A fundraiser and organizer for wealthy Democrats explains why Joe Biden won’t withdraw from the 2024 election.
Dmitri Mehlhorn, who leads wealthy Biden supporters like LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman, made waves last week when he said a “dead” or “coma” Biden would be better than replacing him on the ticket with Kamala Harris.
Mehlhorn said in an interview Monday that Biden is still determined to run and win in 2024, that polls showing the president is losing are wrong and what motivates him to stay in the race.
Biden believes his biggest mistake, according to Mehlhorn, was being convinced not to run for president in 2016 so that Hillary Clinton could become the Democratic Party nominee. Many reports suggest that Barack Obama was one of them.
“And he’s right. We were all wrong,” Mehlhorn said. “If he had run in 2016, we wouldn’t be here. A lot of people — not so much us this time — but a lot of people put the same arguments to him in 2020, and he stubbornly, stubbornly resisted every single one of them. And he saved us.”
A fundraiser and organizer for wealthy Democrats — who previously said a ‘dead’ or ‘comatose’ Biden would be better than Kamala Harris — shares why Joe Biden won’t withdraw from the 2024 election
Biden, the fundraiser said, believes his biggest mistake was convincing him not to run for president in 2016 so that Hillary Clinton could become the Democratic Party nominee.
Mehlhorn, who is often seen as billionaire Hoffman’s right-hand man, has previously said there is no point in trying to get Biden to drop out and that he and his backers will simply continue as they always have.
He told Drop Site News that he ‘refused to listen’ to opponents in 2020 and that ‘the world benefited enormously from that’.
Mehlhorn then asked, “So who is he going to listen to now? I believe he’s going to fundamentally listen to the voters.”
He added that Biden might only resign if he “went down in the polls,” which hasn’t happened yet.
When interviewer Ryan Grim pointed out that Biden doesn’t believe the polls showing his approval rating at 38 percent, Mehlhorn gave a surprising response.
“I actually think he’s right, and you’re all wrong,” he said. “Biden said a lot of things that I didn’t like, but his answer about polls — basically, everybody’s wrong and Joe’s right. The polls are the same, they’re still within the margin of error. That’s what matters at this point.”
He suggested that a drop of at least five percentage points in the polls, over several weeks, would be the kind of “fall” that would knock Biden out of the race.
“If you’re right, how much should the polls drop? I mean, shouldn’t they drop a lot? Shouldn’t they drop more than two and a half points? Shouldn’t Trump’s odds be more than two to one if you’re so right?”
Dmitri Mehlhorn, a fundraiser and organizer for wealthy Democrats, talks about why Joe Biden won’t withdraw from the 2024 election. Mehlhorn has previously said that a “dead” or “comatose” Biden would be better than replacing him on the ticket with Kamala Harris
Mehlhorn argues that the 81-year-old Biden is ultimately the best man for the job, regardless of his age or his claims that he has to stop working after 8 p.m. He even claims that he “works too hard.”
“The president has to be able to make tough decisions and communicate them in a consistent way that everyone understands. Right? I would argue that Joe Biden is as good or better than anyone else on those two counts. And it doesn’t get worse as he gets older.”
He has backtracked somewhat on his claim to Fox News last week that undecided voters would prefer a dead Biden over a living Kamala Harris.
“That’s the level of confidence we have: If it’s not Biden, it’s Harris,” Mehlhorn said.
“And I believe Harris can prosecute. Remember, in 2020, even when I was pushing Biden over Bernie, I made a lot of arguments about how if it’s Bernie, that’s the game and he could win. If it’s Kamala, she could win. She’s a prosecutor and he’s a criminal. And if she picks the right running mate, that’s fine too. We’re going to do that. But those are the choices and the alternatives.”
Questions remain about Biden’s competence, especially after his first interview since the disastrous June 27 debate failed to allay fears.
Several Democrats had called for Biden to withdraw from the race after the debate, a call that was reiterated after Friday’s ABC interview.
Monday began with a defiant tone in a letter from the president to Democrats in Congress, indicating he would not give up his campaign.
Mehlhorn — often seen as the right-hand man of billionaire Reid Hoffman (pictured) — has previously said there’s no point in trying to get Biden to drop out, so he and his donors will continue as they have before.
Mehlhorn argues that ultimately, regardless of his age or his claims about having to stop working after 8 p.m., the 81-year-old Biden is the best man for the job, even suggesting he “works too hard.”
He then made an unexpected call to MSNBC’s Morning Joe program to criticize the elite, who he said did not understand his support among the Democratic base.
He challenged opponents to run for office at the convention.
“I get so frustrated with the elites. By the way, I’m not talking about you… the elites in the party,” he said.
“They know so much more? If any of these guys think I shouldn’t run… then run. Announce yourself for president. Challenge me at the convention.”
The president also expects to hold a press conference on Thursday to show he can still withstand the strict demands and scrutiny that come with being president.