Plans to replace Biden with Kamala Harris have left President feeling ‘betrayed’

Joe Biden has been left feeling “betrayed” by Democratic plots to oust him in favour of Kamala Harris, insiders have said.

Biden – who, just days ago, announced he would be returning to the campaign trail this week after a bout of Covid – is facing a growing clamour within his own party to step aside amid questions over his mental and physical health.

As of Sunday, two senators and 35 members of the House of Representatives have publicly called for the 81-year-old to withdraw ahead of August 19’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), while donors, allies, and even – reportedly – Barack Obama have privately urged him to back out.

The President feels “betrayed”, according to sources close to Biden who spoke to NBC – while others have made comparisons to Julius Caesar.

One former senior Biden campaign figure told Politico: “People who have known this man for 30, 40 years are stabbing this man in the front and the back… They are Julius Caesar-ing this man.”

On Friday, the incumbent President issued a statement in defiance of his detractors – and Republican nominee Donald Trump – which read: “Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box… The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”

But still, the clamour for Kamala Harris grows; California Congressman Mark Takano, the latest lawmaker to publicly call for the Vice President to take the reigns, said on social media: “Joe, I love and respect you. But the stakes are too high to fail. It’s time to pass the torch to Kamala.”

While Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said that if Biden were to quit the race, Harris was “ready to step up”.

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The public and private pressure to pull out prompted protesters to present placards at the gates of the White House on Saturday; demonstrators outside the President’s residence called on Biden to “pass the torch” – though calls for Kamala were a little more muted.

The latest opinion poll aggregates have the Vice President sitting at a net negative approval rating, with 50.4 per cent of those surveyed disapproving of Harris.

And even uniting the Democratic Party behind her would prove a challenge.

“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave that they will support Kamala – Vice President Harris – you would be mistaken… there’s no safe option,” Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a Biden supporter, said.

The VP has remained tight-lipped on stepping up to the top job – but that didn’t stop eyebrows being raised after Harris posted a photo of her and Joe Biden to social media.

She captioned the image with the message: “Joe Biden is a leader who fights for the American people,” but social media users were quick to point out the President’s positioning in the photo – directly below a portrait of Franklin Pierce, the only sitting US President to fail to secure his own party’s nomination for a second term in office.

Donald Trump’s team may not be so eager to see Biden join Pierce in the history books in such a way – with one Trump associate telling the Times a race against the incumbent would be a “wipeout”.

Though the 45th President may too end up being the second of his kind; if he’s victorious in November, Trump will become only the second Commander-in-Chief to serve two non-consecutive terms in the Oval Office.