After a Bruising Day, Biden Faces a New Test

Donors will be watching closely to see how President Biden performs today in a news conference at the NATO summit.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

A brutal 24 hours

President Biden and his allies may have thought they had stemmed a rebellion by fellow Democrats and donors after his debate debacle.

But a series of interventions piled more pressure on the campaign just as the president prepares to hold a news conference at the NATO summit on Thursday that’s seen as his next big test.

Some Democratic lawmakers made clear that they weren’t falling into line behind Biden. Representative Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday that “time is running short” for the president to make a decision, remarks that stunned several White House officials, according to The Times. She said she would back whatever decision he takes, but the equivocal comments were seen as offering other Democrats space to speak up.

Hours later, Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to call on Biden to withdraw. “We can’t unsee what we saw” at the debate, Welch told The Times, adding that Donald Trump’s returning to power would be a “catastrophe.”

George Clooney was even more direct. The actor, who co-hosted a $28 million fund-raiser for Biden in Los Angeles last month, wrote in a Times guest essay that the president’s debate performance wasn’t a one-off:

(A person involved in planning the fund-raiser told The Times that Biden had stayed at the event for three hours, while the actor left much earlier.)

It’s also another blow for Jeffrey Katzenberg. Hollywood has been a respite for Biden, but donors have accused the Biden campaign co-chairman of downplaying the president’s health. Katzenberg spearheaded attempts to convince Clooney to stick with Biden.