WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will shift this week from focusing on campaigning for re-election to organizing a NATO summitBut that will not remove the increasingly urgent questions about his precarious political situation, which now threaten to engulf his own party.
European leaders are gathering in Washington from Tuesday to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary. Biden will attend a series of official events and hold a press conference.
Congress is also going back into session, meaning there will be in-person meetings where Democratic lawmakers discuss concerns about Biden’s wealth to stay in the presidential race for the final four months – and to serve another term in the White House.
Five Democratic lawmakers have already said the 81-year-old president should step aside. And several Democratic committee leaders are privately saying Biden should drop out of the race. They could add to the public outrage in the coming days, even as the Biden campaign and the president himself call for a crackdown on further desertions.
Vice President Kamala Harris has been the most talked about candidate at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket. But Biden has repeatedly said he will stay put and plans to campaign in the hotly contested state of Michigan on Friday — a move that could only deepen internal divisions within the Democratic Party.
Here’s what Biden faces:
Biden has a chance to look presidential, but that presents another important test.
The summit will focus on Russia’s war with Ukraine, but a news conference scheduled for Thursday is likely to overshadow Biden’s other duties. His performance there will be as closely scrutinized as his ABC interview last week for further signs of weakness or mental distress after his disastrous debate in return for Donald Trump at the end of last month.
Those gathered for the summit have also talked about “ Making Trump-proofor protecting NATO from a possible Trump return to the White House — and those discussions could flare up amid concerns about Biden’s political future.
The meeting comes a week before Republicans gather in Milwaukee to formally nominate Trump, who only shrugged during the debate when Biden asked him whether he would “stay in NATO or withdraw from NATO?”
Will more Democratic lawmakers call on Biden to abandon his reelection bid this week? Will those who have done so in secret go public with their views? Every day that Congress is in session increases the likelihood that more lawmakers will turn on the president.
Biden says his party remains unequivocally behind him. But that argument will become harder to make as the ranks of those who have lost confidence in the president swell. The Democratic National Convention opens on August 19 in Chicago, but the party has said it will nominate Biden via a virtual call before the in-person meeting begins, meaning Democrats have increasingly little time to pick a side.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to rally Democrats most vulnerable to reelection on Monday, while Senate Democrats plan to discuss Biden’s future during a regular caucus lunch on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House Oversight and Accountability Committee has announced plans to call on Biden’s White House physician, Doctor Kevin O’Connorto appear for a transcribed interview “regarding his medical assessments” of the president. Biden has rejected calls to undergo cognitive testing, saying he undergoes regular medical assessments and that the rigors of the presidency expose his mental and physical acuity, which has only drawn more attention to O’Connor.
Even if Biden manages to quell a potential uprising within his own party, he will likely have to avoid serious mistakes and blunders during the race in the four months remaining until Election Day.
Going long stretches without a major misstep is something he hasn’t been able to do throughout his political career. But Biden has also built his political persona on resilience.
He won the presidency in 2020 after failed attempts to capture the White House in 1988 and 2008. Even in 2020, his campaign seemed doomed to fail after embarrassing performances in Iowa and New Hampshire. But Biden rebounded with a resounding victory in South Carolina primaryand that was enough for most of the Democratic elite to rally behind him in the days leading up to Super Tuesday, ensuring he easily secured the party’s nomination and ultimately took on then-President Trump.
In the 2022 midterm elections, the Democrats did just that. much better than expectedholding the Senate and narrowly ceding the House majority to Republicans, Biden says he is ready to defy the odds again, even as many in his party appear increasingly unconvinced.
“You’ve been wrong about everything so far. You were wrong in 2020. You were wrong in 2022,” a proud Biden told reporters traveling with him on Friday. “So, look, we’ll see.”