In the aftermath of Thursday’s presidential debate, as Jill Biden led President Biden off the stage, former Senator Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat, raised what she called a “hard and heartbreaking” question.
“You have to ask,’’ she said on MSNBC, “how did we get here?”Barely seven weeks before Democrats gather in Chicago to formally nominate Mr. Biden for a second term, the Democratic Party is in crisis.
Many party leaders, donors, activists and ordinary voters, stunned by the president’s faltering debate appearance, now fear he will lose to former President Donald J. Trump and drag Democrats to devastating defeats in congressional and state elections.
Mr. Biden is surrounded by a tight circle of longtime aides and family members who have encouraged his desire to seek a second term.
But interviews with top party strategists, office holders and people close to Democrats seen as possible presidential hopefuls suggest that, just as crucially, party leaders were lulled into complacency or pressed to step in line at crucial moments when they might have persuaded Mr. Biden to step aside.
Persons:
Jill Biden, Biden, Claire McCaskill, ’ ’, “, Donald J, Mr
Organizations:
Missouri Democrat, MSNBC, Democratic Party, Trump
Locations:
Missouri, Chicago