John Biden, the blue-wall governor of Michigan, addressed a critical debate on Trump and the problem of “Dark Brandon’s coming back”

On Friday, Biden heads to Michigan to campaign, hitting the third “Blue Wall” state in a week, after Pennsylvania on Sunday and Wisconsin on Friday. These three states are seen as critical to a Democratic victory in November.

In an interview with ABC on Friday Biden insisted he would remain in the race, and defended his record. Asked whether he would stand down if he could be convinced that you cannot defeat Trump, Biden was defiant: “Well, it depends if the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that — I might do that.”

He has been trying to demonstrate that his debate flub was just one bad night and not a sign of something more serious. He attended Sunday services at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ, where a praise band belted out the worship song, “I need you to survive,” and Bishop J. Louis Felton led a call-and-response for Biden, and urged unity.

Felton prayed that the enemy should be forgiven for driving wedges between them. If we ever lock arms, there is no election that we cannot win.

Later, Biden stopped at a campaign field office where he gave some high-energy unscripted remarks about economic issues important to voters, like grocery and insulin prices.

“Dark Brandon’s coming back,” Biden said to the group of about 150 cheering volunteers — referring a superhero-like meme his campaign uses to mock his opponents. “And guess what: in the next 120-some days or so, they are going to get a real good look at who Donald Trump is,” he said.

Biden was accompanied by two Democrats, Sen. John Fetterman and Madeleine Dean. “There is only one person in the country that’s ever kicked Trump’s ass in an election —and that is your president,” Fetterman said. “He’s going to do it twice.”

The virtual meeting was an opportunity for top Democrats in the House to convene before lawmakers return to Capitol Hill on Monday. Top leaders have generally avoided taking a position on Biden’s future as members grapple with a president and a party at a crucial crossroads.

“This is not just about whether he gave it the best college try, but rather whether he made the right decision to run or to pass the torch,” Schiff told NBC’s Meet the Press. If Biden steps back, he thinks Harris could beat Trump.

During the Independence Day break, voters want Biden to stay in, said Rep. Deborah Dingell of Michigan. “I had people in parades shout at me, ‘Tell him to stay — we have his back,'” she told CNN’s State of the Union. “I really do think that as much as you’re hearing a lot of different opinions from other people, that’s what’s happening,” she said.

Alex said he spoke with Biden on Saturday. The president talked about what he’s seeing in internally polling data, and what his plans were for coming days. “He is as pumped and as eager as I’ve seen to make sure he’s taking this campaign seriously,” Padilla told MSNBC.

Biden faces a critical week in Washington, as his party’s lawmakers return to Congress — and world leaders come to the city for a NATO summit, where Biden is set to give a rare solo press conference, where he will be faced with answering more questions about his age and abilities.

TomBrush said he was not optimistic that Biden would survive the election, and had hoped the president would step aside for the sake of the party.

“My experience is that people can reach a stage in their life when they’re not is vital as they once were,” said Brush, 90, a long-time Democratic voter, in an interview at his home.

WHILE YOU ARE THERE: Joe Biden’s “Worthy Campaign” Is Coming to a Closer Look

Biden blamed his poor debate performance on exhaustion, and insisted that medical checkups prior to the debate found “no indication of a serious condition.” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he was sick prior to the debate with a “really bad cold.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on House Armed Services panel, Rep. Mark Takano of California, the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs panel, and Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the ranking member of the House Administration panel, told leaders on a virtual meeting that Democrats should seek a change at the top of the ticket.

One House Democrat who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal party discussions said worries mounted after reports from Biden’s meeting with governors last week that he may not do events past 8 p.m. The member added that Democrats don’t have much time for Biden to leave if he ultimately choses to do so but time is running out for a graceful exit.

Several top Democrats, including Waters, spoke up for the president at a high-level virtual meeting on Sunday in which several of the key committees privately told him to withdraw from the race. Representative David Scott of Georgia, another senior member of the Black Caucus, also spoke in favor of Mr. Biden, the people said.

Indeed, many Democrats are still publicly supporting Biden, even as anxiety grows within their ranks. The issue is causing panic within the party just over a month before their August nominating convention in Chicago.

“Personally, I love Joe Biden, I don’t know that the interview on Friday night did enough to answer those questions,” he said. “So I think this week is going to be absolutely critical. I think the president needs to do more.”

“Joe Biden is who our country needs, and his presidency has laid a foundation upon which we can continue our pursuit of a more perfect union,” he said in a social media post on Friday. Mr. Clyburn’s endorsement four years ago is often credited with helping Mr. Biden prevail in the South Carolina presidential primary and propelling him to win his first term.

Mr. Clyburn caused some hand-wringing among Democrats last week when he discussed the possibility of a “mini-primary“ to replace Mr. Biden before the Democratic National Convention next month should he withdraw from the race. But he quickly moved to clarify that he considered the idea strictly hypothetical.

Comeback Joe Biden: When the Oldest Democrats in Congress are Turning Their Hands Toward a Better Future: The Philadelphia Black Church

As President Biden watches his support among some key Democrats in Congress quietly crumble, one group has emerged as a vocal base of support on Capitol Hill: Black lawmakers, particularly older ones.

“The reality is Joe Biden has confronted and had to come back from tragedy, from trials, from tribulations throughout his entire life,” Mr. Jeffries said during an interview with MSNBC. We are in a comeback moment right now.

The Biden campaign has taken solace in the backing of Black Democrats, an influential force on Capitol Hill and in the party, at an otherwise grim time. The backdrop for Mr. Biden to make his case was the Black church in Philadelphia.

“You know I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve honest to God never been more optimistic about America’s future — if we stick together,” Mr. Biden told the congregation at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia.

In New Orleans over the weekend, Representative Maxine Waters of California stated that she wouldn’t care what anyone said about her candidacy. “It’s going to be Biden.”

On Sunday, Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a former chairwoman of the Black Caucus, said in a social media post that the choice was clear, praising Mr. Biden’s record as a defender of democracy.

The Up First Newsletter: Boeing will plead guilty to fraud and Hurricane Beryl lands in Texas, according to a tweet from the National Hurricane Center

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The Justice Department said in a court filing that Boeing would plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge related to the deaths of two passengers on the Max jets. In return for pleading guilty, Boeing has agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine, invest upwards of $450 million toward safety and compliance programs, and be on some form of supervised release for three years.

A historic number of voters participated in the country’s snap elections and failed to give the far-right party a majority. The country had a voter turnout of over 60 percent.

Beryl made landfall in Texas this morning as a Category 1 Hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5:00 a.m. ET update. More than 100 counties in Texas are under a state disaster declaration. More than 2,500 responders have been dispatched across the state.

Source: Boeing will plead guilty to fraud and Hurricane Beryl lands in Texas

La Financia del Festival Folklife de Ubaldo Sanchez, un artist de el paisaje y un r’esultamento bosonico

Dining out with your friends is all fun and games until it’s time to pay for your meal. The splitting of the bill is not easy to do. New York Magazine food editor Kiki Aranita says there should be “a sense of equality in how the check is divvied up” when the meal ends. She offers advice on how to keep things “fair and square”:

This year at the Folklife festival, there was a display of Indigenous arts from across Latin America. The Latin American contingent at the festival had many activities, from an all-female Bolivian skateboarding crew to artists singing and painting to weaving. One of the artists NPR’s team met was Ubaldo Sanchez from Guatemala. His portrait of former President Obama was selected for his White House collection, and he successfully painted a giant kite by the festival’s closing. 📷 There is a special connection when it comes to the festival photos and the connection with NPR’s Marc Silver.

What do you want to see in a presidential campaign? “Look, I can’t tell them, but they can tell me.”: Robert F Kennedy

“Come on, give me a break. Come with me. Watch. “Watch,” he said, referring to recent campaign stops. I am getting frustrated by the elites who know so much more. But if any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president. It’s time to challenge me at the convention.

He said that during the primaries, Democratic voters decided not the press, pundits or the big donors, but themselves.

“This was a process open to anyone who wanted run. Three people were able to challenge me. He left the primaries so that he could run as an independent. He said Robert F Kennedy wasn’t the only one that attacked him for being too told.