CNN’s Jake Tapper opened Monday’s edition of The Lead with a rebuttal to President Joe Biden, who claimed “elites” – and not rank-and-file voters – want a different Democratic nominee at next month’s convention.
The Biden campaign is in turmoil after his woeful debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month. Fallout was swift, as some Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to step aside. Even longtime allies have publicly expressed concern about Biden’s ability to make the case against Trump and prevent the former president from returning to the White House.
Biden has tried to assuage fears by doing a sit-down interview with ABC News and multiple call-in interviews, but those did not exactly go off without hitches, as Tapper noted in his monologue.
“Earlier today, President Biden called into one of his favorite TV shows – Morning Joe on MSNBC – and he railed against what he called ‘the elites,’” the host said before airing a clip of Biden.
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites,” the president said. “Now, I’m not talking about you guys, but about the elites in the party.”
Tapper responded:
President Biden seems to be trying to frame what’s going on right now as, the average voters who want him versus the elites of the Democratic Party – donors and lawmakers, and opinion makers, many of whom have serious concerns about Biden’s ability to be the candidate and have called for him to step down after that debate performance that, let’s call baffling. In reality, 72% of voters say that they believe President Biden is too old. That’s according to CNN’s most recent polling. Voters have been saying this for quite a long time. The reality is that the Democratic elites are mostly late to acknowledge these age and ability issues compared to the rest of the public. The elites have been forced to reckon with it after the debate just 11 days ago.
Tapper then aired another clip from Biden’s Morning Joe interview. When it concluded, the host read the president’s comments back verbatim:
“The fact of the matter is how can you assure you’re going to be on, you know, on your way to go, you know, work tomorrow? Age, age wasn’t, you know, the idea that I’m too old.”
Keep in mind that sound bite is supposed to be reassuring to those Democratic supporters who have gone wobbly. Many Democratic officials with whom I’ve spoken are worried that President Biden and his family and his inner circle appear to be in complete denial, not just about whatever might be wrong with him, but the state of his candidacy right now.