Democrats scramble to stop Sen. Joe Manchin from breaking with Biden

Sen. Joe Manchin had planned to publicly call on President Biden to step down after last week’s disastrous debate, but top Democrats caught wind of it and convinced him not to — as a growing number of White House officials say they are “panicking,” according to reports.

The West Virginia senator, who recently left the Democratic Party and has decried “partisan extremism” in politics, had let slip to allies that he would use a television news appearance Sunday to demand that the 81-year-old president abandon his re-election campaign, the Washington Post reported, citing multiple sources.

But senior Democrats quickly mounted “all-out pressure” as they scrambled to prevent him from becoming the first prominent elected official allied with the party to break with Biden, the sources said.

Manchin, who is still a member of the Democratic Party, ultimately relented and withdrew from the scheduled appearance, insiders said.

“Nobody wants to be the first to stab Julius Caesar,” one party official said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was one of the few to speak to Manchin by phone over the weekend, though a source insisted the two spoke only after Manchin had already decided not to appear on television.

“Joe Manchin talks to a lot of people because he wants to get different viewpoints and policy perspectives,” Jonathan Kott, Manchin’s senior policy adviser, said in a statement following the reports.

“When he has something to say, you will hear it straight from his mouth, and believe me, no one will be able to dissuade him from speaking his mind.”

He was scheduled to appear on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show With Jonathan Capehart,” a source told Politico.

Despite efforts to thwart Manchin, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) ended up becoming the first sitting House Democrat to publicly call on Biden to step down following the debate debacle.

Doggett praised Biden’s record as commander in chief on Tuesday, but stressed that “many Americans have expressed dissatisfaction with their choices in this election.”

“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to step down. President Biden should do the same,” Doggett said.

Meanwhile, a number of Democratic lawmakers have privately questioned Biden’s candidacy and expressed outrage at his campaign following his debate performance.

Members of the White House and the election campaign are also said to be frustrated.

“Everyone is panicking,” one official told Axios.

“That’s the first topic of discussion,” a White House official said, adding that “senior leadership has given us nothing. Pretending that everything is business as usual is an illusion.”

A third White House staffer added: “The uncertainty after Thursday is palpable and the anxiety is only increasing… People are looking for the leadership and direction they were told to trust and hoped to see but are not yet feeling in what is now clearly a defining moment for this presidency.”