While his family was aware of how poorly he performed against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee.

President Joe Biden’s family used a Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance, and some members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Biden spent the day sequestered with first lady Jill Biden, his children and grandchildren. It was a previously scheduled trip to the presidential retreat in Maryland for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

But the gathering was also an exercise in trying to figure out how to quell Democratic anxiety that has exploded following Thursday’s performance.

While his family was aware of how poorly he performed against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee. They also believe he is capable of doing the job of president for another four years, according to the people who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

    • Orbituary@lemmy.worldEnglish
      406·
      5 months ago

      And yet, it’s exactly the point. He broke the biggest campaign promise that caused me to vote for him. Now we’re exactly where we don’t want to be.

      I have to vote for him because the alternative is infinitely worse. I don’t think he can win. Fuck the DNC and Biden for not foreseeing this and sticking to the promise.

      • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
        381·
        5 months ago

        The DNC has been snatching defeat from the jaws of victory my whole life. I’m so sick of this shit.

          • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            3·
            5 months ago

            Obamacare did not give us healthcare. It mandated purchasing insurance and made insure follow more human rules. There are still plenty of people without insurance who instead take tax penalties every year. Sure it’s better that what we had but it’s not healthcare like normal nations have.

        • Orbituary@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          5 months ago

          If she had stepped down when Obama asked her to, we wouldn’t have this current SCROTUS. Seems like Obama had some foresight about aging. Too bad Biden’s handlers didn’t.

      • Pheonixdown@lemm.ee
        184·
        5 months ago

        I think you’re suggesting that he committed to being a 1-term president as part of his campaign. You might be remembering a bunch of sensationalized articles based on a Politico article where an unnamed “prominent advisor” said “he won’t be running for reelection” and a bunch of other mostly unnamed people also suggested he wouldn’t/shouldn’t run again. Which led to tons of other articles, which parroted it as fact.

        The Politico article even further went on to be updated after it was first published to add a quote from Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director at the time, which stated Biden was “not privately considering declining to run for re-election.”

        So he never made that commitment and the only official communication refuted the speculation.

        Reference Politico - Biden Single Term

        Slate even covered this recently in another article, where they were unable to locate any official commitment related to serving a single term.

        Reference Slate - Biden Single Term

        Disclaimer: I also wish we had another option, just presenting some evidence. Maybe it’ll make you feel better with your choice.

    • seathru@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      15·
      5 months ago

      Back then we were told “But no party has run a different candidate when they had a setting president that was eligible for reelection.” There was never a choice.