Joe Biden sounded defiant Friday, saying he would resume his campaign, paused because of COVID, next week, but failed to silence voices urging the 81-year-old presidential candidate to pass the torch.
“Donald Trump’s bleak vision for the future does not represent who we are as Americans,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box.”
Mr Biden, who is isolating at his private beachfront residence in Delaware on the East Coast, has “improved” his symptoms, his doctor said, and he said he looks forward to returning to the campaign “next week”.
But his combative tone does not hide the growing revolt among Democratic leaders.
A dozen members of the House of Representatives and a fourth senator joined the cohort on Friday and called on the president, who is seeking a second term against Republican Donald Trump, to make way for a younger candidate.
In all, more than thirty elected officials have publicly asked him to leave the race. And one of his main donors, businessman Michael Moritz, called on him to withdraw and announced that he was suspending his donations to the party.
“Unfortunately, President Biden must make a choice: vanity or virtue,” he said, as quoted by the New York Times.
“We must face the reality that widespread public concern about your age and fitness is jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign,” four representatives, including Texas Rep. Marc Veasey, also said in a joint letter.
“Passing the torch… would reinvigorate the race and inject enthusiasm and momentum into Democrats ahead of our convention next month,” they said.
Leaks
The feverishness within the Democratic Party has been palpable since the head of state faltered during his debate with Mr. Trump at the end of June. That day, it was a very weakened Biden, struggling to finish his sentences, who appeared in front of the screens of his distressed supporters.
The whirlwind of questions about his mental acuity has not ceased since, even though the president claims to be in full possession of his intellectual capacities and to be the most capable of defeating Donald Trump.
In recent days, a number of anonymous leaks to the media have suggested that Mr. Biden may have changed his mindset and become more receptive to concerns.
In what would be a major development, former President Barack Obama, still very influential within the party, has reportedly expressed doubts about the “viability” of Joe Biden’s candidacy.
“Perils”
The president’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, responded Friday on MSNBC: “Mr. Biden is running to win, he is our nominee and he is going to be our president for a second term.”
He remains “absolutely” in the race for the White House, she insisted, while acknowledging that the last few weeks had been “difficult.”
Other voices have expressed concern about calls for Mr Biden to step down. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a figure on the left wing of the party, warned against rushing into this, saying she had not “seen an alternative scenario that I think does not expose us to enormous peril”.
A series of polls show Mr Biden trailing Mr Trump, whom he beat in 2020.
The contrast between the two rivals is currently striking and reflects the twists and turns of a campaign like no other.
While Mr. Biden faces a crisis, Mr. Trump appears to be enjoying a state of grace as he has spent the past few months appearing before judges — becoming the first former president to be convicted of a criminal offense.
Last Saturday, he miraculously survived an assassination attempt. And on Thursday night, he was crowned candidate of the right at a grandiose party.