Democrats are privately in agreement that President Joe Biden should be replaced after his poor performance during last week’s presidential debate, according to former Obama administration official Van Jones.
Jones, a CNN political commentator, said on the network that Democrats are privately discussing how, not whether, to replace Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.
“Behind the scenes, it’s full-scale panic. People are passing around legal memos, PDFs are flying back and forth on WhatsApp, trying to figure out what are the options?” Jones said on Wednesday. “How can you replace Biden? How do you get him to do it in a way where he feels respected, as he should be respected? Who should Kamala Harris’ vice president be? The conversation on air and the conversation off air are completely different.”
“We have someone who loves this country. We have someone who has given his all – I mean, his all, to the last drop – for this country, but he may not be able to get across the finish line,” Jones said of the president. “A mature party has to take that into account, and that is what’s happening. I understand people want to, you know, defend him and protect him and give him the space and the dignity to make his own choice. But there is a big conversation happening right now about how this happens – not whether.”
Van Jones on CNN: “Behind the scenes, it’s full scale panic. People are passing around legal memos trying to figure out what are the options. How can you replace Biden? The conversation on air and the conversation off air are completely different.” pic.twitter.com/umvvvgVD7b
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 4, 2024
Biden is facing growing calls to step aside as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democrat in Congress to publicly call for Biden to drop out of the race on Tuesday, followed shortly after by Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee.
“What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race,” Grijalva told The New York Times.
Biden has repeatedly insisted that he is staying in the race. In an interview with a Milwaukee radio show on Wednesday, the president brushed off his feeble performance in last week’s presidential debate.
“I had a bad night,” Biden said. “And the fact of the matter is that I screwed up. I made a mistake. That’s 90 minutes onstage – look at what I’ve done in three and a half years.”