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Biden is reportedly set to meet with his family at Camp David to discuss the future of his campaign.
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The trip was planned well in advance, but its purpose changed after Biden’s heated debate.
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A chorus of influential supporters has called for Biden to resign over the past 48 hours.
President Joe Biden will meet with his family at Camp David on Sunday to discuss the future of his election campaign, according to multiple reports.
For Biden, a former senator and vice president of the United States, this will likely be one of the most difficult decisions in his long political life.
The pre-planned trip — a chance for the entire family, including children and grandchildren, to take a family photo — is an opportune opportunity for a private meeting with the people who are arguably the most influential in Biden’s life. His family played a key role in his decision to run for office in 2020.
The family gathering follows Biden’s much-criticized debate performance against former President Donald Trump on Thursday. During the debate, Biden struggled with a gravelly voice and muddled answers that revived concerns about his age.
During his talks with Biden, Trump attempted to paint the president as ineffective both domestically and on the world stage, making unsubstantiated claims about immigration and crime rates while also smearing the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
In the 48 hours since the debate, a chorus of donors and other supporters have called on Biden to step aside. The New York Times Editorial Board made the same request last week.
Outside a fundraising event on Saturday in East Hampton, New York, several voters who support Biden held up signs asking him to withdraw from the race. The weekend was dominated by Democratic debates over who might take Biden’s place.
In just 90 minutes, Biden’s debate performance appears to have created the most serious challenge to his presidency yet. However, Biden’s campaign has firmly pulled back and tried to refocus the party’s message to one focused on the general election. And Biden himself has so far given no indication that he will drop out of the race.
At a campaign event on Friday in the swing state of North Carolina, Biden publicly responded to his debate struggles.
“Folks, I may not walk as easily or talk as smoothly as I used to. I may not debate as well as I used to. But what I do know is how to tell the truth,” he told the crowd in a speech that was infinitely more energetic than his debate performance the night before.
In response to reports that Biden plans to discuss the future of his campaign with his family this weekend, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said on X that the Camp David trip was announced on June 23 — before the debate — and dismissed the reports.
Read the original article on Business Insider
