--- title: Why Joe Biden Is Running Out of Options description: The mood in Washington has shifted starkly against Biden, with some predicting he could drop out of the race within hours. canonical: https://time.com/6997418/joe-biden-press-conference-welch/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-07-11T18:06:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:55:38.794Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden Is Running Out of Options og:description: The mood in Washington has shifted starkly against Biden, with some predicting he could drop out of the race within hours. og:url: https://time.com/6997418/joe-biden-press-conference-welch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8891748f741a4219/698a589e47ca3835043bdbba/GettyImages-2160892917.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Biden Hosts UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Is Running Out of Options twitter:description: The mood in Washington has shifted starkly against Biden, with some predicting he could drop out of the race within hours. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8891748f741a4219/698a589e47ca3835043bdbba/GettyImages-2160892917.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Is Running Out of Options  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 11, 2024 6:06 PM UTC  President Joe Biden speaks during a bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office on July 10, 2024. President Joe Biden speaks during a bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office on July 10, 2024.Ting Shen—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 11, 2024 6:06 PM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ Joe Biden hates bullies. And right now, he’s giving signs that he feels like he’s on the receiving end of the mother of all beatings from his own party’s worst offenders. As he hosted world leaders at the White House for dinner Wednesday night, the President spoke about countering Russia’s hostilities in Europe. He might as well have been about the doubts he faced from his own friends at home. “In the neighborhood that I grew up in, that’s what you do,” Biden told the leaders of NATO nations and allies. “When a neighbor needed help, you pitched in. Bullies threatened to block, you stepped up.” Stepping up in Biden World right now looks a lot like [frantically](https://time.com/6994628/democrats-biden-drop-out/) scooping [water](https://time.com/6996733/congress-democrats-joe-biden-nominee/) out of a [sinking](https://time.com/6993927/how-biden-can-recover-from-first-presidential-debate/) [ship](https://time.com/6993760/joe-biden-debate-disaster-democratic-panic/). Thursday has been made out to be a make-or-break day in the [stand-off](https://time.com/6993607/could-democrats-replace-biden-nominee-explainer/) that has completely [upended](https://time.com/6994944/joe-biden-drop-out-kamala-polls/) the Democratic Party, but it’s unlikely to yield a clear resolution. Some are predicting this could be over in hours while others think otherwise. “Seems certain that it will go into next week at least,” said one longtime Democratic insider who is close to the White House. After more than a week of almost no prominent Democrats putting their names to those fears, the virtually widespread private discomfort is starting to seep out of the closed-door meetings. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to blow the door off the backroom with [comments](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/us/politics/pelosi-biden-democrats.html) that suggested Biden maybe shouldn’t be the nominee. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [said](https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/politics/gretchen-whitmer-biden-cognitive-test-cnntv/index.html) late Wednesday that Biden taking a cognitive health test “wouldn’t hurt.” (Biden has refused to go down that path.) And Democrat Peter Welch of Vermont [became](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/10/welch-biden-withdraw/) the first sitting Senator to call on Biden to step aside, breaking what had been a firewall. Then came brutal reports on Thursday from NBC [News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/biden-reelection-insiders-no-path-debate-rcna161296) and The New York [_Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/us/politics/biden-aides-campaign.html) that close Biden insiders see no path forward for him. Staffers have adopted the default of hanging heads low and updating their resumes. That churn is why Biden’s top campaign hand, Jen O’Malley Dillon, and two longtime Biden whisperers, Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, attended a midday Thursday meeting at Senate Democrats’ campaign base on Capitol Hill. Senators are increasingly frustrated that they are not seeing an effective reset after Biden stammered through a debate that drew 50 million stunned viewers. Senators, especially those facing tough re-elections, want to know there was a recognition exactly how things are and that they could possibly get worse. The balance of power in the House is similarly unsettled with just four seats standing between Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries becoming Speaker or keeping his current title When a high-profile, 32-nation NATO summit in D.C. wraps up a few hours after that Senate meeting, the questions about Biden’s viability will only become more pronounced—starting with a potentially combative session between the President and the reporters that one White House aide [described](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13613495/White-House-Biden-big-boy-press-conference.html) as a “big boy press conference.” It will be Biden’s first since November and 36th since taking office. (At this point, Obama had done 72.) On Monday, Biden’s team scheduled another one-on-one interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt. But it’s not clear what the tone of that session will take. To stay afloat, Biden is leaning heavily into his labor support, not to mention the vestiges of the Obama-era coalition of voters. Amid a bustle of action around the NATO [summit](https://time.com/6996323/biden-nato-summit-mental-fitness/), he [dropped](https://apnews.com/article/biden-union-afl-cio-debate-labor-8064d7b02c3a99d96b12546cfee0c967) into a Wednesday meeting of the AFL-CIO to remind them that he is the most pro-union President they’ve ever seen. During a closed-to-press session, some leaders of member unions [said](https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/politics/gretchen-whitmer-biden-cognitive-test-cnntv/index.html) they would feel more comfortable if they better understood how Biden gets across the finish line as a winner, according to one top hand at a Biden-backing union that is part of the council. But in a nod of solidarity from the powerful union, the executive committee doubled-down on their commitment to Biden in a unified vote of confidence after hearing from Biden’s top aides. Around town, any talk of other unions [defecting](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/07/09/joe-biden-unions-democrat/) were quickly shut down despite grumbling from rank-and-file labor leaders. “It’s a non-starter,” says the labor operative. A second senior adviser in the union orbit added, “Labor will be with him until the last dog dies,” but then conceded that that alone wouldn’t save Biden. That second labor leader then threw in a grim _Game of Thrones_ reference to sum up their feelings about the coming week: “Whenever the next bad thing happens at NATO press conference tomorrow, Lester \[Holt\] on Monday, _et cetera_, \[Biden\] won't be able to stop Pelosi and Schumer, _et al_. launching the [Red Wedding](https://entertainment.time.com/2013/06/03/game-of-thrones-watch-so-close-so-far/).” Put another way? A massacre may be lurking just off the screen but everyone knows it’s coming. No one has bothered to tell Biden. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6997418/joe-biden-press-conference-welch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6997418/joe-biden-press-conference-welch/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Is Running Out of Options","datePublished":"2024-07-11T18:06:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:55:38.794Z","description":"The mood among Biden's allies has never been this bleak.","url":"https://time.com/6997418/joe-biden-press-conference-welch/","keywords":["The D.C. 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