Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House

Biden’s attempts to shut down the discussion about his readiness to serve as president were largely unsuccessful. He and his team decided to write a public letter to Democrats in Congress who were pushing him to step down. Some of his campaign team felt that a letter was “old-school politics” (79) and wouldn’t play well in the contemporary media landscape, but they also felt that Biden couldn’t be trusted to deliver that message via an interview on camera.

The upcoming Democratic convention, meanwhile, became an impromptu stage for candidates to possibly replace Biden. The media continued to buzz with rumors and opinions about the likelihood of Biden dropping out, despite his forceful public disavowals of that possibility. Biden’s team attempted to ensure that the delegates from New York and California, the two largest and most powerful Democratic delegations, would make statements in support of Biden. However, California’s Democratic Party, led by Nancy Pelosi and Governor Gavin Newsom (rumored to have presidential aspirations of his own), refused to “bend its knee” (80). New York Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, also refused, since Schumer privately believed that Biden should drop out, though he had made no public statement.