Biden fights for survival

President Joe Biden is doing his best to discourage expectations he will leave the presidential race. On Monday, he made a surprise appearance (via phone) on TV talk show “Morning Joe.” “I’m getting so frustrated by the elites … the elites in the party who … they know so much more,” Biden complained. “Any of these guys don’t think I should, run against me: Go ahead, challenge me at the convention.”

His reasoning is simple: Voters have his back. “The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party. Do we now just say this process didn’t matter?”

He also signaled his intentions in aletter to Democrats in Congress dated Monday. “I am firmly committed to staying this race, to running this race until the end, and to beating Donald Trump.

For now, Biden is making clear he won’t bow out without a fight, but thepolling isn’t moving in his favor, and anxiety appears to be growing among some Democratic lawmakers and big donors that he has no clear strategy to reverse his slide.

The next few days are shaping up as a war of wills between the president and a growing number of power brokers within his party.