Is This the Beginning of the End for Joe Biden?

Virginia Senator Mark Warner is looking to assemble a supergroup of Democratic lawmakers to force President Joe Biden out of the 2024 presidential race.

The Old Dominion senator has told people that he no longer believes Biden has enough sway with voters to prevent another Donald Trump presidency, according to two sources that spoke with The Washington Post with the condition of anonymity.

Warner’s spokesperson Rachel Cohen refused to either confirm or deny Warner’s current beliefs about Biden’s ability. “Like many other people in Washington and across the country, Senator Warner believes these are critical days for the president’s campaign, and he has made that clear to the White House,” Cohen told the Post.

So far, Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, and Seth Moulton have formally called on the president to exit the race, but many more have signaled their preference in subtler ways, including legacy politicians like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the latter of whom suggested that growing concern over the candidates’ ages was a “legitimate question.”

Panic over Biden’s age and ability has consumed the Democratic Party since the president’s abysmal debate performance last week, during which he appeared dumbfounded and frail through the majority of his first 2024 matchup against Donald Trump. Since the face-off, droves of private-sector leaders, donors, and consultants have urged Biden to call it quits, looking for spontaneous alternatives to a candidate that they openly describe as “comatose” and “dead.”

An anonymous document titled “Unburdened by What Has Been: The Case for Kamala” is circulating in Democratic circles, according to CNN, as discussions for Biden to leave the Democratic ticket swirl among Democratic donors and party leaders grappling with his debate performance last week. “We have one goal: defeat Trump,” the subheading for the document reads. “Like it or not, we have one realistic path: Kamala.”

Deriving its name from a line frequently espoused by Vice President Kamala Harris, “Unburdened by What Has Been” breaks down the pros and cons of Harris being chosen to replace Biden on the ticket—and treats Biden stepping down as a foregone conclusion. The document acknowledges her abysmal approval numbers and proclivity for peculiar gaffes—such as nearly calling Biden the vice president during a July Fourth event—to her unpopularity as the face of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Those pitfalls are weighed by the document’s authors against Harris’s “massive structural advantages” of already being on the ticket alongside the potential to energize support among “younger/POC voters we’re bleeding” on issues such as abortion, jobs, climate change, and LGBTQ+ rights.

The document, authored by anonymous self-described “senior operatives within Democratic political institutions that will not be taking a position regarding this crisis,” functions as something of a playbook for like-minded readers with influence to “make noise in support of this basic premise: Kamala is the only viable option to succeed Biden, and if she gets the nomination, she can win.” As CNN notes, while the document’s authors are unknown, it has circulated “in group chats of Democratic donors and leading coalition groups.”

“Running as a Presidential candidate will allow Harris to present herself in a more commanding light,” the document argues in contrast to current skepticism of Harris. “She’ll be a prosecutor going up against a convicted felon; a woman fighting against the man who ended Roe v. Wade. The headlines write themselves.”

“To be clear: this isn’t an argument about deservedness, or about why you personally should love Kamala,” the document states. “This is about strategy and winning in the face of unimaginable electoral stakes. The anti-Trump coalition cannot afford to discount the strengths of the nominated Democratic running mate and current vice president. She’s not the best option—she’s the only realistic option to win.”

Beyond pitching Harris as a viable alternative, the document explores “the Kamala scenario” against “the chaos scenario” built on the basis of Biden agreeing to end his candidacy. The document argues that the “Kamala scenario”—where Biden steps aside and encourages his delegates to back Harris at the DNC—would cast Biden as “a modern-day Cincinnatus—the reluctant hero who took up his sword to protect democracy, delivered transformational legislative achievements, and passed the torch to a historic figure from the next generation.”

Whether anything comes of the document or public calls for Biden to step aside is ultimately up to Biden: Biden and the White House have both said he has no plans to leave the ticket. A New York Times/Siena poll released Wednesday reports Trump’s lead against Biden has grown since the debate. To date, three House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to drop out, joining 14 governors and members of Congress who have expressed concerns about Biden remaining in the race. Former Democratic House Representative Tim Ryan declared Harris should be the party’s nominee, and Representative James Clyburn has also hinted at the same.

A West Wing official is sounding the alarm over the aging president—and this time it has little to do with his health.

The official, who refused to divulge their policy area, age, or gender in an interview with Semafor, feared that some policy decisions were “being made without” Biden’s knowledge and claimed that it was unclear to even some staffers involved in the West Wing policy process just how many policy proposals were reaching the president.

“I’m super proud of the policies,” the person told Semafor. “I’m talking to you because I’m incredibly upset and scared for the country and I would like to do what I can.” Several Biden administration officials rejected the account, telling the publication that Biden is “in the middle of everything” and is “sweating every relevant detail.”

“He signs off on everything,” White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed told Semafor. “Many of us have sat with him as he’s made hundreds of decisions.”

“Nobody has the authority to freelance,” he added.

Top White House economist Jared Bernstein described Biden as a president who “makes decisions on everything from student debt relief to 301 tariffs to housing policy.”

Panic over Biden’s age and ability has consumed the Democratic Party since the president’s abysmal debate performance last week, during which he appeared dumbfounded and frail through the majority of his first 2024 matchup against Donald Trump. Since the face-off, droves of private-sector leaders, donors, and consultants have urged Biden to exit the race, looking for spontaneous alternatives to a candidate that they openly describe as “comatose” and “dead.”

Donald Trump’s advisers are reportedly already preparing a playbook for dealing with Vice President Kamala Harris, amid swirling rumors that she might be tapped to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president in 2024.

Trump’s advisers seemed adamant that Harris would struggle to retrieve support from blue-collar workers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, according to Axios. One Republican operative even suggested that the Democrats should leak the likely abysmal polling on Harris from these states, if they want to end the speculation that she could replace Biden. It’s likely that this would be central to their campaign against Harris, should she run.

Blue-collar workers are a demographic Trump has been particularly anxious to capture; he recently began touting the promise of a policy to end taxes on tips, hoping it would secure the working-class vote in states vital to a presidential victory.

Trump’s campaign has already begun using Harris as a foil for this particular policy. On Thursday, the campaign turned a candid video of Trump calling Harris “so f*cking bad,” which was obtained by The Daily Beast, into promotional material about the policy, because Trump happened to be tipping a caddy as he railed against Biden and Harris from the golf course.

Trump’s other angles of attack would be that she is liberal, inexperienced, weak on border security, and hostile to corporations, according to Axios. He’s already started making fun of her for her weird laughter during public appearances.

Trump and his allies have good reason to fear a potential Harris run. Harris, who is nearly two decades younger than Biden and Trump, would likely appeal to independent and Democratic voters who have expressed interest in a younger candidate. She could also potentially increase voter turnout among women, who tend to vote in greater numbers than men.

Harris, who has been a sharp critic of measures restricting abortion across the country, could help to recenter the overturning of Roe v. Wade as the key issue in the upcoming election. Abortion access was a winning policy point for Democrats during the 2022 elections and could ensure a renewed wave of enthusiasm and turnout in November.

Dozens of business leaders have called on President Joe Biden to pull out of the 2024 election, urging the 81-year-old Democratic candidate to preserve democracy and “cement your legacy.”

“We respectfully urge you to withdraw from being a candidate for reelection for the sake of our democracy and the future of our nation,” the letter to senior White House officials read.

The open letter, organized by the pro-Democrat Leadership Now Project, received 168 signatures but continued to receive more after it was delivered. Among its signatories were Walmart heiress Christy Walton, former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, billionaire investor Mike Novogratz, and former Google executive Ning Mosberger-Tang.

“First and foremost, our number one concern is the risk that former president [Donald] Trump presents to the economy, to national security and the risk that he undermines rule of law,” Daniella Ballou-Aares, the CEO of the Leadership Now Project, said in an appearance Thursday on CNN, noting that the coalition of business leaders no longer believe that Biden will be able to sway enough voters to prevent another Trump presidency. Among their top concerns, per the letter, is the threat that Trump carries with regard to global and domestic instability, the abandonment of foreign allies, “crony capitalism,” political retribution, and further erosion of civil rights for women and minority groups.

“We are also engaging with members of Congress in the House and the Senate, making our concerns heard and sharing those of course also with the White House and the administration,” Ballou-Aares added. “We know that we alone will not drive this decision but we believe that adding our voice to it and encouraging others to come forward and recognize the risk and severity of the situation is our obligation, frankly, to this country.”

In the letter’s closing words, the coalition of private-sector leaders appeals to Biden’s nationalistic duty, recalling one of the biggest political junctures in early U.S. history in urging the president to pass the torch, “just as George Washington did.”