If you ask his family, Joe Biden is not leaving this presidential race.

The Biden family met up at Camp David on Sunday, reportedly to discuss old Joe’s nursing home options after the disaster of a debate on Thursday night. That was the report, anyway. The reality is that the Biden family – “blue collar working man” Joe and his family – were getting a Vogue photo shoot from celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz.

Camp David: Biden family spent morning not having a summit but in hair and makeup for a shoot with Annie Leibovitz, Vogue photog who shot Biden/Obama/Clinton in March then suggested doing something informal with the Bidens. Family suggested this week, bc Hunter & family in town.

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) June 30, 2024

I wonder if Navy Joan was at that photo shoot. Or Beau’s widow Hallie and her new husband. They’re family, right???

However, there was apparently a discussion about what happened at the debate. More like, the Biden family has decided who is to blame for the entire debacle.

Members of Joe Biden’s family privately trashed his top campaign advisers at Camp David this weekend, blaming them for the president’s flop in Thursday’s debate and urging Biden to fire or demote people in his political high command.

There is no immediate expectation that Biden will follow through on that advice, according to three people briefed on the family conversations but not directly involved. The three people were granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

More like these people were told to go leak what they know to the press, in order to dispell any rumors that the family is seriously considering having Joe drop out. Also, as Donald Trump pointed out, Joe Biden doesn’t fire people.

But back to who the family, has decided who is at fault for what happened.

Among the family’s complaints about the debate practice: that Biden was not prepared to pivot more to go on the attack; that he was bogged down too much on defending his record rather than outlining a vision for a second term; and that he was over-worked and not well-rested.

The blame was cast widely on staffers, including: Anita Dunn, the senior adviser who frequently has the president’s ear; her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney who played Trump in rehearsals at Camp David; and Ron Klain, the former chief of staff who ran point on the debate prep and previous cycles’ sessions.

Notice that Joe is never at fault here.

Biden allies and staffers have sought to blame a variety of factors in the aftermath of Biden’s dismal debate performance, including that the president was ill, was over-prepared and that the CNN moderators failed to fact-check former President Donald Trump. But as the crisis continued into a third day, the finger-pointing has turned inward toward some of Biden’s closest advisers.

The focus on the staff, however, also allowed the family to overlook Biden’s own failings in Atlanta, one of the people familiar noted.

These people said the Biden family wanted the president to continue in the campaign rather than end his career with a calamitous debate performance against Trump, whom they all loathe. First lady Jill Biden and his son Hunter Biden were the loudest voices urging the president to stay in the 2024 contest.

Of course Jill and Hunter are “the loudest voices” telling Joe not to drop out! Jill has proven to be an abusive, controlling First Lady who is enjoying her role as Edith Wilson. Hunter, on the other hand, knows that if a Delaware jury is willing to convict him, then a California jury will likely be willing to find him guilty on tax charges as well – and there is no way “the smartest man” that Joe knows will spend a day in prison if the Old Man holds the pardon pen. Hunter needs “Pop” to stay in the Oval Office, and in the race, in order to make sure he gets pardoned (or his sentence commuted) when the trials are over. It’s telling that even ardent liberals think that listening to Hunter is a bad idea.

NY Times reporting Biden is not listening to advisers, instead he's mainly listening to Hunter Biden in making his decision on whether to stay in the race. The famed Ukranian gas expert? The modern artist formerly known as Hunter? And people think this is normal?

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) June 30, 2024

But the blame game doesn’t end with pointing the finger at Anita Dunn, Bob Bauer, and Ron Klain. Oh no, CNN is at fault too! You know – the network who was instantly booked for the first debate, and set conditions that both campaigns agreed to, which conventional wisdom assumed favored Biden over Trump?

Additionally, Biden’s campaign staff only grew angrier at CNN as to how the debate was run, according to several people familiar with the conversations. Their complaints were lengthy, including that the moderators should have fact-checked Trump more often, that Biden was not told which camera he’d be on when not speaking and that the makeup staff made him appear too pale, according to the three people. Biden did, however, agree to the terms of the debate before it was held.

So, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash – who did a surprisingly excellent job as moderators, so kudos to them – are to blame for NOT throwing the debate for Biden, and now they want to complain that the old man wasn’t told what camera to look at, and that he looked like a corpse due to the makeup staff. How much do you want to bet that Biden WAS told which camera would be on him… and he forgot? And what did they want the makeup staff do – go heavy on the spray tan, or the blush, to make the old pasty white man look less dead? I wonder if the campaign will demand that ABC (who is hosting the next debate) use a soft focus lens on old Joe, like Hillary Clinton’s latest book cover. *snort*

With the blame now assigned to everyone but Joe and Jill, the campaign moves forward! Time to release a new video! Film Joe against a black background and an American flag, so he has some color! Get that lighting just right! Get those words on a teleprompter! And… film it multiple times so we can get a good composite video!

10 cuts in 38 seconds https://t.co/e6l3DVzaOd

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 1, 2024

This is not going to work, but the campaign has no other choice. Kamala Harris is a no-go, and now Team Biden is hanging on to the old man because they are out of options, and they are in too deep.

As top Democrats offered a public show of support for President Joe Biden throughout the weekend, his advisers worked privately Sunday to push back against suggestions that he step aside, with his campaign manager describing the mechanics of replacing him on the ticket as messy and impractical.

During a tense call with a group of about 40 of Biden’s top financial backers, campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez laid out what could and could not be done with the campaign’s infrastructure if Biden were to step aside while emphasizing throughout the call that he had no intention of doing so.

Most of the campaign’s significant war chest would fall to Vice President Kamala Harris, Chavez Rodriguez said, according to two people familiar with the discussion. Only a smaller pool of money would be kept by the Democratic National Committee.

As several donors posited what a participant derisively referred to as fanciful “West Wing”-type scenarios for replacing Biden, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who joined for part of the call, emphasized that the process would be “messy” and predicted that Harris would ultimately end up as the nominee.

The Democrats have bought the ticket, and now they are going to have to take the ride. Even if Biden doesn’t make it to Election Day – who knows what the next flight of stairs will do to him? – the campaign is stuck with Kamala Harris, who no one believes can win. But if Biden doesn’t survive the next flight of stairs, I’m sure the family will find someone to blame. Maybe whoever built the stairs, or the Secret Service for not getting Joe a ramp. The options are endless!

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click