Democratic bigwigs are starting to call for Joe Biden to step aside

Some fires are hard to snuff out. The one that started after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27th, through which he stammered only semi-lucidly, is developing into a blaze. For a few days it was only the media—albeit including the columnists and commentators closest to the president—who were calling for him to abandon his bid for re-election. But on July 2nd the president’s support within the Democratic Party started to crack. Lloyd Doggett, a representative from Texas, became the first sitting Democratic congressman to call for him to stand aside. The following day another, Raúl Grijalva, joined him. Reed Hastings, a big donor, also said Mr Biden should make way for another candidate. Betting markets, which had put the odds of the president leaving the race at 20% on the morning of the debate, raised them above 60% on July 3rd.

Other grandees have been hinting at similar views, or at least refusing to excuse Mr Biden’s doddering inarticulacy. Sheldon Whitehouse, a senator from Rhode Island, told a local TV station, “Like a lot of people, I was pretty horrified by the debate.” Jim Clyburn, a representative from South Carolina and close ally of Mr Biden, said he still supported the president, but would back Kamala Harris, the vice-president, to replace him were he to drop out of the race. Perhaps most important, Nancy Pelosi, a former speaker of the House of Representatives who had initially pooh-poohed concerns about Mr Biden’s fitness, seemed to open the door to doubters by telling an interviewer, “I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode—or is this a condition?’”