Democratic operative Van Jones alleged Wednesday that Democrats are not being honest about what is happening behind the scenes in their party.
In the days after President Joe Biden’s abysmal debate performance, Democrats have used the mainstream media to defend Biden from calls for him to step aside as their party’s presidential nominee.
‘There is a big conversation happening right now about how this happens — not whether.’
But according to Jones, a much different conversation is happening privately in the party.
While the conversation happening on TV focuses on whether Biden steps aside, Jones revealed the true conversation in the party is about how to transition from Biden to a successor.
“I’m just going to be honest: Everybody comes on the air and says all this great stuff. But behind the scenes, it’s a full-scale panic,” Jones said on CNN.
“People are passing around legal memos. PDFs are flying back and forth on WhatsApp trying to figure out what are the options, how can you replace Biden, how do you get him to do it in a way where he feels respected as he should be respected, who should Kamala Harris’ vice president be,” he explained. “The conversation on air and the conversation off air are completely different.”
Jones added that Democrats want to “protect” and “defend” Biden while giving him “dignity” to make his own decision, but that hasn’t stopped party leaders from privately planning his exit.
“There is a big conversation happening right now about how this happens — not whether,” Jones said.
It’s not clear why more Democrats are not speaking openly like Jones. But it’s obvious why they’re panicked: Polls for Biden were bad before the debate, but after the debate, they’re exponentially worse.
Not only has Trump significantly widened his lead over Biden in an average of national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight, but Democrats’ own internal polling shows that Biden is down bad — even in states that Democrats historically win in a presidential election.
With Biden’s reluctance to bow out, some prominent Democrats — like campaign-winning strategist James Carville — are suggesting ways the party can force out the president.
On a call with party donors this week, Carville suggested donors freeze their spending to down-ballot Democrats to motivate them to get Biden off the ticket. Carville also reframed Biden’s debate performance as a positive because it allows Democrats to act. Had it occurred just a month before Election Day, he said it would have left the party “more than bruised, screwed, and tattooed.”
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