WASHINGTON — Democrats continued to panic Friday after President Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump — saying privately that they fear the president’s inner circle is suffering from the “delusion” that the 81-year-old bested his Republican rival Thursday night.
On the record, party members scrambled to vouch for Biden in a bid to stanch calls for him to step aside and for Democrats to find a replacement candidate barely four months out from the general election.
“I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden’s shoulder after the debate,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who had a disastrous debate himself against Republican Mehmet Oz in 2022. “No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record.”
“Morning-after thermonuclear beat downs from my race from the debate and polling geniuses like 538 predicted l’d lose by 2,” elaborated Fetterman, who represents a critical battleground state in 2024. “And what happened? The only seat to flip and won by a historic margin (+5). Chill the f–k out.”
Others spoke more candidly when granted anonymity.
“The level of delusion is wild,” one Democratic insider told The Post. “I don’t know the team around him is seeing what everyone else saw. And they need to focus on getting back on track.”
That source added that they believe that Biden himself knows he badly misstepped during the debate, regardless of what aides — and congressional allies — say publicly.
“He is not dumb,” this person insisted of the president. “He is staying in, [but] he needs to roll up his sleeves and get to work and own it wasn’t a good night.”
A second Democratic source, who described the debate as “abysmal” for Biden, said they doubted the president could recover and that Democrats must urgently consider a new candidate or risk handing the election to Trump, 78.
“They f—ing should,” he exclaimed, with betting markets listed California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris as the top favorites to raise the Democratic standard.
But a third source said it would be extremely difficult to replace Biden and that the president likely would need to be coaxed to step aside — likely following candid discussions involving senior party leaders in Congress, such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), likely in conjunction with first lady Jill Biden.
Pelosi rejected calls for the president to step aside when pressed by Capitol Hill reporters on Friday, but acknowledged that Biden’s performance “wasn’t great” and noted she hadn’t spoken to him yet about it.
The Democratic National Committee currently is set to vote electronically sometime before Aug. 7 to nominate Biden to ensure he meets an Ohio ballot deadline — likely foreclosing the possibility of a dramatic floor fight at the party’s Chicago convention, which begins Aug. 19.
“He will be legally nominated by August 7 online,” the third source said. “So the whole nomination question comes to an end very quickly, and you can’t force him out. All you can do is find a way to persuade him.
“He’s legally won the votes [of delegates]. He’s legally going to be nominated by August 7 … So unless he leaves, you can’t just fire him.”
Many prominent Democrats who do not currently hold elected office publicly expressed dismay over the debate.
“It was a catastrophe and it was worse than those headlines,” veteran Democratic strategist Paul Begala said on CNN Friday. “The bar was set so low and President Biden still could not clear it … this confirms voters’ most dire concerns about Joe Biden.”
Begala, a top campaign and White House adviser to President Bill Clinton, said one Democratic donor preparing to attend a Hamptons fundraiser with Biden on Saturday told him, “I’m not bringing a checkbook, I’m bringing a pitchfork.”
The New York Times reported that a group of House Democrats who watched the CNN debate as a group discussed among themselves the need for a possible replacement presidential candidate.
But many party insiders doubt that Harris, the first female vice president, would be able to outperform Biden against Trump.
“There has to be a consensus [on a presidential nominee to replace Biden],” said one Democratic source.
“You can’t leave it open to a free-for-all. And then it’s, ‘What about Kamala? Why do you assume she’s stepping aside?’”
The source said Harris, who also would be the second African American and first Asian American to serve as president, could arrest any attempt by other party leaders to handpick a replacement.
“It depends how she goes,” the source said. “Does she say, ‘Hey, I’m running for president’?”
In an appearance on CNN after the debate, Harris admitted her running-mate had “a slow start” but suggested there was still “a strong finish.”
“The point has to be performance in terms of what a president does,” she emphasized.
Some Democratic insiders say they believe the party needs to wait for hard data before giving up on Biden — with one source telling The Post that they believe it’s possible that voters weren’t as dismayed as pundits over the debate.
On Capitol Hill Friday morning, elected Democrats walking past reporters launched into damage control and insisted there would be no change to Biden’s status as presumptive Democratic nominee.
“I’m a baseball guy,” said Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), a Biden confidenate. “You remember the year that Babe Ruth set the home run record? … He hits a home run in North Carolina today, then what happens?”
Asked if Biden has the stamina to serve another term, Clyburn said, “Yes,” adding moments later that Democrats should “stay the course. Chill out.”
“I trust Joe Biden’s judgment,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a Biden campaign surrogate. “I don’t think the president would be running if he didn’t think he could” do the job.
“We have a great team of people that will help govern,” Khanna said, “and that is what I’m going to continue to make the case for.”
But when asked whether Biden should honor his agreement to attend another debate with Trump in September, some Democrats advised against it.
“We’ll see,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) told The Post.
“That’s his decision. I wouldn’t with the same set of ground rules,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who added it was “wrong” for the Biden campaign to have proposed the debate in the first place.
“I think the rules that you don’t fact-check and do other things while that’s going on was a disservice to the public,” Thompson explained.
“There’s two schools of thought,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro, a Republican who was elected to a Biden-friendly New York swing district in 2022.
“Some of them have immediately moved to the Fetterman approach, which is, you know, this was just one bad night,” he told The Post, “but I think most are engaging in the political equivalent of a drive-by shooting.”