President Biden was cruising to the 2024 Democratic nomination; given help from the liberal media in refusing to give his opponents any oxygen. But with Biden’s mental fitness for office coming increasingly into question following the special counsel investigation and his near-constant forgetfulness, CNN’s Inside Politics spent part of their Monday show seemingly priming the pump for the possibility that the President might cede his nomination to a younger, more capable Democrat at the convention; or at least beginning to ease up the pressure toward that outcome.
Fill-in host Jessica Dean kicked off the segment by hyping a presidential power ranking from liberal college professors who put former President Trump in dead last. “But the polls for this November's election showing Biden consistently trailing Trump, despite the near-universal thumbs down on Trump's legacy from historians all across the aisle,” she whined.
It was those persistently troubling polls that were the impetus for her to highlight prominent Democrats who were nervously trying to nudge Biden out of the race.
Dismissing the rest of the current Democratic field as just “token opposition,” Dean put the spotlight on columnist Ezra Klein’s latest piece calling on Biden to hand the nomination off to someone else:
DEAN: President Biden is facing just token opposition for the Democratic nomination, but with six months until the Democratic convention in Chicago, some Democrats are increasingly worried about him being at the top of the ballot. A piece this weekend by liberal New York Times columnist Ezra Klein crystallized the issue for many in the party.
[Cuts to video]
EZRA KLEIN (via voice-over): The question the Biden administration keeps pretending only to hear: can Biden do the job of president? But that's not the question of the 2024 campaign. [Transition] But I think we're seeing is that he is not up for this.
CNN national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny described comments like Klein’s as “outside chatter” that “the people who matter” inside the Biden campaign didn’t care to listen to. “And they basically say Democrats are going to have to sort of suck it up and deal with it. He is going to be the nominee and once there is a choice, they believe people will come around,” he added.
However, Zeleny conceded that there was a growing amount of chatter among Democrats who agreed with Klein. “There was a big discussion among a lot of strategists and Democrats over the weekend: ‘How dangerous is that? Is it more or less than this?” he admitted.
Zeleny said he “would be stunned if that would happen,” but told the audience at home to “leave open your mind of the possibilities since so many people are talking about it.”
While Zeleny suggested those who matter weren’t going to take Klein’s idea seriously, CNN senior White House correspondent MJ Lee argued that the only person in the campaign who truly mattered was going to see it: “[W]e know that President Biden will read a column like this. He takes very seriously what these kinds of pundits say. The journalists that he will have off the records with; those tend to be columnists and these kinds of thinkers.”
Lee went into more detail to better explain to viewers what Klein was actually proposing for Democrats to do at the convention:
I mean, what Ezra wa s saying in his column is that basically it isn't too late, that people can convince President Biden to basically accept that he isn't going to be the nominee or, sort of, move aside, and then do the crazy thing of going to the convention and whether it be Vice President Kamala Harris or somebody else. But there is room and talent within the party for somebody else to be the nominee. It is, of course, really late and that would be a wild political scenario.
“I think the issue is that there are plenty of Democrats who believe other Democrats can do the job, but it is still, sort of, the quiet part that most Democrats are not willing to say out loud,” she concluded.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Inside Politics
February 19, 2024
12:31:25 p.m. EasternJESSICA DEAN: It is content guaranteed to get a response from Donald Trump. Today is President's Day. So, we have new rankings of every single American president by a collection of academics and historians. They put the 45th president at the very bottom of the news who poll – I love how the whole panel is looking very closely to see how this is – They put Trump last there. Abraham Lincoln first, Joe Biden, 14th.
The professors who compiled the power pole presidents say Biden owes his standing to his predecessor. Quote, “Biden's most important achievements may be that he rescued the presidency from Trump.” But the polls for this November's election showing Biden consistently trailing Trump, despite the near-universal thumbs down on Trump's legacy from historians all across the aisle.
President Biden is facing just token opposition for the Democratic nomination, but with six months until the Democratic convention in Chicago, some Democrats are increasingly worried about him being at the top of the ballot. A piece this weekend by liberal New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, crystallized the issue for many in the party.
[Cuts to video]
EZRA KLEIN (via voice-over): The question the Biden administration keeps pretending only to here: can Biden do the job of president? But that's not the question of the 2024 campaign. [Transition] But I think we're seeing is that he is not up for this.
[Cuts back to live]
DEAN: And my panel is back with me now. Jeff, these are I want to say the whispers, but when you talk to Democrats, they are some of them are yelling that very loudly. It's not the whispers you hear privately and behind the scenes and yet there doesn't seem to be any indication that Biden will be stepping aside.
JEFF ZELENY: No. I mean, they used to be whispers even in the 2020 campaign, which we all covered. I mean, there were whispers then about age and, sort of, fitness for office. It's a whole different time. I mean, the conversations. It's hard to have a conversation with the top Democratic strategist, a lawmaker on Capitol Hill without part of the conversation being, ‘well, how do you think President Biden's doing?’
So. But the reality here is as MJ – I'm sure would agree with being at the White House every day. There's a zero of this conversation in the, among the people who matter. I put Jill Biden the top of that list. A few other advisers. So, this is outside chatter here. And they basically say Democrats are going to have to sort of suck it up and deal with it. He is going to be the nominee and once there is a choice, they believe people will come around.
That might be true to a point, but a piece that Ezra was talking about, he believes it should go to the convention throw it open to the wild and sort of see what happens. Because conventions historically are about fighting for the nomination. There was a big discussion among a lot of strategists and Democrats over the weekend: “How dangerous is that? Is it more or less than this?”
I would be stunned if that would happen. But you have to leave open your mind of the possibilities since so many people are talking about it.
DEAN: Yeah, I'm curious, MJ, what you think about all this. I mean, the White House does not like these stories, obviously.
MJ LEE: No, and particularly because we know that President Biden will read a column like this. He takes very seriously what these kinds of pundits say. The journalists that he will have off the records with; those tend to be columnists and these kinds of thinkers.
I mean, what Ezra was saying in his column is that basically it isn't too late, that people can convince President Biden to basically accept that he isn't going to be the nominee or, sort of, move aside, and then do the crazy thing of going to the convention and whether it be Vice President Kamala Harris or somebody else. But there is room and talent within the party for somebody else to be the nominee. It is, of course, really late and that would be a wild political scenario.
But I do think that is just like the existential question for Democrats right now; and something that I asked President Biden directly last week. I asked him, “you yourself, you have said that many other Democrats could defeat Donald Trump. So, why do you think it has to be you.” And we saw him bristle at that question and say saying, you know, “that is your opinion.” It isn't my opinion, that is the fact that we get from many, many polls.
DEAN: And he didn’t like it. He kind of yelled.
LEE: He didn’t. And he also said, the answer is that, “I am the most qualified person to be president.” I think the issue is that there are plenty of Democrats who believe other Democrats can do the job, but it is still, sort of, the quiet part that most Democrats are not willing to say out loud.
(…)
