A seven-point “victory speech” drawn up by a major Democratic donor and designed to let Joe Biden quit the presidential race with grace has been obtained by the Daily Beast.
The speech was drawn up as top Democratic leaders beg the embattled president to exit the race, according to a growing number of party strategists and leaders late Wednesday.
The crisis engulfing his candidacy had fallen briefly out of the limelight after the attempted assassination of his rival Donald Trump but roared back to life Wednesday as in quick succession California Rep. Adam Schiff called for Biden to quit and the president was diagnosed with Covid, forcing him off the campaign trail.
Now the Daily Beast can reveal that a “major West Coast donor” drafted bullet points for a “victory speech” that Biden could deliver to the party and the nation as he steps aside.
Its key points would have Biden say:
• The most important thing right now is to save the soul of America;
• Our democracy is in danger;
• This election must be won;
• To succeed, we will need the confidence of the American people;
• I have believed — and still believe — I can do the job;
• But it has become clear that the majority of Americans want a younger person for the job — younger than either of the two candidates;
• Therefore I have decided to step aside and let a next-generation candidate run for president on the Democratic ticket.
He would also pledge to fight to end the war in Gaza and support the party’s candidate. The draft has yet to make its way to Biden’s camp but is in circulation at the same time as donations to him have effectively dried up.
The gathering storm was summed up by David Axelrod, a top advisor to former President Barack Obama, who said Wednesday on CNN, where he is an analyst, “It’s inexorable.”
CNN also reported that Biden is becoming “receptive” to the growing chorus of calls for step aside. “He’s gone from saying, ‘Kamala can’t win,’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win?” an unnamed senior Democratic adviser told the network. “It’s still unclear where he’s going to land but seems to be listening.
Earlier on Wednesday, Schiff, a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—who remains one of the most powerful leaders of the party—became the most prominent Democrat to publicly call for Biden to end his campaign. Pelosi has given her tacit support of the “drop Biden” effort, the Daily Beast is told.
Although Schiff was only the 20th Democrat in Congress to call on Biden to withdraw from the race following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month, he is by far the most significant for his alliance with Pelosi and his imminent status as a senator; he is the party’s candidate for the seat once held by the late Dianne Feinstein.
The unfolding spectacle has become an embarrassment for both the president and the party.
“I’m not sure how this could be more humiliating,” a veteran Democratic strategist told the Daily Beast earlier Wednesday, warning that the mounting pile-on could end up being a “big misstep for the people trying to get him off the ticket.”
Inside the party, the answer to who will take Biden’s place atop the Democratic presidential ticket remains divisive. Ironically, Biden’s choice in 2020 of Kamala Harris to be his running mate and vice president is one that may seal his fate and could propel the first Black woman into the Oval Office.
“It has to be Kamala Harris,” Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, told the Daily Beast.
“If Democrats have sabotaged Biden’s campaign to the point that he is no longer viable and has to drop out, they must realize they’re agents of chaos,” Scott, said Wednesday. He said the only way to begin to repair the damage inflicted on the party is for delegates to choose Harris as the replacement nominee to square off with Trump.
The Democratic strategist echoed Scott’s criticism of Democrats who are calling on Biden to drop out of the race without having a backup plan. He likened it to fleeing a disaster in the middle of the night with no headlights or GPS. “You could drive off a cliff or you could wind up in paradise,” the strategist told the Daily Beast.
The sense of a rush to a conclusion was fueled on Wednesday when ABC News reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries privately asked Biden to step aside for the good of the party. Schumer later all but confirmed the meeting by not denying it.
Axelrod, on CNN, suggested he thought Harris would be a good choice. Polls, however, have shown that Harris doesn’t necessarily fare any better than Biden in a general election matchup against Trump.
Congressman Scott said his only concern about Harris at the top of the ticket is that she hasn’t been subjected to an onslaught of “unrestrained MAGA attacks, including physical threats.”
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