Van Jones’ brutal verdict on Biden and Trump after assassination attempt and COVID diagnosis rocked their campaigns

The sad contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was laid bare for CNN viewers by Van Jones after he got a taste of the atmosphere at the RNC ahead of their presidential candidate’s speech tonight.

The progressive commentator somberly summed up the gulf between the candidates’ positions as Trump prepared for a lavish reception and Biden retreated to Delaware to deal with his COVID-19 illness.

“A bullet didn’t stop Trump. A virus stopped Biden,” the former adviser to Barack Obama noted.

‘This party’s nominees are getting a beating, Biden is getting a beating from his own party.

“The Democrats are falling apart. The Republicans are coming together.”

The former president received another lavish reception from delegates on Thursday ahead of his speech at the RNC convention, just five days after he was shot.

Obama himself is the most prominent Democrat to react negatively to the president’s re-election chances, suggesting that his chances have diminished considerably.

Biden’s former boss called for calm after his vice president’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month, saying there are “bad debate nights.”

But he now wants Biden to seriously reconsider his decision to proceed, the Washington Post reported Thursday, amid fears Democrats could lose the party both the House and Senate in November’s general election.

Obama’s take on the state of the race follows a report from Axios that Democratic sources believe calls from party leaders and friends to withdraw will push Biden to make a decision to step aside as early as this weekend.

“It feels the most real it’s ever felt,” a senior Democratic aide to the House of Representatives told DailyMail.com. Another senior Democratic Hill aide told DailyMail.com that the chances are “high” that Biden will pull the plug, but the timing is “fluid.”

This week, conversations he had with top Democrats in Congress have come to light. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are said to have told Biden some hard truths.

The official position remains that leading Democrats did not pressure the president to resign and that Biden is “not in doubt about any aspect.”

“The president has made his decision,” deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Thursday during a rally on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

President Joe Biden returned to Delaware on Air Force One on Wednesday night to recover from COVID, amid claims from Democrats that they could drop out of the presidential race as early as this weekend

The president was diagnosed with his third Covid attack during a campaign trip to Nevada

An Obama spokesman declined to comment to The Washington Post.

The stress of holding out while Biden stays in the race is starting to affect some progressive commentators. MSNBC’s Joy Reid, for example, is being accused of “next-level desperation” after suggesting that Joe Biden’s experience with Covid is as admirable as Donald Trump’s defiance in the face of an assassin’s bullet.

The liberal host appeared taken aback by the contrast RNC delegates saw between the president’s weakness and his challenger’s forceful response to the shooting.

“If he (Biden) is fine in a few days, doesn’t that mean exactly the same thing?” she asked.

On social media, the answer seemed to be a resounding no, with Reid even being ridiculed for “mental gymnastics.”

“Wow… now that’s something,” someone wrote.

“Trump got a bullet, Biden got a cold,” added another.

According to polls released by Emerson on Thursday, Trump holds a three- to 10-point lead in each of the seven key swing states.

And Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin is the latest of more than 20 Democratic lawmakers to publicly call on Biden to step aside.

Raskin used the example of Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martínez, the pitcher who remained on the mound despite fatigue in the eighth inning of Game Seven of the 2003 American League Championship Series.

“There is no shame in taking a well-earned bow to the crowd’s overwhelming appreciation when your arm is tired, and there is real danger to the team in ignoring the statistics,” Raskin wrote in a letter seen by the NYT.

Joy Reid was widely ridiculed on Wednesday after suggesting that Joe Biden’s confrontation with Covid was as admirable as Donald Trump’s resistance to an assassin’s bullet.

She appeared furious that Donald Trump was allowed to express his dissent to fans after he was shot in the head at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night.

“Your situation is difficult because you are both our star pitcher and our manager. But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any other president, you are not a manager acting alone; you are the co-manager with our great team and our great people.

“Talk to the team, Mr. President. Listen to them. You will make the right decision.”

The president is expected to return to campaigning next week after recovering at his Rehoboth Beach home with his wife, Jill.

“His soul searching is definitely going on, I’m sure,” a source told Reuters. “He’s thinking about this very seriously.”