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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
As Donald Trump was basking in the glory of falling balloons and the adulation of his supporters at the Republican convention in Milwaukee on Thursday night, a Covid-stricken Joe Biden was fighting to keep his re-election bid alive from his holiday home in Delaware.
The diverging fortunes of the two leading candidates for the White House this week marked the latest, dramatic chapter in a rivalry that has dominated American politics for the past four years.
On Friday morning, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, insisted the president would remain in the race, defying the intense pressure building from vast swaths of the Democratic party for him to quit in the wake of his disastrous performance in a debate against Trump last month.
“Absolutely the president is in this race,” she told MSNBC. “Joe Biden is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump, and we believe on this campaign we are built for the close election that we are in, and we see the path forward.”
But the growing possibility that Biden might bow out in the coming days was preoccupying minds in both Washington and at the arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump’s coronation as the Republican nominee was taking place.
Trump and his advisers mocked the disarray on the Democratic side and projected confidence that they would beat whomever their rivals put up in the general election. But they could not help attacking the efforts to unseat Biden as an outrageous plot, exposing their preference for facing the incumbent president rather than a younger, energised alternative.
“You are watching a coup. Literally. In front of your eyes,” Chris LaCivita, Trump’s campaign manager, said on Thursday.
Following on the heels of the assassination attempt on Trump last weekend that left the former president injured by a gunshot to the ear, the convention displayed a mix of solidarity, unity and glorification that will bolster him in the final stretch of the campaign.
Since the attack Trump’s national lead over Biden has widened to five points, according to a poll from CBS-YouGov.
But the former president may have spoiled what was otherwise a very disciplined and effective convention with a long and rambling acceptance speech that veered off script repeatedly.
While the prepared remarks were mostly an appeal for the centre of the American electorate, Trump’s off-the-cuff comments revived the conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and admiration for authoritarian leaders that have repeatedly turned off swing voters in the past.
Still, Trump’s performance certainly did not stop Biden’s support from continuing to seep away.
On Friday morning, at least eight more Democratic lawmakers, including New Mexico senator Martin Heinrich, joined the chorus of Democrats publicly calling for the president to leave the race.
Biden has not made any public appearances since Wednesday, when he slowly disembarked from Air Force One in Delaware after flying back from Nevada, where Covid-19 had forced him to cancel a campaign rally.
Kamala Harris, his vice-president and the leading contender to replace him in the race if he steps down, was in North Carolina for a rally on Thursday, and seemed invigorated.
“Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in opportunity? Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it?” she asked a roaring crowd of several hundred supporters.
While some Democrats are already calling for the party to rally around Harris rapidly if Biden steps down, others are calling for a competitive process that could pave the way for other top candidates, such as Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer or California governor Gavin Newsom, to emerge before the August convention.
Meanwhile, speculation is growing among Democrats about who Harris might pick as her potential running mate should she become the party’s candidate — with Andy Beshear, the Kentucky governor, and Roy Cooper, the North Carolina governor, seen as top choices.
But there are still high-profile Democrats who are refusing to accept that Biden’s exit is a fait accompli. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the so-called squad of progressive members of Congress, expressed outrage at efforts to replace the president in a livestream posted on Instagram as Trump spoke on Thursday night.
For any of the various scenarios to unfurl, however, Biden must first bow out of the race and on Friday he showed little sign of doing so, defiantly stating he would be back on the campaign trail next week.
“We know that the president has to prove to the American people exactly what he believes, that he’s in this to win this,” said O’Malley.
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