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As US President Joe Biden announces that he will end his candidacy for re-election, saying “it is in the best interest of my party and the country”, here we republish our story from Saturday focusing on the pressure he was under, and how a donor from Cardiff may have played a part.
Mr Biden has endorsed his Vice-President (VP) Kamala Harris.
In a statement on social media, he said: “…while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling the duties as President for the remainder of my term”.
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Pressure is mounting on US President Joe Biden to stand down, and a tech billionaire from Cardiff may be playing a part.
Mr Biden’s resolve to continue has reportedly been shaken by a combination of the intensive machinations of senior Democrats, fresh poll data from swing states showing his path to an electoral college victory narrowing, and a boycott by key donors, the latest of whom reportedly was the Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Cardiff-born Sir Michael Moritz.
Sir Michael works for the venture capital firm Sequoia, and went to Howardian High School – any misgivings from donors like him about Mr Biden’s age (he is 81), are likely to be taken very seriously by the high command in the Democratic Party.
Mr Biden is recovering now from Covid-19 in self-isolation at his home in Delaware and reportedly feeling “angry and betrayed”.
Backers of his are furious at allies (among them Sir Michael), as speculation has grown that Mr Biden might be preparing to announce his withdrawal from the race.
Advisers were reported to be discussing the details, timing and setting of a possible withdrawal announcement, and a mood of resignation before his departure was said to be rampant among his campaign staff.
There have been rumours, too, that Mr Biden might be persuaded to use his illness as an excuse to depart.
12 years ago, Democrat Sir Michael gave a record-breaking £75 million donation to Oxford University (OU) to help poor students.
He has described going to an “ordinary comprehensive” (the now-closed Howardian High School in the Penylan area of Cardiff), and he was the only pupil in his year to go to OU.
Sir Michael has told BBC Cymru Wales (BBC CW) in the past: “All you need do is listen to very smart people and sift out the ideas that are unworthy or implausible and I wouldn’t pretend for a moment that I hadn’t made lots of mistakes and there are companies, perhaps, that we had been investors in.
“I think you try and develop your product and most importantly you need to see if anyone cares about your idea which, said differently in English or in Welsh, you’ve got to see if there are customers.
“I have a small family here (Cardiff) but as the years and seasons move on, inevitably there are fewer people who live here than when I left Howardian High School in 1973“, he added.
Sir Michael’s stance has only added to the pressure on Mr Biden to bow out of the Presidential race.
Six out of 10 Democrat voters told an AP-Norc Centre for Public Affairs Research poll released on Friday that Vice-President Kamala Harris would make a good replacement, and her supporters were making discreet preparations for her to assume the top of the presidential ticket, courting donors and crafting a new message to be used in the event she becomes the candidate.
In total, 70 per cent of Americans now believe Mr Biden should exit the presidential race, and that figure is almost as high among Democrats, with 65 per cent saying it is time for him to step aside.
Former president Barack Obama’s reported concern over Mr Biden’s ability to lead (going beyond his public comments on X/Twitter after Mr Biden’s disastrous performance in the television debate), have opened the floodgates, with at least 35 Democrats now publicly calling for him to end his re-election campaign
Four members of the US House of Representatives (Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Chuy Garcia of Illinois, and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin), issued a plea jointly yesterday. They wrote to Mr Biden declaring: “Mr President, you have always put our country and our values first. We call on you to do it once again, so that we can come together and save the country we love”.
Meanwhile non-elected Democrats are also troubled by what is happening.
Mr Biden’s donors are currently in a state of “panic”, one Democrat strategist has told Sky News.
Lindy Li has said the President’s ‘blue wall’ in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, seems to be “crumbling”.
CNN have reported that some of Mr Biden’s own staff have undergone a “quiet quit” process.
All of this has come as one Democratic congressman claimed his “friend” Mr Biden did not recognise him at an event last month.
Seth Moulton, who represents a district in Massachusetts, said the incident occurred at the 80th D-Day anniversary event in Normandy.
Even among Mr Biden’s own staff there is concern.
“I don’t think you can find a person who is off the record saying he should stay in”, one proclaimed. “There’s a growing sense that it’s game over”.
Cardiff-born Sir Michael also reportedly thinks it should be ‘game over’ for Mr Biden.
Perhaps Democrat high-ups will take notice of donors like him!
The memories of our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry’s extraordinary decades long award-winning career in journalism (including important events like these) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
Another book, though, has not been published because it was to have included names.
