After last June’s disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden, Barack Obama called on then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to be the bearer of bad news and convince Biden to drop out of the race, saying his own “fragile relationship” until the president stopped him. from being the “best messenger”.
According to an in-depth study by The New York Timeswhich was adapted from a forthcoming book by journalists Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater, Schumer sat down with Biden at the president’s Delaware home last summer and told him he would “go down in American history as one of the darkest figures” , if he stayed. in and lost to Donald Trump.
“The roughly 45-minute conversation, which took place on a screened-in porch overlooking a pond, was more pointed and emotional than previously known, and helps explain how Mr. Biden came to the decision just over a week later to end his campaign,” the Times reported.
The confrontation came three weeks after the confrontation with Trump that sparked a seismic shift among Democrats, who had previously sought to dismiss concerns about the president’s age and cognitive decline as MAGA-fueled media attacks. Still, even before Biden’s face-planting during the debate, Schumer had privately concluded that questions surrounding the president’s fitness for office were too much for Democrats to overcome.
However, Schumer had chosen not to do anything for months, since calling colleagues to discuss the president’s future would weaken the party as a whole, especially if those conversations were leaked to the press. The debate, meanwhile, was considered a “gift” by Schumer, as it finally provided an opportunity to start an “overdue discussion about the president’s political viability.”
After the debate, donors and Democratic lawmakers began calling Schumer nonstop, pleading with him to tell the president he had to drop out. While the Senate leader urged them not to go public with their complaints, some felt “waiting was the wrong strategy,” especially since Biden had not returned their calls or letters. Meanwhile, Schumer began having “sincere conversations” with Obama and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about replacing Biden on the ticket.
During a July 3 call with Biden, Schumer refrained from specifically calling for Biden to drop out, but told the president that the only way he could see this through would be to hold “spontaneous” events and “unmanual town halls” to put it into words. voters are comfortable around his age. While Biden’s advisers dismissed those concerns, Schumer asked Democrats to refrain from publicly calling for the president to step aside, fearing that doing so would only “make it worse” and cause Biden to dig in his heels.
In the end, Obama revealed that he was concerned that the party was doing nothing as the days went on. On the flip side, he also didn’t think Biden would listen to him in person because the president was still sore about the 2016 election.
“He told Mr. Schumer that he himself had a fragile relationship with his former vice president, who still carried a chip on his shoulder over Mr. Obama’s decision to endorse Hillary Clinton’s candidacy in 2016. After urging him not to run at the time, Mr. Obama said he told Mr. Schumer he wasn’t sure he was the best messenger to ask Mr. Biden to step aside. Times noticed.
“You might be a better one,” the former president added.
It would be another week before Schumer made her way to Biden’s Rehobeth beach house for the emotional one-on-one that resulted in the president stepping aside. Before that, Biden dug in further, sending Democrats a letter saying he was standing firm and he expected Democrats to fall in line.
Days after Biden’s letter, the Democratic caucus held an “ugly” meeting with Biden’s advisers, where nearly the entire caucus agreed that Biden had to go — even those who were close friends with the president. Late. Jack Reed (D-RI), normally quiet and stoic, said he could not support Biden’s re-election bid unless he produced reports from two neurologists saying he was fit to serve.
One of the only vocal supporters among the senators was John Fetterman, who complained that his colleagues had “no backbone” and needed to “be for Joe Biden.” Schumer eventually scolded the first-term Pennsylvania senator, telling him that while he could “always express what you think in our caucus,” he should never “tell our members that they have no backbone.”
Inevitably, the majority leader sat down with the president to give him the harsh truth, letting him know that if a secret ballot was held in his caucus, only five senators would express support for him to stay in the race.
“If you run and you lose to Trump and we lose the Senate and we don’t get the House back, 50 years of amazing, beautiful work goes out the window. But worse — you go down in American history as one of those darkest figures,” Schumer told Biden on July 13. “If I were you. I would not run, and I urge you not to run.”
While Biden ultimately followed that advice and paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place, the president has still expressed the belief that he would have won had he stayed.
According to Washington PostBiden and his aides have told people after Trump’s victory that he could have defeated the incoming president. Biden would double down on that sentiment during a news conference last week.
“I think I would have beaten Trump, I could have beaten Trump,” the president declared. “”And I think Kamala could have beaten Trump and would have beaten Trump. It wasn’t about that. I thought it was important to bring the party together.”