New York Times: Defiant Biden 'Embarrassing Himself'

If Democrats expect to defeat former President Donald Trump in November, their leaders must tell President Joe Biden that he is "embarrassing himself and endangering his legacy," according to The New York Times editorial board.

"He needs to hear that he is no longer an effective spokesman for his own priorities," the board wrote in an extensive editorial Monday. "They need to tell him that his defiance threatens to hand victory to Mr. Trump."

But Biden, rather than campaigning to dispel the doubts about his age and capabilities after his disastrous debate against Trump on June 27, has maintained a "controlled schedule" of public appearances, and avoided questions from the media.

When the president is not using a teleprompter, the editors added, such as during his interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, he "has continued to appear as a man in decline."

Biden has also disregarded the concerns of voters who say they have doubts about his mental and physical fitness and is putting the United States "at significant risk" by insisting he's the best candidate to beat Trump, the Times said.

Biden has also blamed the polls for being wrong about his fitness, even when numbers are like those in the latest Times/Siena poll, which found that 74% of voters think he's too old to be president.

Biden in a letter to congressional Democrats Monday continued to insist he's the candidate who can defeat Trump and blamed the press and others for trying to push him out of office.

"Democratic leaders shouldn't rely solely on the judgment of the few voters who turned out in this year's coronation primaries," the editors wrote. "They should listen instead to the much larger group of voters who have been telling every pollster in America their concerns for a long time."

Elected Democrats are also speaking out about Biden's issues, but most have not taken a stand and are waiting for the president to come to a decision.

But he knows that the longer he holds onto the nomination, the more difficult it will be to replace him.

"For those at the helm of the Democratic Party — including the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer; the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries; and even the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi — the time has arrived to speak forcefully to the president and the public about the need for a new candidate before time runs out for other candidates to make their case to the party's convention delegates," the editors wrote.