Pressure builds on Biden, fueled by his party and Hollywood

He hoped to have stopped the problem. the revolt but Joe Biden faced Wednesday à a new surge of pressure, from members of his party and even from George Clooney, who asked him to speak out. to leave the race &agrav; the White House.

“I like Joe Biden. But we need another candidate,” writes the actor, director and producer in a well-argued contribution for the New York Times.

George Clooney, a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party, recalls having participated in a fundraising evening for the American president in mid-June: “It's terrible to say, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago is not the (…) Joe Biden of 2010. Nor even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we saw during the failed debate on June 27 against Donald Trump.

That evening, the American president appeared very confused and very tired.

George Clooney's exit comes after other defections in the world of cinema, which had until now been a powerful media and financial relay for Joe Biden.

On MSNBC, Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives who remains very influential, put the Democrat's back against the wall, in a subtle but relentless manner.

– “The time is running out” –

“It's up to the president to decide whether he will run” in November against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, she declared on this channel popular with Democrats. “We all encourage him to make this decision because time is running out.”

With this statement, it is as if Nancy Pelosi opened a way out for the Democrat from 81 years old, who nevertheless considers that his decision has already been made: continue to campaign for a second term.

Joe Biden wrote Monday to the parliamentarians of his party to inform them that he was “firmly determined to stay in the race”.

The president, who has increased his activity in recent days, spoke briefly on Wednesday during a meeting of the main American union group, the AFL-CIO.

Then he went to the opening of a NATO summit in Washington, where French President Emmanuel Macron, himself politically weakened, gave him a hug.

< p>It is on the sidelines of this meeting of the defense organization that Joe Biden must give a highly anticipated press conference on Thursday, because it will allow us to gauge his mental alertness.

This will also be the case for an interview, just announced, on Monday on NBC.

Doubts about Joe Biden's energy and endurance are currently completely undermining his campaign team's attempts to raise awareness about Donald Trump's plans in terms of abortion rights or social rights.

– Golf –

The 78-year-old Republican challenged Joe Biden to face him again in debate, “man to man”, and… golf. He accused him Tuesday during a meeting in Florida of orchestrating “the largest cover-up in political history” over his health.

At least eight elected Democrats in the House of Representatives have now publicly demanded that he throw in the towel. Pat Ryan, a New York state Democrat, joined the list Wednesday calling on him to throw in the towel “for the good of the country.”

A large number of representatives and senators fear that Joe Biden will drag them down during the legislative elections in November, held at the same time as the presidential election.

Several polls made since the debate indicate that Donald Trump maintains or even widens the advantage over his Democratic rival.

A study by the Cook Political Report institute, based on 21 major opinion polls, credit the 78-year-old Republican with 47% of voting intentions at the national level, compared to 44% for Joe Biden.

Kate Bedingfield, who had been one of the leaders of Joe Biden's 2020 campaign, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that if the president's current team “has figures that support their vision of a victorious strategy, (she should) publish them now”. “People want to know what the strategy is,” she insisted.

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