Sen. Joe Manchin had planned to publicly call on President Biden to step aside after last week’s train wreck debate, but top Democrats got wind and convinced him not too — as a growing number of White House officials say they a “freaking the f–k out”, according to reports.
The West Virginia senator — who recently left the Democratic Party and slammed the “partisan extremism” in politics — had let slip to allies that he was going to use a TV news appearance on Sunday to demand the 81-year-old president throw in his re-election campaign, the Washington Post reported, citing multiple sources.
But senior Democrats quickly assembled a “full-court press” as they scrambled to prevent him from becoming the first prominent elected official allied to the party to break from Biden, the sources said.
Manchin, who still caucuses with the Democratic Party, eventually relented and backed out of the scheduled appearance, according to the insiders.
“Nobody wants to be the first one to knife Julius Caesar,” one party official said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was among those who spoke to Manchin via phone over the weekend. One source, however, insisted the pair only spoke after Manchin had already decided not to show his face on TV.
“Joe Manchin talks to lots of people because he wants to get different views and political perspectives,” Manchin senior political adviser Jonathan Kott said in a statement following the reports.
“When he has something to say, you’ll hear it directly from him, and trust me, there’s nobody that can talk him out of speaking his mind.”
He had been scheduled to appear on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show With Jonathan Capehart”, a source told Politico.
Despite the efforts to thwart Manchin, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) ended up becoming the first sitting House Democrat to go public with a call for Biden to step aside in the aftermath of the debate debacle.
Doggett on Tuesday lauded Biden’s track record as commander-in-chief, but stressed that “many Americans have indicated dissatisfaction with their choices in this election.”
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same,” Doggett said.
Meanwhile, a number of Democratic lawmakers have privately questioned Biden’s candidacy and expressed outrage at his campaign following his debate performance.
White House and campaign staffers are said to be frustrated, too.
“Everyone is freaking the f–k out,” one official told Axios.
“It’s the first topic of every conversation,” a White House official said, adding that “senior leadership has given us nothing. To act like it’s business as usual is delusional.”
A third White House staffer added: “The uncertainty after Thursday is palpable and anxiety is only increasing… People are looking for leadership and direction that they were told to trust, and hoped was there, but aren’t yet feeling in what is now clearly a defining moment for this presidency.”