.”
“The president is in this race. He’s going to and we look forward to him accepting the delegates in Chicago and continuing with this race to talk about what’s at stake,” he added.
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