Joe Biden has been trying for several days to convince members of the Democratic Party that he is the right choice to defeat Donald Trump and trying to silence the growing voices calling for him to drop out of the campaign after doubts about his abilities following his poor performance in the CNN presidential debate.
It started on Friday with the interview with ABC, continued over the weekend in a meeting with important party members, and on Monday tried to address the questions with a two-page letter to the Democrats where he says, “I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.”
What does Joe Biden's letter to the Democratic Party say?
In the text, Biden recounts that in the last 10 days (since the debate) he has met with party leaders, elected officials, and, especially, Democratic voters, and about them he says, “I have had extensive conversations with the leadership of the party, elected officials, rank and file members, and most importantly, Democratic voters over these past 10 days or so. I have heard the concerns, their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them.”
And then he responds to them: “I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”
Biden also justifies his decision in the party primaries “a process open to anyone who wanted to run” and where the voters “We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I received over 14 million votes, 87% ofthe votes cast acrossthe entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,900 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin... Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say? I decline to do that.”
After detailing several of his accomplishments and criticizing some of Trump’s ideas, Joe Biden’s letter concludes by saying: “The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”
What is the purpose of the letter?
Clearly, Joe Biden seeks to end the controversies and silence the voices calling for him to resign from his candidacy, including five Democratic representatives who have spoken publicly.
This morning, in addition to the letter, Biden was on the MSNBC program "Morning Joe" and was more challenging. He said he was "frustrated with the elites" of his party and issued a call: "Compete against me, challenge me at the Convention."
Biden raised the stakes, making a resignation from his candidacy more critical and difficult.