House Democrat Ritchie Torres says Biden appearances will not offer him ‘political salvation’

With President Joe Biden set to address the world Thursday evening at the 2024 NATO summit, one House Democrat is pumping the brakes on Biden’s ability to restore favor among voters, donors, and lawmakers who have come out against him after his poor debate performance.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) took to X to explain why he believes the president’s recent appearances will not offer him “political salvation” but stopped short of calling for the president to drop out.

“The narrative that the President simply had one bad debate performance reflects a continuing pattern of denial and self-delusion,” he said. “The President did not just have one ‘bad debate.’ The reality we saw with our own lying eyes is evidence of a deeper challenge.”

While Torres said he would listen to Biden’s press conference Thursday evening and his NBC interview on Monday , neither appearance “will offer the President the political salvation he seems to be seeking” because the “ability to survive a single public appearance is the bear minimum of what should be expected of a Democratic Nominee.”

“The notion that the President is going to be saved by this interview or that press conference misses the forest for trees,” he said.

The House Democrat added that if Biden does become the Democratic nominee at the Democratic National Convention, “we will have no choice but to make the best of a complicated situation. But there is no point in denying the complications.”

Several top Democratic donors have pledged to withhold funding from the Biden campaign after his eye-opening debate performance, including the heiress of the Disney fortune. Democratic organizers in Chicago pulled a fundraising event for Biden in the aftermath of the debate, and a group of donors pledged $2 million to hold a “mini-primary” in case he does drop out of the race.

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Several House Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, and on Wednesday, Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) became the first Democratic senator to make the same plea. A-list actor George Clooney also penned an op-ed calling on the president to withdraw from the race and ran the article by former President Barack Obama before publishing it.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Torres and the White House for comment.