President Joe Biden has had a few encouraging words from supporters in the wake of his disastrous debate performance, but his former spokesperson was not among them.
MSNBC host Jen Psaki could only offer a grim outlook for her former boss’s re-election chances during her show’s opening monologue.
“It has now been 10 days since the first presidential debate. Those have felt like 10 years in the political world, maybe to all of you watching. The speculation about Joe Biden’s future has been rampant and panic inside the Democratic Party has not gone away,” Psaki began.
“The questions I know I’m getting from text messages from friends, from family are twofold: What’s going to happen and what is the best path forward?” the former White House spokesperson stated on “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday. “And I’m not going to sit here this afternoon and tell you I know the answer to either question.”
(Video Credit: MSNBC)
Psaki noted that “longtime loyalists” may be uncertain about supporting Biden amid calls from top Democrats for him to step aside.
“It is important to note that since the debate, five sitting members of Congress publicly called on the president to step aside, which is not at all insignificant,” she said.
“Just yesterday, a current senior White House official who The New York Times described importantly as ‘having worked with Biden during his presidency, vice presidency and on the 2020 campaign,’ said that he should not seek reelection,” Psaki said. “Now, this person wasn’t named and we don’t know who it is. But I can tell you there aren’t too many people who fit that description. It’s basically an indication that even longtime loyalists may have serious doubts about his path forward.”
Biden’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos didn’t seem to erase the recent images of the 81-year-old gaffes, missteps, and overall mental decline, with Psaki saying the friendly interview was just “okay” for the president.
“I would say it went just okay for the president,” Psaki said.
“He seemed a little in denial about the state of the race and maybe confidence was a strategy going into this, project confidence about the path forward. But it is not ideal for people watching and looking for a sign he recognized the difficulty of the path ahead,” she continued. “When the interview ended, it left us all in this sort of purgatory for the moment. It was better than debate, not a home run at all.”
“So what is next? As I said, tomorrow is going to potentially be a very interesting day here in Washington, when lawmakers return to Capitol Hil,” Psaki concluded.
“Biden pushes ahead and tries to clear the bars and silence concerns he might not be able to silence, the clock is ticking,” she said. “That is just a fact.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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