Biden's ABC interview is unlikely to fix his Capitol Hill problem
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President Biden speaks at an Independence Day celebration at the White House on July 4, 2024. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
President Biden's hopes of putting to bed concerns about his age by sitting down with ABC's George Stephanopoulos could crash against a hardening sentiment among congressional Democrats that he needs to go.
Why it matters: Democratic lawmakers are growing increasingly restless and willing to go public with their concerns that the president is no longer capable of leading their party to victory in November.
Driving the news: Biden is scheduled to sit down with Stephanopoulos during a campaign swing in Wisconsin on Friday for a pre-recorded interview that will air at 8pm ET.
- Biden is also scheduled to hold a campaign event in Wisconsin along with at least one House Democrat: progressive Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.).
- Most of the lawmakers who spoke to Axios said they plan to watch the interview — but few expect it to change any minds in Congress.
- As House Democrats retreated to their districts this week, they've grown increasingly panicked about Biden's ability to defeat former President Trump following his poor debate performance last Thursday.
What they're saying: "There were 40 million people that watched the debate, so it'll take more than a rally and an interview to prove that he can make the case that Trump is unfit to be president," Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) told Axios.
- Another House Democrat said the interview will change "zero" minds in Congress because "the deciding factor is that the public ... now believes he is not capable. And for that reason alone, he needs to step down."
- A lawmaker supportive of Biden staying on the ticket conceded that the belief he should withdraw has already "sunk in" for some of their colleagues.
- "I think the ship has sailed," said a fourth House Democrat, pointing to participants in 4th of July parades in their district wearing shirts from Vice President Kamala Harris' 2020 presidential campaign.
State of play: Two lawmakers, Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), have publicly called for Biden to withdraw his candidacy, while others have skirted close to that line.
- Some centrists have gone so far as to cast a Trump victory over Biden as a certainty.
- The Biden campaign has pushed back by arguing that their fundraising remains strong and that the debate has not had a big impact on the polls.
Between the lines: "Nobody thinks that having a decent interview is the end of the problem," said a fifth House Democrat.
- "He would need to suddenly materialize as the Biden of 20 years ago, and that's not going to happen," they said.
- The lawmaker argued there is a "huge downside" in the Biden campaign setting the interview as the "definitive test," because "if he screws it up, it really is game over. But if he clears it, it's not as simple as saying we're out of the woods now."
Yes, but: The Biden campaign stressed that the ABC interview isn't the only example of Biden actively trying to address concerns about his age.
- It pointed to his Wisconsin event, two radio interviews he taped on Wednesday and a planned press conference at next week's NATO summit.
The other side: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) told Axios she believes Biden's debate performance and his post-debate efforts to address concerns about his age have been more successful than some of her colleagues
- Stevens said she is "excited for these interviews" and spoke to Democratic volunteers over the weekend who "were all on board [with Biden]. A lot of people were talking about, like, 'we didn't take the debate like that.'"
- "A lot of people who I've talked to have said they've been reassured when he said, 'Hey, I don't debate like I used to. I am a little older,'" she added.
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