The ‘get Joe out’ movement gathers steam in Congress

Pressure is mounting on President Joe Biden to step aside in the 2024 election, as members in Congress voice their doubts about the Democratic Party’s chances in November with the eighty-one-year-old at the top of the ticket.

Democrat unity began to crumble last week when Lloyd Doggett became the first lawmaker to call on Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 election, launching a growing maelstrom in the House. Then on Wednesday, Vermont’s Peter Welch became the first Democratic senator to join the fray. It’s simple — for the sake of democracy, they argue, Biden must go so an unelected nominee chosen by the DNC can be jammed in his place. 

The walls of Biden’s party seemed to be further closing in on him after House Democrats met for a “rough” and “somber” closed door meeting on Tuesday to discuss the viability of the president’s reelection. According to one source, it was like a “funeral” as those worried about Biden’s chances “moved through the stages of grief.” Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he will continue to meet with every member of his party before relaying their concerns to the president. “We’ll convene as a leadership team and figure out the next step,” he said, which Cockburn can’t image will change Biden’s resolve for a second term. 

So far, only eleven congressional Democrats have called on Biden to step down, but there’s a growing list of lawmakers teetering on the edge. Ohio congressman Greg Landsman came just shy of throwing Biden beneath the bus when he told CNN Thursday that winning Ohio would be “too high a hill” for the president to climb. “President Biden has to make this decision, and he’s got to make it very soon. He doesn’t have much time,” Landsman said. “He could be an American hero, Joe Biden, and say ‘Look, I’ve got to step down.’” Landsman admitted that he was inspired by the renowned political strategist George Clooney, whose recent New York Times op-ed said Biden could save the day if he would only quit. It’s an abrupt change of heart for the man who had hosted the largest Democrat fundraising event in history for the president just three weeks earlier.  

Maine representative Jared Golden isn’t calling on Biden to step down, yet, but he also isn’t likely to vote for the president if he can’t prove his physical and mental fortitude. Unlike most members of his party, Golden seems to understand that Biden — or really Jill — has to willingly give up the ticket. “I’m confused why people think that it’s up to the legislature or the Congress or to the House Democratic caucus to decide what Joe Biden is or not going to do in the coming weeks or months,” he said. “People can stand around and talk about their feelings one way or the other. But I think it has very little bearing on the final analysis or outcome here.” Golden had previously published an op-ed predicting that Trump will win the election and that he’s OK with that. 

Some Democrats have been slightly more gymnastic in their attempts to avoid either backing or damning Biden. “I want to beat Trump in November,” Representative Cori Bush told an ABC reporter earlier today. Asked if Biden could do that, she replied, “That is a question for Joe Biden. I can’t speak to… what he can do.” Georgia senator Raphael Warnock told Axios, “I think we’ll land in a place where we win in November. And, right now, he is the nominee.”

Democrats are jumping ship, of course, due to Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month, but Joe Scarborough thinks there could be a more insidious reason. “What’s going on behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this,” Scarborough said on Thursday morning, sounding like a frothy-mouthed QAnoner. 

For his part, Biden seems to be buying the conspiracy. “I’m getting so frustrated by the elites — now I’m not talking about you guys — the elites in the party, ‘Oh, they know so much more,’” Biden said Monday on Morning Joe. “Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention.”  Much like the old beer stains on Cockburn’s La-Z-boy, Biden said that he’s not going anywhere.  “I’m more than the presumptive, I’m going to be the Democratic nominee.”