MANDEL NGAN/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Supreme Court’s immunity decision in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC, July 1, 2024.
Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden’s campaign manager told members of the National Campaign Finance Committee on Monday that the team was “clear-eyed, not Pollyanian” after the president’s poor debate performance, two participants on the call told CNN, but defended Biden’s health and gave no indication he was reconsidering his bid for a second term.
Jen O’Malley Dillon held a virtual meeting with about 500 donors, whose photos spanned 21 pages of Zoom screens. The meeting was called in hopes of easing tensions and answering questions that leading Democrats have raised in response to Biden’s disappointing performance in Thursday night’s debate.
Dillon gave no indication that Biden was considering changing course, three participants on the call told CNN, while staunchly defending his health. She referred to the president’s health report released by his doctors earlier this year, which declared him fit to serve.
“He’s probably healthier than most of us,” Dillon said, according to two of the participants, one of whom said the comments were offensive and dismissive of genuine concerns about Biden following his debate performance.
A member of the National Finance Committee who participated in the call said it was disappointing that the top Biden official sought to downplay the concerns, rather than hear them.
Questions were allowed, but they were read by staff members, rather than the donors themselves.
Among the questions O’Malley Dillon answered were how Biden would fare in the upcoming debate and what the campaign plans to do if the president drops in the polls, said another donor on the call.
The gist of the response regarding Biden’s second debate with Donald Trump was that the campaign fully acknowledged that the president had a poor performance, and that the president would be better prepared next time to turn the tables on Trump, according to this donor.
As for what would happen if Biden falls in public polls, campaign officials stressed that they were not worried about that because their own internal polls were strong and Biden had been steady since the debate.
Meanwhile, some senior Democrats and supporters close to the White House have reacted negatively to the tone and language some campaign officials have adopted in their defense as the campaign has retreated after the debate.
In particular, the campaign’s decision to label those who called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race because of their serious concerns after the CNN debate as the “bedwetting brigade” has fueled anger and dismay. One senior Democratic aide told CNN that tone was “disrespectful”; another senior Democrat in close contact with the White House said it was “disgusting.”
Several people who criticized terms like “bedwetting” told CNN that the tone was dismissive and completely ignored the very serious and widespread concerns within the Democratic Party about Biden’s ability to run for and serve a second term. In a fundraising email sent over the weekend under the name of deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty, the campaign acknowledged the widespread panic over Biden’s debate performance.
“If you’re like me, you get a lot of texts or calls from people about the status of the race after Thursday. Maybe it’s your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or pretentious podcasters,” the email began.
The message further read: “The urinating brigade is calling on Joe Biden to ‘step aside’. This is the best possible way for Donald Trump to win and for us to lose.”
On Monday’s call with donors, Chris Korge, the party’s finance chief, urged donors to work harder and unite behind Biden.
“Everybody just needs to breathe through their nose for a minute,” Korge told donors, two participants on the call said, imploring donors not to panic about the trajectory of Biden’s race with Trump.
Quentin Folks, deputy campaign manager, told donors that the drop in poll numbers was due to negative media coverage of Biden, rather than the president’s debate performance. He said editorials and columnists calling for Biden to drop out of the race were “overstating the situation.”
