Devastating blow for Biden as famous billionaire who’s among Democrats’ most generous donors calls for president, 81, to pull out of race
The billionaire co-founder of Netflix, one of the Democrats’ most generous donors, has called on Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.
Reed Hastings, 63, is calling on Biden to step aside after his disastrous performance in the debate against Donald Trump last week.
“Biden must step aside so a strong Democratic leader can defeat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” Hastings told The New York Times on Wednesday.
Hastings, along with his wife Patty Qullin, filled the party coffers with more than $20 million during the Trump era.
They have also specifically supported Biden in the past, donating $1.5 million to the 2020 campaign and more than $100,000 last summer.
The billionaire co-founder of Netflix, one of the Democrats’ most generous donors, has called on Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race
Reed Hastings, 63, calls on Biden to step aside after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last week
Hastings was part of Biden’s tech industry outreach campaign, which also included LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hastings, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Yahoo executive Marissa Mayer.
In the days following the debate, Biden’s donors devised three different strategies. One of them was to withdraw from the race immediately, as formulated by those with little influence over the campaign.
Now Hastings is the biggest donor to Biden and the Democratic Party to date and has asked him to step aside.
Notably, he also has close ties to California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is seen by some as a possible Biden replacement, giving his 2021 impeachment campaign $3 million.
Ari Emanuel, a major Hollywood superagent and Democratic mainstay whose brother Rahm is the former White House chief of staff and now Biden’s ambassador to Japan, was also highly critical on Wednesday.
“I’ve talked to some of the big donors and they’re putting all of their money into Congress and the Senate,” Emanuel said at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
Emanuel, the inspiration for the character Ari Gold on Entourage, is also the brother of Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who is now Biden’s ambassador to Japan.
“He gave us a bunch of crap and I’m really pissed off. We should all be really pissed off,” Emanuel added.
Ari Emanuel, a major Hollywood superagent and Democrat supporter whose brother Rahm is the former White House chief of staff and now Biden’s ambassador to Japan, was also highly critical on Wednesday
Emanuel (pictured left), the inspiration for the character Ari Gold on Entourage, is also the brother of Rahm Emanuel (pictured right), the former Chicago mayor who now serves as Biden’s ambassador to Japan
Rahm Emanuel was also once chief of staff to Barack Obama when Biden was vice president.
A second incumbent Democrat has called on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, a fresh blow to the campaign as more people turn against him.
Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva, 76, is urging Biden not to run for re-election, The New York Times reported Wednesday. He is the second sitting Democrat to call for the president’s withdrawal.
Two other House Democrats have said publicly that they are confident that former President Donald Trump will beat Biden. That lack of confidence will undoubtedly be a topic of conversation among party leaders, scheduled for tonight.
“If he is the candidate, I will support him, but I think this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva said.
“What he needs to do is take responsibility for keeping that seat. And part of that responsibility is to get out of this race.”
The first incumbent Democrat to call on Joe Biden to withdraw from the election says party leadership made no attempt to silence him before making it public.
Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, 77, issued a statement Tuesday urging Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, saying that if he did not, Donald Trump would win the White House, Doggett said.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., became the second incumbent Democrat to publicly call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 election
Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett is the first sitting Democrat in office to call on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race, saying Democratic leadership was not trying to keep him quiet
He was the first Democrat in office to call for Biden’s withdrawal.
The Texan, who has been party leader since 1995, broke his silence after turning against the top Democrat, telling NPR that party leadership did not prevent him from publicly voicing his concerns.
“I’m not a vulnerable member in this election,” Doggett said. “So I can step forward and speak out about what I think is so critical to our country in ways that others may not have.”
“But I certainly have not encountered any discouragement within the leadership of the party,” he added, indicating that leading Democrats may approve of ousting Biden.
“I think the concerns I’m raising are widespread,” Doggett continued. “I wish this had been resolved sooner.”
The Democrat said he had not previously spoken out about Biden’s withdrawal because he was concerned about how Donald Trump could benefit from such a party shake-up.
After the Texas Democrat released a statement Tuesday calling on Biden to withdraw, two other Democrats in the House of Representatives also spoke out against the president.
While they did not explicitly call on Biden to withdraw, both Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington said Tuesday that they believe Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden in November.
President Joe Biden reportedly feels ‘humiliated’ and ‘painfully aware’ of his image after his debate over the car crash that left him stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought
“After the first presidential debate, many Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should resign as the party’s nominee,” Golden wrote
Further reports indicate that a group of 25 Democratic lawmakers, concerned about their own elections, are considering calling on Biden to withdraw.
Whether Biden continues his bid for the presidency in 2024 after his lackluster debate performance against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is largely his decision, Democrats and political strategists said.
Doggett compared the difficult decision he says Biden must make for the good of the nation to one made decades ago by another sitting Democratic president.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district that was once held by Lyndon Johnson,” the Texas native said in a statement Tuesday. “Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw.
“President Biden should do the same,” he continued. “While much of his work has been transformative, he has promised to navigate a period of transition.”
Lyndon B. Johnson decided to withdraw from the race in 1968, as the mounting casualties in the Vietnam War made him extremely unpopular.
Biden is facing declining support after his disastrous performance during Thursday’s debate.
A proud Biden vowed on Wednesday to run for re-election, despite his senior advisers saying they believed he had only a few days to show he could rise to the challenge before fears within the party mounted.
“Let me say this as plainly and simply as I can: I’m in … nobody is pushing me out,” Biden said during a call with staff from his re-election campaign.
“I’m not going away. I’m in this race until the end and we’re going to win.”
Yet Biden faced serious and mounting evidence that support for him on Capitol Hill and among other allies was rapidly waning, despite his efforts to salvage his reelection in a variety of ways, including an impromptu appearance with campaign staff, private conversations with top lawmakers, a weekend of travel and a televised interview.