Barack Obama Is Basically Begging Joe Biden to Drop Out

Like many Americans, Barack Obama is very worried about November, and Joe Biden’s chances of beating Donald Trump. Unlike many Americans, Obama has a long history with Biden, one that complicates things and might make him a bit hesitant to, say, write an op-ed in The New York Times publicly declaring the president must drop out of the race now, or call Biden up and scream, “WHAT THE F–K ARE YOU DOING?” But it sure seems like he wants to!

The Washington Post reports that, according to people familiar with the matter, Obama “has told allies in recent days that President Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy.” This follows a “tough love” phone call between Obama and Biden after June’s disastrous debate that reportedly left Biden unsettled—as well as a report from Politico that Obama was given a heads-up prior to the publication of George Clooney’s op-ed calling on Biden to drop out and “didn’t object” to it. (A spokesperson for Obama declined the Post’s request for comment.)

Obama, of course, is not the only prominent Democrat who has privately tried to level with the president. (More than 20 House Dems, including Representative Adam Schiff, have publicly said the president should step aside.) On Wednesday, the Post reported that House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer separately told Biden that his refusal to drop out could result in Democrats losing the Senate and failing to retake the House, allowing the GOP to control both the White House and Congress.

As for whether any of these entreaties are breaking through, that remains to be seen. According to The New York Times, Biden has “become more receptive in the last several days to hearing arguments about why he should drop his reelection bid,” but “has not given any indication that he is changing his mind about staying in the race.” Responding to the report of Schumer’s and Jeffries’s conversations with Biden, Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, told the Times: “The president told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.”

Reminder: “By age three, [Donald Trump] was earning $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s empire” and “was a millionaire by age eight”

Vladimir Putin is famously willing to make compromises