A large group of very concerned Democrats called up Joe Biden on a big zoom call last Saturday to express their fear that he’s going to lose and take them with him. It then went off the rails.
That zoom call was recorded and it was seen by Puck News Julie Ioffe. She said one Democrat described the call as “worse than the debate”, saying Biden was “rambling”, that “he’d start an answer then lose his train of thought, then would just say ‘whatever.’”
Boy, that sounds nothing like Biden! We’ve never seen him do anything like that, LOL! Yeah, at least a million times…
The same Democrat continued, saying “He really couldn’t complete an answer. I lost a ton of respect for him.”
Biden lashed out at Rep. Jason Crow, a combat veteran who was sharing his concerns with him, and even attacked Crow’s Bronze Star: “Tell me who did something that you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son”
I know that’s a terrible insult against Crow’s reception of the Bronze Star, but I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what the heck Dementia Joe meant by that statement. The best I can figure is that he’s telling Crow that he doesn’t deserve his Bronze Star like his son does, or something.
The Democrat who relayed this to Ioffe said “Had the assassination attempt not occurred an hour later, I imagine 50 people on that Zoom were ready to come out publicly against him.”
The call ended around 5pm because Biden needed to go to Mass, according to the participant.
Ioffe then relayed what she heard on the video of the Zoom call related to Biden’s exchange with Crow, which was Biden angrily listing off his accomplishments and then saying “So I don’t want to hear that crap!” before hanging up:
Right before the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a group of moderate Hill Democrats held a “tense” Zoom call with the White House to express their concern about Biden’s ability to win—and their ability to win, should he tank and take them down with him. “The call was even worse than the debate,” one of the participants told me. “He was rambling; he’d start an answer then lose his train of thought, then would just say ‘whatever.’ He really couldn’t complete an answer. I lost a ton of respect for him.” A second participant in the call confirmed this characterization. “The president was rambling, dismissive of concerns, unable or unprepared to present a campaign strategy, and had a particularly troubling exchange with Jason Crow—saying to him, ‘Tell me something you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son,’” this member of Congress told me. “Had the assassination attempt not occurred an hour later, I imagine 50 people on that Zoom were ready to come out publicly against him.” (Biden ended the call on Saturday, just after 5 p.m., by saying his staff told him it was time for mass. The attempted assassination happened shortly after 6 p.m.) A third participant confirmed the descriptions of the president’s demeanor during the call to my partner Abby Livingston.
The Biden campaign pushed back strenuously on these members’ characterization of Biden as a rambling old man, sending me a half-dozen tweets from other call participants, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a fierce Biden loyalist, who said the president was “sharp, forceful.” “Just in the past week, the president has met with Democratic leaders in both chambers and numerous congressional groups to solicit their feedback and answer their questions,” a campaign official said in an email. “Engagement with House and Senate members is ongoing, and the campaign will continue to have candid and robust conversations with congressional offices.”
The campaign did not, however, dispute this next part, about Crow and his Bronze Star. In a video of the Zoom that I was able to view, you can hear Biden chastising Crow, who asked about the importance of national security to voters. “First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security,” the president says, the emotion at times garbling his words. “You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me! Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell me who did the Pacific basin! Tell me who did something that you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son—and I’m proud of your leadership, but guess what, what’s happening, we’ve got Korea and Japan working together, I put Aukus together, anyway! … Things are in chaos, and I’m bringing some order to it. And again, find me a world leader who’s an ally of ours who doesn’t think I’m the most respected person they’ve ever—”
“It’s not breaking through, Mr. President,” said Crow, “to our voters.”
“You oughta talk about it!” Biden shot back, listing his accomplishments yet again. “On national security, nobody has been a better president than I’ve been. Name me one. Name me one! So I don’t want to hear that crap!”
Another journalist, Rachel Blade, wrote about the call on X. She said that Biden was asked by Crow “whether the American people should sleep well at night because of national security.”
That’s when Biden unloaded on Crow and attacked him. He then hung up before anyone could confront him about it.
News: Biden grows angry with New Dems on call — even yelled at one, @JasonCrowCO , and then got off the call before others could confront him about stepping aside, saying he has to go to Mass, per source on the call.
“It was bad,” one member on the call said. “No plan.”
When members pressed him on how he would turn the campaign around Biden just listed policy achievements. Insisted his polls look better.
He also:
->interrupted Chrissy Houlahan
->yelled at Jason Crow for asking whether the American people should sleep well at night because of national security.
->Then got off the call before Mike Quigley — who has called on him to resign — could ask a question.
“staff says I have to go to mass,” he told them…