In the letter, Jeffries described meeting with the president Thursday evening.
“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” Jeffries wrote.
No, that wasn’t an explicit call for Biden to step aside, and, at this point, it is unclear whether Jeffries made one directly in his meeting with the president. But the fact that he offered no we’ve-got-your-back expression of support was telling.
And the letter’s conclusion could hardly have been more perfunctory: “As House Democrats have done throughout this Congress, we will continue to work in the best interests of everyday Americans. Thank you for your continued leadership in service of the communities we are privileged to represent.”
The message, delivered as congressional Democrats have begun publicly calling for the president to step aside, was that Biden should expect more of them to follow and that time is running out for him to stanch the bleeding.
It came as Team Biden was still high-fiving about his performance at his hour-long news conference Thursday night. What also happened that evening, Jeffries revealed, was a private session between the president and the man Democrats view as their speaker-in-waiting — a face-to-face that took place at Jeffries’s request.
Jeffries noted that over recent days, House Democrats have engaged in a “candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive” discussion about “the future of our country, during a time when freedom, democracy and the economic well-being of everyday Americans are on the line.”
No one would fail to see that as a reference to the peril in which Biden has placed not only his own reelection prospects but also that of other Democrats, after a disastrous debate performance last month that called into question whether he is capable of winning in November.
In the House, where Democrats are tantalizingly close to regaining control, every one of them will be sharing the ballot with Biden. Their nightmare is that, come next year, they will find themselves not only still in the minority, but in a situation where both the White House and Congress are in the hands of Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists.
Biden has portrayed the extraordinary intraparty battle in which he finds himself as one that pits himself against the Washington “elites” — the insiders and pundits who have for decades underestimated him.
But House members, and particularly those who come from the swing districts where control of their chamber will be decided, survive by keeping closely attuned to what they are hearing back home. They trust their own fingertip-feel for their constituents — from the meetings they have with community leaders to their random conversations with people they encounter at Walmart — far more than any poll or Beltway political strategist.
As of now, the backbone of Biden’s support on Capitol Hill is the Congressional Black Caucus, whose senior members come almost entirely from safe districts. But the letter from Jeffries — who many hope will be the first Black American to hold the speaker’s gavel — throws into question whether even that bulwark might be developing cracks.
“Heartfelt perspectives and conclusions.” Yes, those are tender words, but they carried a pointed message.
Read More: Opinion | Hakeem Jeffries’s letter to President Biden is a warning