Tapper Says a House Democrat Told Him They Had to Leave the Room During Biden’s ‘We Finally Beat Medicare’ Gaffe, then Proceeded to Drink for the Rest of the Debate

TAPPER: “Before that meeting, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined a call with their campaign staff. A source described it as a ‘pep talk.’ Biden told staffers ‘let’s go win this.’ But — can he? That’s one of the very real fears I’ve heard from House Democrats in background conversations I held today. One Democratic member of Congress told me that their phones hadn’t stopped ringing. They say there’s a clear split in the House Democratic caucus. Those who seem to have a close relationship with President Biden want to stay the course. Others are all too ready to back Vice President Harris as the nominee. ‘Polling of House members is cratering,’ this House Democrat says about the congressional races. They’re all running. They’re all running for reelection, of course. ‘We are all outperforming the president, but that’s not sustainable.’ A second House Democrat that I spoke with told me that they had to leave the room just a few minutes into the debate Thursday night during Biden’s ‘we finally beat Medicare’ answer. They had to leave the room because their blood pressure went through the roof, they said. House Democrat two then sat in the kitchen drinking for the rest of the debate. This was the first time this Democrat thought, wow, not only could Biden lose, I could too. ‘Every American knows what a confused older person looks like,’ this member of Congress told me. They went on to say: ‘That was a massive signal that he wasn’t able to handle a future term.’ He also told me: ‘I do not subscribe to the people who immediately were like, he should go, he should go, he should go. Nor do I subscribe to those who said we need to support Joe Biden at all costs. That’s what we have to do. I’m a logical person. Defeating Donald Trump is the only mission that counts.’ The member tells me that they don’t want to make a knee-jerk reaction. They’re waiting for more comprehensive, deeper polling data next week to see on whether Biden has any chance of winning in November and on which alternatives might be the strongest. This Democrat engages with Biden pretty regularly and says the debate performance ‘was more of an anomaly, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t get better. The chances of those things happening more frequently are going up, and it’s not going down.’ A third House Democrat with whom I spoke told me they had believed wrongly what the campaign and the White House had been saying about Biden’s health, all the assurances. Now they tell me: ‘I just want to beat Trump. And I don’t think Biden can do that. No one has laid out a path to me. Barring that, we have to consider what we do. It’s almost impossible to see anyone coming back from this,’ House Democrat number 3 told me. ‘Because this is something everybody understands, and as one person said to me, it goes slowly and then it goes quick.’ When this House Democrat pushed campaign staffers that they had not been honest to Democrats, they were rebuffed. But this member of Congress told me: ‘Sometimes when you’re with someone every day who’s declining, you don’t see as clearly. You see what you want to see.’ Now, look, obviously, these are just the opinions of three Democratic lawmakers out of thousands. We know that President Biden has recently reached out to House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chris Coons, his campaign co-chair. And there are still many Democrats who support Biden, including Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who said today on CNN that Biden ‘has the stamina and can do the job.’”