(DailyVantage.com) – President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump recently faced off in the first presidential debate, which many voters feel Trump won due to Biden’s strange behavior and poor performance throughout the live-streamed event.
Following Biden’s poor debate performance, many Democratic officials and voters called for the aging president to step down and allow a different nominee to take his position. Among those calling for a replacement candidate are several major donors in Hollywood, who immediately contacted members of Biden’s team to threaten a withdrawal of support unless the Democrats selected a new presidential candidate.
Biden’s team quickly responded to the backlash from potential donors and voters by claiming Biden wouldn’t drop out from the race, citing the president’s prior statements about defeating Trump in the 2024 presidential election. One of Biden’s campaign staffers, Mitch Landrieu, released a brief statement about the debate to explain Biden’s odd behavior and strange responses to the moderators’ questions. According to Landrieu, Biden had a cold during the debate and was thus feeling unwell when he faced off against Trump on the national stage.
Despite Landrieu’s explanation for Biden’s debate performance, major donors aren’t entirely convinced. According to an anonymous donor with ties to other influential Democratic donors in Hollywood, many Biden supporters are frustrated with the aging president’s poor performance and don’t want to support him. Other donors support Biden but are reluctant to donate more funding to the president’s campaign due to his debate performance.
Some political donors, including Haim Saban and Jeffrey Katzenberg, have decided to wait for future campaign events before withdrawing support for Biden. Katzenberg was one of Biden’s most avid supporters in the entertainment industry and even helped Biden’s campaign plan the recent fundraising event featuring celebrities like Julia Roberts, Jack Black, and Jimmy Kimmel. The fundraiser brought in over $28 million for Biden’s campaign and made national headlines due to the many celebrities in attendance.
Biden plans to host another significant fundraiser in New York in the near future, which has already seen multiple major donors pull out from the event. Biden’s team maintains that the president simply suffered from physical issues during the debate and that Biden remains confident that he can win the 2024 presidential election in November. Biden has attempted to persuade voters that he’s capable of holding the presidency despite his recent highly-publicized gaffes and strange behavior, but many potential voters remain unconvinced.
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