President Biden’s Push to Reassure Donors Amid Criticism

President Biden’s push to quiet his Democratic critics Monday included a simple and direct message for the doubting donors who’ve vowed to stop giving until he steps aside: He’s in this race to win it.

Donors typically operate behind the scenes and don’t make public pronouncements about the candidates they support. But they do vote with their wallets. Hundreds of seven-figure checks are in the balance. Biden will need to collect as many of them as possible if he wants to match former President Trump in a summer advertising war, before he gets a chance to redeem himself in their second debate on Sept. 10.

And he needs to prevent more defections, after a trio of Hollywood donors made the rare move of calling on him to withdraw. That’s especially true now that Trump’s fundraising machine has roared to life and is closing the gap on Biden’s.

Every Democratic donor who walks away represents a potential loss of roughly $1 million, according to Democratic fundraisers. The federal limit to all Biden committees is $929,600. There are no limits for super PAC donations. Netflix co-founder and executive chairman Reed Hastings, who has called on Biden to step aside, gave approximately $1.4 million for Biden’s 2020 election. For 2024, he’s kicked in just around $150,000.

Then there’s former Paypal CEO Bill Harris, who gave $620,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020, but thinks the prospect of Biden stepping aside is “inevitable.” He doesn’t appear to have given in 2024. Harris created a super PAC, Democrats for the Next Generation, this month that’s pledged $2 million to fund debates for possible candidates if Biden drops out.

In a midday call with donors, the president forcefully repeated an argument that animated his candidacy in the 2020 election. He’s the best person to beat Trump, he said, according to three participants on the call. “We’re done talking about the debate,” he said, adding it was time to move on and keep the focus on Trump. Asked how he planned to handle Trump in their next showdown, Biden said, “Attack.” He also promised to call out Trump’s “lies” in real time.

Biden’s appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday appeared to calm the nerves of filmmaker (and donor) Rob Reiner, who said those kinds of performances could “shut up people like me who think he should step aside.”

Inside the Biden campaign, officials are deeply concerned about defections from elected lawmakers and big-dollar donors. On Monday morning, the president made three moves to shore up that support: He sent lawmakers what amounted to a cease and desist letter, calling on them to “end” talk of him withdrawing. Less than an hour later, he called “Morning Joe” to make a similar case, followed by the conference call with 400 of his biggest contributors, during which he took several questions.

His appearance appeared to be aimed at telling Democratic “elites” that their opinions are irrelevant, mocking his critics and taunting them for being wrong about him in 2020. His real audience: the donors and lawmakers who watch the show — and are looking for a reason to stick with him.