After President Joe Biden, with first lady Jill Biden leading him, did the donor rounds in North Carolina and New York, the Democratic National Committee reportedly hosted a post-debate pep talk with members Saturday afternoon.
The DNC was looking to reassure its members the Biden campaign is moving forward after a debate performance that was widely panned and led to many — including the very liberal editorial board of The New York Times — to call for Biden to end his presidential reelection campaign for the good of the country.
The call included Biden campaign officials to help keep in the DNC in lockstep on the 2024 election cycle, MSNBC reported Saturday night.
Biden addressed North Carolina rally Friday, reassuring supporters in the key battleground state.
"I know when you get knocked down, you get back up," an angry Biden said to cap remarks that began with the first lady leading the way on stage, talking about her husband's candidacy as he stood in the background staring blankly.
Biden and his wife, Jill, attended an afternoon campaign event in East Hampton, New York, the Long Island beach town where the real estate firm Zillow prices the median home at $1.9 million. Based on public records, the event that was closed to the news media was at the home of Avram Glazer, an owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team.
The couple then went to a second event in East Hampton at the home of investor Barry Rosenstein, whose wife, Lizanne, said the president was "a role model for what it is to get knocked down over and over and over again and get up."
"We can waste time comparing debate nights," she continued. "But you know what? It's more meaningful to compare presidencies."
Addressing the gathering, Biden quickly tore into Trump over his presidential record including his treatment of veterans and said of Thursday night's debate, "I didn't have a great night, but neither did Trump."
The Bidens finished the night at an evening fundraiser in Red Bank, New Jersey.
In the aftermath of Thursday night's debate, Biden flashed more vigor in speeches in North Carolina and New York on Friday, saying he believes with "all my heart and soul" he can do the job of the presidency.
The Biden campaign said it has raised more than $27 million on Thursday and Friday, including $3 million at a New York City fundraiser focused on the LGBTQ+ community.
Biden told supporters Friday that he said to her after the debate, "You know, Jill, I don't know what happened. I didn't feel that great." The first lady then said she responded to him, "Look, Joe, we are not going to let 90 minutes define the four years that you've been president."
The Democrat president still needs to allay the fears stirred by the debate as it seeped into the public conscience with clips and memes spreading on the internet and public pressure for him to bow out of the race.
Democrat donors across New York, Southern California, and Silicon Valley privately expressed deep concerns about the viability of Biden's campaign in the wake of his debate performance.
In a series of text message chains and private conversations, they discussed the short list of possible replacements, a group that included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
But on Friday, there was no formal push to pressure Biden to step aside and some suspected there never would be given the logistical challenges associated with replacing the presumptive nominee just four months before Election Day.
Some donors noted they were going to pause their personal giving. They said receipts from Biden's weekend fundraiser would almost certainly be strong because the tickets were sold and paid for before the debate.
Information from The Associated Press was used to compile this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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