President Joe Biden faces mutiny after debate against Donald Trump

 

US President Joe Biden is reportedly facing mutiny as 25 Democrats prepare to call for the ailing president, 81, to step aside after his disappointing debate against Donald Trump.

Support for Biden appears to be crumbling among fellow Democrats, as Maine's Jared Golden, Lloyd Doggett of Texas, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Alaska all either told Biden to drop out or said they believed he would lose to Trump.

It was also gathered that West Virginia moderate Joe Manchin had to be convinced by Washington insiders not to publicly abandon the president, and left-wing Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin is refusing to campaign with Biden in her swing state on Friday, according to Mail Online.

A House Democratic aide has said that no less than 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives preparing to call for Biden to step aside if he seems shaky in the coming days. 

A second House Democratic aide said moderate House Democrats in competitive districts - often called 'front liners'  were getting hammered with questions in their districts this week. 

Whether Biden continues his 2024 bid for president after his halting debate performance against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is largely his decision, Democrats and political strategists have said.

U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett became the first congressional Democrat to call for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race on Tuesday. He told NBC News in an interview that he hoped other Democratic lawmakers would follow his lead. 

'It looks like the dam has broken,' the second aide said.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi highlighted Biden's multiple legislative accomplishments during an interview with MSNBC Tuesday but said it was legitimate to ask whether his debate performance was a one-night thing or a broader health problem. She said Trump should be given the same scrutiny.

'I think it's a legitimate question to say, 'Is this episode or is this condition?' And so when people ask that question, it's legitimate, of both candidates,' Pelosi said.

Biden, speaking at a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday evening without a teleprompter, blamed his performance on a lack of sleep and said his campaign had raised $38 million since the debate.

'The fact is that you know, I wasn´t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones ... before ... the debate. Didn´t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage,' he said. 'That's no excuse but it is an explanation.'