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President Joe Biden has been adamant in public that he will not drop out of the race for president, even as reports have piled up that people around him believe he is becoming more receptive to the idea of withdrawing.
A new report from The New York Times described Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, as growing increasingly frustrated with allies who are pushing for him to drop out or not lending him enough support. The report cited people close to the president who were granted anonymity.
The report also said that he may be coming to terms with the fact that may not be able to stay in the race, and the outlet reported that people around Biden are even looking into times and locations for a potential withdrawal announcement.
But they also noted one surprising reason that could be holding Biden back from making a final decision just yet: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to Congress next week.
According to the Times, advisors to Biden think he does not want to drop out and give Netanyahu, as the Times put it, “the satisfaction.” The two leaders are on shaky terms over the Israel-Gaza War.
The meeting may have already been a problem for Biden, regardless of the domestic political winds he faces.
“He will humiliate Biden, frankly, by showing up without having agreed to a cease-fire deal,” Barbara Slavin, a fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at the think tank Stimson Center, told the German outlet DW. “It will not help his reelection chances. It will infuriate many, many Americans who are extremely angry about what is going on in the Middle East.”
When reached by Business Insider, the Biden campaign provided a statement from Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon: “You have heard from the President directly time and again: He is in this race to win, and he is our nominee, and he’s going to be our President for a second term.”
A representative for the White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
