Biden's candidacy remains under threat as top Democratic donors get cold feet

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said the performance by Joe Biden at last week’s debate might have countries like Iran foaming at the mouth to develop a nuclear weapon. 

Graham added that if Biden were to actually be replaced with another name on the ballot, it won’t change the Democratic agenda.

“I think they will replace him,” Graham said Tuesday on “Hannity.” “I think it’ll be abundantly obvious you cannot convince the American people this guy can serve another four years, that he’s not mentally with it, the world’s too dangerous to have him in the commander-in-chief's chair, so I think there’s going to be a real move here soon to replace him.

“But here’s what I want you to know. You might change the name of the person, but they all have the same policies.”

Graham started his brief segment by saying it’s hard to comprehend how President Biden can “absorb what’s going on in the world” by what he saw with the debate against former President Donald Trump. It was a debate where Biden looked tense, stumbled over his words and looked shaky at times trying to answer questions in which he prepared for more than a week at Camp David.

“Our enemies are watching that debate. I’m very worried about what they took away from this debate. If you’re Iran, you really push before November to get a nuclear weapon before Biden’s compromised,” Graham said. “The bottom line here is this is a very dangerous time.

“When President Trump told our enemies I’m watching what you’re doing here, don’t take advantage of this situation. I hope our enemies are listening.” 

Graham added that he believes any Democrats running on Biden’s record will fall in their respective elections this fall.

“But 76% of American public believe Joe Biden is not capable mentally having the job,” Graham said. “If you’re a Democratic senator in these contests, Joe Biden is going to sink you.”

President Joe Biden tweeted Tuesday that he signed the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act – a law that could possibly help prevent, treat and cure Parkinson’s disease and similar disorders.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder in humans that affects body movements, facial expressions and even speech, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Biden has been under the microscope from media, lawmakers and voters ever since his shaky performance at last Thursday’s presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if Biden was suffering from Alzheimer's or any form of dementia — also neurological disorders that are somewhat related to Parkinson’s disease — after his awkward debate performance.

"Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer's, any form of dementia or degenerative illness that cause these sorts of lapses? And it's a yes or no question," a reporter asked Jean-Pierre on Tuesday afternoon.

Jean-Pierre not only answered the question, but sharply turned the answer from left to right, telling the reporter to ask the same about Biden's presidential opponent in former President Donald Trump.

"Are you ready for it? It's a no. And I hope you're asking the other guy the same exact question," Jean-Pierre quipped, referring to Trump.

Biden posted a photo on X with a group of people standing around him. 

“Today I signed the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act – a law that will help prevent, treat, and cure Parkinson’s disease and similar disorders,” the president’s X account read.

“This law is about dignity. It gives people hope that we can end this cruel disease and that we can still do big things.”

A flurry of Democratic lawmakers have begun calling for Biden to withdraw from the upcoming presidential election while scads of Republicans have questioned Biden’s impairment.

A spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s campaign said that former President Barack Obama offered “unwavering support” for Biden despite last Thursday’s first presidential debate that was less than flattering for the current president.

“President Biden is grateful for President Obama’s unwavering support since the very start of this campaign as both a powerful messenger to voters and a trusted adviser directly to the president,” Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the Biden campaign, said, according to the Washington Post.

The report states that Obama spoke with Biden by phone after the debate to offer words of encouragement after the debate, which has alarmed many Democrats to call for Biden’s withdrawal from the upcoming election.

Obama hasn’t called for any Biden withdrawal, but has suggested his former vice president keep pushing forward.

“Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” Obama stated on social media after the debate.  

“Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November.”

Obama, who remains one of the biggest names in the Democratic Party, has attended two major fundraisers for Biden in the past few months, including a ritzy fundraiser in April with former President Bill Clinton in New York City at Radio City Music Hall.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that “everybody is asking one question of the Democratic party,” from Raskin’s “friend” [Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett] and all members of the House and Senate.

“How do we defeat Donald Trump and how are we going to defeat the threat of authoritarianism and keep the progress of democracy and freedom moving forward in the country?” Raskin said Tuesday on ‘All In with Chris Hayes.’

Raskin went on to claim that Democrats are “not operating like an authoritarian and religious cult the way the Republican Party operates now.”

The Maryland lawmaker said there will be “lots of people weighing in and this is a moving target.”

“It's got to happen quickly,” Raskin told Hayes. “But I can guarantee you — there will be massive unity and focus on that task when we get to the end of this process. And it's happening very quickly."

Doggett, who has been a member of Congress since 1995, was the first House Democrat to call upon Biden to withdraw from the upcoming election.

More than two dozen Democratic House lawmakers are preparing to call for Biden to step aide if he seems shaky in the coming days, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a House Democratic aide.

Another House Democratic aide said that moderate House Democrats in competitive district – often called “frontliners” – were getting hammered with questions in their districts this week following President Biden’s disastrous debate performance in Atlanta last week.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken after the debate showed one in three Democrats think Biden should end his re-election bid. 

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said, D-Wash., told KATU Tuesday she believed President Biden’s disastrous debate performance effectively handed the election to Donald Trump.

“About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump,” Perez said. “I know that’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done by that debate.”

 Still, Perez stopped short of calling for President Biden to drop out of the race entirely.

“A core tenet of democracy is that you accept the results of an election and the reality is that primary voting has already happened to a degree that Biden is the nominee," Gluesenkamp Perez said.

President Biden, speaking at a campaign fundraiser, blamed his disastrous debate performance last week on international travel – despite nearly two weeks having transpired between when he returned to the U.S. and when he participated in the debate.

“I wasn’t very smart,” Biden told donors in McLean, Virginia Tuesday evening.

Biden said he ignored his staff who said doing the debate was a bad idea. He also claimed that he nearly fell asleep on stage. Later Biden joked about Republicans who supposedly said the president would be coked up for the debate – an idea he dismissed as ridiculous, being the only Irishman to have never had a drink.

Jokes aside, Biden’s itinerary shows his international travel was confined to the first half of June and 12 days had passed between his return to the U.S. and debate night.

President Biden left for France the evening of June 4 to participate in a ceremony honoring the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He departed France the afternoon of June 9.

The president departed for Europe once again several days later for the G7 Summit in Italy where he stayed until June 14. He arrived in the U.S. June 15 to participated in a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles. For several days leading up to the debate, Biden stayed at Camp David.

The White House on Tuesday blamed Biden’s debate poor performance on having a cold, though Biden made no mention of this during the campaign fundraiser in McLean.

As fallout from the debate performance lingered into the following week, The New York Times published a report citing “current and former officials” who have worked with the president behind closed doors, who noticed that he “increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.”

These concerns, the report said, have grown even more pronounced after the debate, which has fueled calls for Biden to step out of the presidential race.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on Biden’s latest remarks.

Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro said on MSNBC Tuesday that Democrats are “on their heels having to defend [President] Joe Biden and the baggage that he brings with him.”

“If you switched candidates, that’s a different story,” Castro said, arguing that Democrats would be free to focus on former President Trump’s "baggage instead of anything on the Democratic side.”

“So, yes I believe that there are stronger options out there for Democrats. We have a stable of folks that could do a better job, including Vice President Harris,” Castro said.

Ask to clarify that he believes Biden should drop out of the 2024 presidential race, Castro said, “I believe another Democrat would have a better shot at beating Trump.”

In an op-ed column published Tuesday, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, said President Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week was “not a surprise” and “didn’t rattle” him as much as it had others.

The outcome of the 2024 presidential election, Golden wrote, “has been clear to me for months.”

“While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that,” Golden wrote in The Bangor Daily News.

Golden said he rejected the premise that Democracy itself was at stake should Trump win the election.

“Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system,” Golden said, noting that the U.S. has survived far worse.

Golden’s op-ed comes after Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first elected Democrat to call on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, saying the president “failed” to defend his record and reassure voters that he’s the man for the job during last week’s debate.

President Biden is planning to travel to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania this week as fallout from his disastrous debate performance last night continues.

According to an advisory, the president will travel to Madison, Wisconsin this Friday, the day after the 4th of July.

Then on Sunday, the president and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for an engagement. 

A Democratic congressional candidate is urging President Biden to withdraw from the presidential race following his disastrous Thursday-night debate performance. 

Adam Frisch, who is running against Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., sent an email to his supporters Tuesday, saying neither Biden nor Trump should be running for president.

“Only in politics is stating the obvious rarely done,” the message read. “It has been clear to me for some time – and the debate only reinforced it – neither candidate should be running for president. We need a president that can unite America to realize our nation’s unlimited potential.”

The Democrat added that the country deserves better and “President Biden should do what’s best for the country and withdraw from the race.” 

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is denying a report from the Washington Post that he planned to break with President Biden during an appearance on a Sunday talk show before senior Democrats ran interference.

Sources told The Washington Post that the recently turned independent senator had informed key allies of his plans, following Biden's widely panned debate performance against former President Trump.

But Manchin later told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that the report was “completely wrong” and “never happened.”

“[The Post] must be desperate for a story,” Manchin said.

Reporters hammered White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Tuesday to answer for President Biden's widely panned debate performance last week that re-ignited concerns over his mental fitness.

"All of us saw what happened on Thursday, where [Biden] simply could not form coherent answers to many ... of the questions," one reporter asked, warning that his next question was a delicate one and the president "may not like to hear it" if he's watching.

"But I think the American people need to get a yes or a no answer on this: Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer's, or any form of dementia or degenerative illness that causes these sorts of lapses?" the reporter asked. "And it's a yes or no question."

"I have an answer for you, are you ready for it," Jean-Pierre responded, looking visibly annoyed. "It's a no. And I hope you're asking the other guy the same exact question"

The "other guy" presumably meant Biden's opponent, former President Trump.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday fended off questions from reporters on President Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week.

Jean-Pierre conceded that the president “did not have a great night” and had been dealing with a cold and a “hoarse voice.”

She then pivoted to defending Biden’s record while in office.

“He knows right from wrong. He knows how to tell the truth. And again, he knows how to deliver for the American people,” Jean-Pierre said, repeating some of Biden’s talking points from a rally he held in Raleigh, North Carolina the day after the debate.

Reporters pushed back on her answer, noting Biden had more than just a cold.

“He was trailing off, he didn’t answer some questions,” one reporter noted, asking if there were any plans to release Biden’s medical records to give Americans a better sense of the president’s “mental acuity.”

Another reporter asked whether the president got a neurological scan after the debate. Jean-Pierre defended the president, saying he had released medical records as recently as February.

Former Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haas told MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" Monday that President Biden “needs to be urged to step down” following last weeks widely criticized presidential debate with former President Donald Trump.

Speaking to the panel, Haas said debating whether or not Biden was a good president was misguided.

“He’s 81. He’s going to be 82 in November. He’s going to be 86 … while he’s still in the oval office,” Haas said. “Does anyone seriously think that in four and a half years from now, Joe Biden is going to be what he needs to be?”

The U.S. diplomat added that Biden is no longer in a position where he can be a successful president four and a half years from now.

“He needs to be urged to step down,” Haas said.

Click here to read the full story on Haas' MSNBC appearance.

President Biden departed a briefing on his administration's efforts to address extreme weather without taking questions from reporters Tuesday.

Biden spoke for less than 10 minutes at the event before departing the stage. The move comes as he is facing unprecedented criticism over his age and whether he is cognitively capable of carrying out his presidential duties.

Rumors of panic within the Democratic Party have continued to spread since the president's disastrous performance in Thursday's debate against former President Trump.

The New York Times editorial board called on Biden to withdraw from the race soon after the debate. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, became the first elected Democrat to call for Biden to drop out on Tuesday.

So far, top Democrats have remained supportive of Biden, though rumors of unease have leaked out from behind closed doors.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race on Tuesday, becoming the first elected Democrat to do so.

"Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang," Doggett wrote. "Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory...President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024."

"I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same," Doggett wrote in a statement.

"My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved. Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden's first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so," he concluded.

Top Democrats have remained publicly aligned with Biden in the wake of his disastrous debate performance, but rumors of growing panic within the party have continued to leak.

A former longtime Democratic lawmaker is once again calling for President Biden to step aside and end his 2024 bid for a second term in the White House. 

"We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake," former Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio emphasized in a social media post on Tuesday.

Pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris, Ryan argued that "@VP has significantly grown into her job, she will destroy Trump in debate, highlight choice issue, energize our base, bring back young voters and give us generational change. It’s time!"

in his post, Ryan linked to an opinion piece he wrote in Newsweek which starts with him noting that "I ran for President in 2020. I was the first Presidential candidate to endorse Joe Biden in 2020. I love America. I love our Party. I love Joe Biden. The Democratic Nominee in 2024 should be Kamala Harris."

Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation's history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at last week's first debate with former President Trump sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and some party politicians and donors for Biden to step aside as the party's 2024 standard-bearer.

In his two 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate appearances in the summer of 2019, the then-congressman from Ohio known for his populist outreach to blue-collar workers tangled a couple of times with the then-former Vice President Joe Biden.

However, after dropping out of the nomination race in the autumn of 2019, Ryan endorsed Biden.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Paul Steinhauser

The panic following last week’s disastrous debate performance by President Biden has shifted the spotlight to potential replacements for the president at the top of the Democratic ticket, though most would still likely be underdogs against former President Trump.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are two names that have emerged as potential replacements for Biden if he were to leave the race, but both have trailed behind Trump in polling of a hypothetical matchup.

Whitmer would fare the best in a matchup with Trump, with a Fox News poll from November showing the Democratic governor within the margin of error of the former president, garnering 46% of the support of registered voters compared to 48% for Trump.

The two-term governor of the crucial Midwestern swing state could be an attractive option for Democrats, though Whitmer has reportedly expressed annoyance that her name is being mixed in as a potential replacement for Biden. Responding to a recent Politico report that the Michigan governor warned the Biden campaign the president no longer had a shot at winning her home state following the debate, Whitmer took to social media and argued anyone who thinks she would make such a claim is "full of s---."

If Whitmer were unwilling to step up for Biden, Newsom, who has been one of the more visible Democrats supporting Biden, would make a natural choice to replace the president if he were to end his campaign.

California’s Democratic governor ran slightly worse against Trump in the November poll, garnering 45% of the support of registered voters compared to 49% for the former president.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Michael Lee