FREDDIE GRAY: As Biden cries ‘Ho Ho Ho!’ at a July 4th party and refers to himself as a ‘black woman’, how long until the ‘Joe must go’ faction prevail?

If President Biden had hoped to quell demands that he resign as the Democratic Party’s nominee after his crushing performance in the first debate against Donald Trump last month, his attendance at the official Independence Day celebration at the White House did little to help.

The president mysteriously greeted the crowd with, “Ho ho ho! Happy Independence Day,” apparently confusing Christmas with the Fourth of July.

When he went off script and took a dig at his opponent Donald Trump, he lost the thread and disappeared into silence.

Hours earlier, he had said in a radio interview that he was “proud” to be the first “black woman to serve with a black president.”

This comes after the White House on Wednesday had to fiercely deny reports suggesting that Biden had admitted to allies that he might not be able to save his candidacy.

Later, on a campaign phone call, Biden himself insisted, “Let me make this as clear as I can: I’m in. Nobody’s pushing me out.” Still, rumors continue to swirl.

A bunker mentality has developed in the White House. Biden is said to have become so exasperated that his closest aides, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, are said to be shielding him from lesser-known staffers for fear they would inflame his temper.

Biden is being managed more than ever. Since the debate, his — always limited — appearances have become even more limited.

Aides brief the press on Biden calling allies to reassure them he is doing a good job.

“The good thing now is that he can answer the phone,” jokes one Washington bungler.

But if form is any guide, it won’t be long before he experiences another major global event. And Democrats know that the next major humiliation could make Biden’s position truly untenable.

A few Democratic members of Congress, such as Lloyd Doggett (Texas) and Raul Grijalva (Arizona), have said Biden should step aside.

But a strict sense of electoral omerta prevents most from coming out into the open.

What Democrats say in private is another matter. There is even a theory that the party has given up on winning in November and is already looking ahead to 2028.

Earlier this week, Democratic governors met with their president at the White House, reportedly to “stand by his side.”

But after Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn, two of the most powerful politicians in the party, expressed their ambivalence.

“I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’” Pelosi said, when asked about Biden’s health.

“I’ll have to wait for the medical experts to give their opinion, because I’m not a doctor,” Clyburn said when asked about the president’s performance during the debate.

Other notable Democratic figures went even further. James Carville, the 79-year-old former strategist, urged the party to do “something different.”

Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix and one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, also spoke out: “Biden must step aside so a strong Democratic leader can defeat Trump.”

The “Joe Must Go” faction — the “Bed Pee Brigade,” as Team Biden calls it — is growing. But it must confront some uncomfortable truths.

The most pressing issue is that Joe Biden has already won the 2024 Democratic primary.

If he continues to refuse to step down, it is nearly impossible to imagine his critics hijacking his nomination as the party’s candidate in Chicago next month.

“What you have to understand is that Joe Biden is the pope of the Democratic Party,” says one Democratic operative. “He’s the leader, the unifier. He’s not going to be forced out.”

It has long been said that the only person who can convince Joe to step down is his wife, Jill. But the First Lady seems even more determined than her husband to fight on.

She’s on the cover of Vogue magazine this month with the headline: “WE WILL DECIDE OUR FUTURE.”

It’s not just Jill. The entire Biden family gathered at Camp David on Sunday, urging Joe to stay in the race.

Hunter, the president’s son and a recovering crack addict who was recently found guilty of lying to buy a gun, is said to have played a key role in the discussions.

The only real hope for Democrats seeking to oust Biden is that the party’s top brass will unite to demand his resignation — a possible echo of the last time a president resigned.

In 1974, during the Watergate scandal, Republican senators convinced Richard Nixon to resign.

Some argue that Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, is the only Democrat with enough influence to force the president’s resignation.

She worked with him for many years and shares his very liberal Catholicism.

Others say Clyburn, who is likely the most powerful African-American in Congress, has sufficient influence.

It was Clyburn who nearly gave Biden the Democratic nomination in 2020 when he supported him in South Carolina.

Or consider Barack Obama, the most popular living Democratic politician, who immediately expressed his support for Biden on social media last week.

“There are some bad debate nights,” he said.

But the relationship between Obama and Biden is complicated. The two men have often feuded in private.

And Michelle Obama, the former First Lady, is reportedly refusing to campaign for the Bidens because she is bitter about the way they treated her friend Kathleen Buhle, Hunter’s first wife.

However, insiders agree that Obama and the Democratic elite are unlikely to turn on Biden anytime soon, as there are no good alternatives.

If Biden withdraws and endorses his Vice President Kamala Harris, she will almost certainly win the nomination.

A poll released quickly this week found Harris now outperforming Biden against Trump.

But she is widely regarded as a disaster as “Veep,” with one consultant suggesting that swing-state voters would prefer a “dead or comatose Joe Biden” over Harris.

If Biden steps down and refuses to endorse Harris, the Democratic National Committee may have to open the party convention to other candidates to stake their claim.

But all of the most-mentioned names have serious limitations. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seen as untested on the national stage.

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s once complicated personal life is being seen as a potential risk.

Illinois billionaire Governor JB Pritzker may be able to fund his campaign, but he would anger the Democratic left.

Party leaders also know that reopening the nomination process would likely lead to chaos.

Radical activists are furious with the party leadership for its support for the Israeli war in Gaza.

There could be chaos in the streets, as happened during the 1968 convention in the same city. This was also the last time a Democratic president withdrew during the election campaign.

That year, Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew and the party machine attempted to install his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, against the wishes of voters angry over the Vietnam War.

This year, history could repeat itself, not as a tragedy, but as a farce.

Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator