President Biden knew immediately after he left the stage in Atlanta on Thursday night that the debate had gone wrong. In those first desperate moments after a hoarse, rambling and sometimes incoherent performance, he turned to his wife, Jill Biden.
Whatever happened next in Mr. Biden’s final presidential campaign after perhaps the worst moment of his long political life, it would always depend on her. His wife of 47 years had come into his life all those decades ago. She was hesitant to enter politics but fully embraced his dreams and belief that he would one day reach the White House.
Now her 81-year-old husband was looking at her after a disastrous 90 minutes on stage.
The first lady’s message to him was clear: They had already been counted out, she was all in, and he – she – would stay in the race. According to people close to her, she was convinced it was a bad night. And bad nights end.
“To say they sat in foxholes together doesn’t even begin to explain their bond,” said Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, who has been with Mr. Biden since his time in the Senate.
So Dr. Biden spent the 24 hours after the debate putting her decades as a political wife to the test, exuding confidence and normality while also effusively praising her husband. But like the president, she is an intuitive political messenger who can sense the mood of a crowd. She knows that in addition to the cheering supporters, there are also hordes of people who suddenly accuse her of forcing an old man to put one weary foot in front of the other.
If Mr. Biden were seriously considering dropping out of the race and putting a younger candidate in his place, the first lady would be the most important figure in that decision, aside from the president himself.
“Jill is the final and most important voice. She knows him and loves him with passion. She also knows everything about him. Most big decisions end up being made with Valerie and Jill,” said John Morgan, one of Mr. Biden’s biggest donors, referring to the president’s younger sister who has run nearly all of his political campaigns.
When major Democratic Party donors reached out by text, phone or in person on Friday, one of the most immediate questions they asked each other was whether any of them knew how to get a meeting or conversation with the first lady.
After nearly half a century in politics, the Bidens see themselves as long-term people. And right now, neither wants the story of the president’s long political career — marked by tragedy, resilience and relentless ambition — to end on a stage in Atlanta, facing former President Donald J. Trump, a man they denigrate both.
“He wants to win and she wants that for him and for the country,” Ms. Alexander said. “She is his biggest supporter and advocate because she believes in him and fears for the future of our country if things go differently.”
Addressing her supporters on Friday, the first lady welcomed arguments from Democratic Party leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris, that Mr. Biden’s poor performance had not undone years of successful legislation.
“As Joe said today, he is not a young man,” said Dr. Biden told a group of donors who had gathered in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, their third stop since leaving Atlanta. “After the debate last night, he said, ‘You know, Jill, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel great.’ I said, ‘Look, Joe, we’re not going to let 90 minutes define the four years you’re president.'”
Dr. Biden understood that debate night amounted to a serious misstep. The president had to go into the debate hall and address concerns about his age. Instead, he took the stage after six days of preparations and mock debates at Camp David with little to show except a hoarse voice. (The White House said he had a cold.)
She listened as Mr. Trump mocked him. “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” Mr. Trump said when Mr. Biden gave an incorrect answer on immigration. “I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
She listened to the former president attack Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden’s son, whom she had raised since childhood and who had recently sat in on a gun possession trial, while sitting in the front row of the courtroom during the worst moments his addiction for the world to see.
And she watched as her husband watched, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as Mr. Trump continued, angrily taking in what was happening but largely unable to hit back.
Afterwards, Dr. Biden held hands with the president, who cautiously walked down the stairs. The moment quickly went viral. At a campaign watch party that the Bidens attended shortly after the debate, she praised her husband for his performance. But elsewhere, critics saw her practically patting him on the head for simply sitting through the debate.
“You answered every question, you knew all the facts,” she said. “So what did Trump do?”
“Lie!” shouted the crowd.
Suddenly, a first lady who has avoided major controversy for the past three and a half years has found herself in the crosshairs of people who believe she was trying to hide his diminished abilities.
“What Jill Biden and the Biden campaign did to Joe Biden tonight – throwing him onto the stage to engage in a battle of wits unarmed – is elder abuse, plain and simple,” wrote Rep. Harriet M. Hageman, a Republican from Wyoming, made a social media post.
The Drudge Report, a prominent conservative-leaning website whose author Matt Drudge has railed against Mr. Trump, published an unflattering photo of the Bidens on Friday with the headline “CRUEL JILL CLINKS TO POWER.”
The first lady and her advisers have long noticed similar claims on conservative websites and are aware that they are entering the mainstream. Ms. Alexander said Dr. Biden viewed her “amorphous” role as “an act of service rather than a mythical power grab concocted by the dark corners of the internet.”
She added that the first lady sometimes felt paralyzed by the demands of the role, full of expectations and hidden stumbling blocks.
“You have to be supportive, but not so supportive that your motives are questioned,” Ms. Alexander said, placing much of the blame on the internet, bots and a right-wing machine that fuels “every conspiracy.”
Aides to the president and first lady are downplaying the idea that she has the ability to unilaterally pull the plug on the president’s re-election campaign and clear the way for another candidate four months before a presidential election. They acknowledge their unique influence and power in his life but say Mr. Biden is in control of his own campaign.
“Too much is being blamed on Jill,” said one of Mr. Biden’s top advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a family dynamic. But as long as Mr. Biden wants to run, she will support him, aides say.
“When Joe gets knocked down, Joe gets back up,” she told donors in New York. “And that’s exactly what we’re doing today.”
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2024-06-29 05:08:38
www.nytimes.com
