Morning Joe, the show that's been a strong supporter of President Biden, seems to be in the final stages of acceptance.
"We've had so many momentous days over the last couple weeks. I can't believe there won't be history books that just detail what's happened, maybe over the last three weeks, the last 21 days," Joe Scarborough said.
"It's really dizzying. It feels like when you see documentaries of 1968. The chaos that went on, just one event after another after another. But yesterday, Willie, was just a day in and of itself that may be determinative, that may lead to that March 1969 moment when LBJ announced that he wasn't going to seek the Democratic nomination again.
"I mean, you think about yesterday morning, we're on the show, and I brought up a series of polls that showed very little movement post debate and very little movement even post the tragedy that occurred on Saturday. Also, just one Democratic pollster after another saying it wasn't the debate that caused damage to Joe Biden, it was probably all the Democratic infighting afterwards.
"So there was a belief in Biden World that he could survive. Then we get off the air, and one thing after another happens. of course, we heard that Senator Schumer, the Democratic majority leader in the United States Senate, called on Joe Biden to, in so many words, to step down. Hakeem Jeffries, basically the same thing, real concern. Perhaps still one of the most powerful people among grassroots and Democratic donors, Nancy Pelosi.
"What I keep hearing is speaker emeritus Pelosi, so brilliant, she's not getting on phone calls saying, 'Joe Biden must go.' She's conducting a listening tour, and she's calling one Democratic House member after another that are in vulnerable seats. All she's getting back, bad news. So she's letting them know just enough, based on reporting, that she understands their concerns. She's very concerned, too, that they cannot lose the House.
"You have that, so that sounds like elites. On top of that, of course, the Associated Press" poll says that two-thirds of Democrats want Joe Biden out of the race. That's not the elites. That's the heart and soul of the Democratic party. There's no way a candidate can win a general election if two-thirds of his own people say he needs to withdraw. I think those are backwards. Two-thirds actually want him out. So you add all this up.
"Finally, he gets the word from Jeffrey Katzenberg in Las Vegas, who, before, had been the hero of fundraising, who had raised all this money for Joe Biden, just telling the president, the spigot has run dry. Donors are not giving money anymore, Mr. President. We can't get donors to give money. You then hear about, not infighting inside the Biden campaign, but just a sadness. An understanding that they cannot win with a man they respect and love. And basically, just waiting for orders."
