Cracks appear among Democrats on Biden

Texas Dem is first to call for Biden to withdraw

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for July 3, 2024:

• Bad rumblings at the White House briefing.

• Biden debate story not fading away.

• It’s official - Rep. Bob Good loses.

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CRACKS. The dam didn't break on Tuesday for Democrats over last week’s bad debate for President Joe Biden. But notable cracks are appearing among Democratic lawmakers in Congress - with a few making some eye-popping statements about Biden. It doesn't mean that the President is about to go down the drain. But it's clear that Democrats on Capitol Hill are very worried - with some openly predicting that Biden will lose in November.

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LONE STAR. Tuesday brought the first public call by a Democrat in Congress for Biden to give up his bid for reelection. It came from a liberal Texas Democrat who has been in the House for almost 20 years. "I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum," Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said in a statement. "It did not."

• DOGGETT. "My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly," the Texas Democrat said of Biden. "I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so."

• MAINER. Meanwhile up in Maine, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) didn’t just admit that Biden had a bad debate. Golden wrote an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News where he openly predicted that Trump will defeat Biden in November.

• GOLDEN. "Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise," Golden wrote. "It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win."

• PEREZ. There was more. "We all saw what we saw," Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) told KATU-TV. "You can’t undo that, and the truth I think is that Biden is going to lose to Trump. I know that’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done by that debate."

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EMERITA. Even ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was again publicly acknowledging the trouble that Biden finds himself in with voters. "It's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode, or is this a condition," Pelosi said Tuesday on MSNBC, as she urged Biden to do interviews with 'serious journalists.'

• INTERVIEWS. Other Democrats have also been giving less than resounding endorsements in interviews. "Like a lot of people, I was pretty horrified," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told WPRI-TV about the debate. “He had a really, really bad night," Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) said on CNN.

• ADVICE. "If I were to talk to the President today, I would advise him that the decision he has to make now is - is clearly only his," Quigley added. "I just want him to appreciate at this time just how much it impacts, not just his race, but all the other races coming in November."

• SURVIVAL. Remember what I told you earlier this week. If it looks like Biden’s poll numbers are going sideways - and therefore endangering incumbents in the House and Senate - then Democrats will start to flee the sinking ship. Their own personal survival in November means more than Biden’s.

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WHITE HOUSE. As if the statements from Democrats in Congress weren’t bad enough, Tuesday's White House briefing was a brutal reminder for the President and his advisers that the debate story is not fading away. It was the first session in the White House Briefing Room since last Thursday, and there was clearly blood in the water for reporters.

• KJP. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre started the briefing by talking about basically anything but the debate. And then she finally mentioned that President Biden would hold a news conference - next week during a NATO summit in Washington, D.C. The briefing then focused on what’s wrong with Biden for most of the next 45 minutes.

• ANSWERS. "It was a bad night; we understand it was a bad night," Jean-Pierre said. "I can tell you he had a cold and he had a bad night." Here were some of the questions she faced:

  • There are growing calls from Democrats, including members of Congress, for the President to step aside for the 2024 election, because he is not capable of serving another four years. What is his response?

  • You have continued to say it was just a bad night. But is there an explanation why it was so bad?

  • If it's not a problem with his mental fitness, what happened that night?

  • After the debate, did the President get examined by a doctor or get a neurological scan?

  • Earlier today Pelosi asked if this was an episode or a condition. Which is it?

RED FLAG. What stuck out to me like a gigantic sore thumb in this briefing was something related to Congress. There have been reports that Biden had not spoken with either Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries about the debate. Jean-Pierre was asked about that - and basically confirmed it.

• BUSY. “Right after the debate, we were on a two and a half day swing, four states,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, making the excuse that Biden was too busy on the campaign trail to talk to Schumer and Jeffries - after the President had a flat tire on national TV.

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WAITING. It’s been six days since the debate, and Biden still hasn't really addressed what happened. No news conference. No questions from reporters. No interviews. He talked about it at a fundraiser in Virginia last night - but there were no TV cameras to record his remarks.

• SLEEP. "I wasn't very smart," the President said in his remarks, talking about a week of world travel. "And then I came back and nearly fell asleep on stage."

• HARRIS. Out in California at another fundraiser, Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden debate was 'not his finest hour.'

• INTERVIEW. Biden's first interview will be Friday with ABC News and George Stephanopoulos. I'm so old that I remember when Stephanopoulos was a Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill.

• NEW PHONE. WHO DIS. One sure sign when an incumbent President is in trouble is when a Governor, Senator, or local member of Congress decides they have better things to do when the President comes to visit. Biden will be in Wisconsin on Friday, but Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) won't share the stage with him, not changing her original campaign schedule.

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TRUMP IMMUNITY. The Supreme Court's Monday ruling which said a President enjoys broad immunity for his official acts has already caused a delay in Donald Trump's criminal case in New York. Instead of a sentencing hearing on July 11 - just before the GOP convention - that's now been pushed back to September 18, just about six weeks from Election Day.

• TRUTH SOCIAL. For a second straight day, Trump was proclaiming total victory in all four of his criminal cases - even though none of them have been officially snuffed out because of the Supreme Court decision. Here was one of Trump’s posts on his Truth Social website:

TOTAL EXONERATION! It is clear that the Supreme Court’s Brilliantly Written and Historic Decision ENDS all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me, including the WHITE HOUSE AND DOJ INSPIRED CIVIL HOAXES in New York. All of these Unfair Charges represent the WORST level of Election Interference ever seen in our Country’s long and storied History. It must be understood, that I was Totally and Completely Innocent from the beginning of this Giant and Highly Illegal Scam, long before the Supreme Court’s Decision was released. The impact of the Immunity Ruling is a loud and clear signal for Justice in the United States. I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

RULING. Democrats continued to bitterly complain about the details of the 6-3 ruling, casting it as another effort by conservative Justices to help boost Trump's bid for a second term. "The Supreme Court has given presidents a free pass to commit crimes so long as they are “official” actions," said Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC).

• JUDGE CHUTKAN. Next stop for Trump's case is back in federal District Court, where I think it's very possible that the judge could hold a bunch of hearings to air the evidence against Trump - and decide how the feds can try to prosecute him. The court docket in that case should soon get busy.

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NOT GOOD. The Virginia elections board has certified the results showing Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) lost his primary last month by 374 votes to state Rep. John McGuire, who was backed by Donald Trump. Good has vowed to challenge the results - but other than a bunch of conspiracy theories, Good hasn't presented any evidence to show that the vote totals were incorrect, or that the election was beset by fraud.

• NUMBERS. Good is the third House member to lose a primary this year, joining Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL). At this point, 48 House members won't be back after the November elections (11 percent turnover). Congressional primaries resume in late July.

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RAP SHEET.  A federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C. has refused to lower the 14-month jail term of a Massachusetts man who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers on Jan. 6.  "He smacked a U.S. Capitol Police officer in the head and then tried to do it again after explicitly being ordered not to," wrote Judge Robert Wilkins.

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MUSE OF HISTORY.  July 3, 1868.  On this date, the Senate voted 26-10 against the idea of being in session on July 4.  "I think it important to the nation that this date should forever be honored," said Sen. Frederick Frelinghuysen of New Jersey.  But Sen. George Edmunds of Vermont wanted to keep working.  "We are coming near to the end of the session," Edmunds said.  "There is important legislation of a political nature on the table."

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on July 8.

The Senate next has votes on July 8.

Check President Biden’s schedule.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

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