Inside Biden’s intense weekend fight to save his reelection campaign after disastrous debate

President Joe Biden and his team spent the weekend on a mission to convince Democratic Party members and voters that he is still fit for office and the right choice for their presidential ticket in November.

Biden spent the weekend in damage control after a performance in a debate about a car crash with former President Donald Trump.

Democrats panicked after Biden stumbled and mumbled during Thursday’s debate. They immediately blamed his hoarse, hard-to-hear voice on a cold and tried to convince Democrats it was just a “slow start.”

But the reality is that Americans saw an 81-year-old president who seemed his age. He lost track of his thoughts at various points and appeared on stage with his mouth open and a blank or wide-eyed expression when Trump spoke.

The day after the debate, the president was more energetic at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina with First Lady Jill Biden.

But it was too late, and many Democratic donors and strategists were already calling on him to step aside and allow a new candidate to emerge before the nominating convention in August.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a phone call Saturday afternoon in which they tried to convince party members that Biden is a viable candidate.

Some in the conversation said party leaders largely ignored Biden’s lackluster performance in Atlanta on Thursday and downplayed the onslaught of criticism that followed. No one could ask questions and the chat function was disabled.

Members felt manipulated by Harrison and Rodriguez, claiming they were being asked to ignore the angry situation the party found itself in. They were told to play by the rules and support Biden’s candidacy or find a replacement within a month.

Harrison gave what they described as a rosy picture of Biden’s path forward.

“I was hoping for a more substantive conversation instead of, ‘Hey, let’s go out there and just be cheerleaders,’ without actually addressing a very serious issue that was on American television and in front of millions of people,” said Joe Salazar, a DNC member-elect from Colorado who attended the meeting, according to the Associated Press.

He added: ‘There were a number of things that could have been said to address the situation. But we didn’t get them. We were manipulated.’

Also on Saturday, Biden held a $250,000-per-person rally at hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein’s 45-acre beachfront property.

Some donors skipped the event, with The New York Times reporting that several megadonors reached out to Jill Biden to convince her husband to withdraw in favor of a younger candidate.

‘A lot of people blame his wife… for not telling him. [to step aside]’ one person told the New York Post.

According to Anthony Scaramucci, who attended the fundraiser, Biden used a teleprompter as he spoke to donors in the living room of the beach house.

After Saturday’s campaign rally and fundraiser, the first couple headed straight back to the presidential retreat Camp David, where Biden spent seven days debating in preparation for his showdown with Trump at CNN headquarters.

He would discuss the future of his political campaign with his wife and family.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden held a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina the day after the debate, where the president appeared more energetic and defended his viability as a candidate while acknowledging that his debate performance could have been better.

Joe and Jill brought their granddaughters Natalie and Finnegan Biden to attend a fundraiser in Hampton on Saturday, where the president used a teleprompter as he spoke to donors at the beach house of hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein

While concerns about Biden’s mental health and calls for him to step aside have been kept secret in recent months, Democrats are now saying out loud what they’ve been doing quietly.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) went a step further than most when he said, “There are very honest, serious, thorough conversations happening at every level of our party.”

“We’re having a serious conversation about what we need to do,” he said in an interview on the MSNBC program Velshi. “One thing I can tell you: No matter what President Biden decides, our party will be united.”

“Whether he is the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he will be the keynote speaker at our convention,” he added. “He will be the figure around whom we rally to move forward and defeat the forces of authoritarianism and reaction in the country.”